I-90 Interchange Improvement Project & West Station | Allston

HelloBostonHi said:
I really don't look at these renderings and think "wow what a win for pedestrian and car free advocates" at all. This is wide, loud, and encroaches on the river. It takes what little strip of coastline is left where the current path is and paves over it while putting the bike path on a boardwalk.
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There is actually more natural river bank in this version than what we have now. By placing the mixed use path on a viaduct above the river, the edge zone can be restored to something much more resilient. I agree that the best solution would have been a lane reduction, but there is no way that happens in any kind of political process available at the moment.
 
JumboBuc said:
Another render:
ModifiedAtGradeRendering2021.jpg
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I love the looks of that ped/bike bridge, and look forward to riding over it some day. That's going to be a crucial connection between BU and lower Allston/Cambridge.
 
No way in hell that low-fencing on the ped bridge over the Pike survives the design phase...

I'm cautiously optimistic... on the other hand I'll probably be pushing 50 (I'm in my early 30's) by the time this thing is fully completed.
 
The ped bridge is going to look like the one over Route 2 at Alewife.
 
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The bridge as rendered is pretty consistent with some other recent ped/bike bridges crossing rail and busy roadways, including the height of the guard rails.
RandomWalk said:
The per bridge is going to look like the one over Route 2 at Alewife.
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I see no reason why it couldn't survive as rendered, or look similar to the North Bank Bridge, for example.
 
HenryAlan said:
The bridge as rendered is pretty consistent with some other recent ped/bike bridges crossing rail and busy roadways, including the height of the guard rails.

I see no reason why it couldn't survive as rendered, or look similar to the North Bank Bridge, for example.
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Yeah, the render looks remarkably similar to the new Appleton Bridge over Storrow at Charles / MGH.

RandomWalk said:
The ped bridge is going to look like the one over Route 2 at Alewife.
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The Route 2 bridge at Alewife is the product of another era. Recent bike / ped bridges of the 21st century look nothing like it; they look like this render. Plus the Route 2 bridge doesn't actually go anywhere. If you want to cross Route 2 at Alewife you go under it, not over it.
 
And what happens the first time someone drops something on a vehicle and causes a traffic jam from the rendered bridge?
 
Equilibria said:
The same thing that happens when someone does that at any other bridge over a highway? There are hundreds of bridges with a sidewalk/guardrail.
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Over a major highway? I'm not so sure about that. Show us some in Boston.

This is the best you will get:
Bridge.jpg
 
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I forget where I read about this this morning but all of sudden a huge migraine came on when I read something about the Grand Junction bridge being used for commuter rail trains for that obsurdly idea of having some Worcester trains directed to NS instead of SS.

Have they lost their minds thinking we should damage our rail link for the urban ring just so that we have a painfully slow and only 1 line benefit in instead of getting their crap together and build the damn NSLink that would benefit so much more. Errrr
 
guitarguynboston said:
I forget where I read about this this morning but all of sudden a huge migraine came on when I read something about the Grand Junction bridge being used for commuter rail trains for that obsurdly idea of having some Worcester trains directed to NS instead of SS.

Have they lost their minds thinking we should damage our rail link for the urban ring just so that we have a painfully slow and only 1 line benefit in instead of getting their crap together and build the damn NSLink that would benefit so much more. Errrr
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Please tell me you accidentally clicked on a link from 2010 or something. I thought that foolish Worcester-to-NS-via-GJ project died when Tim Murray vacated the Lt. Governor's office. Why must only the worst projects keep coming back as zombies?
 
bakgwailo said:
Unless I am missing something, all of those have pretty tall/substantial fencing in addition to the railings.
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Renders lie. I'm quite confident this new pedestrian bridge over 12 lanes of traffic will include fencing in addition to guardrails, but they didn't want to throw a chainlink fence in the render.

(This discrepancy is probably the source of confusion here).
 
theSil said:
Renders lie. I'm quite confident this new pedestrian bridge over 12 lanes of traffic will include fencing in addition to guardrails, but they didn't want to throw a chainlink fence in the render.

(This discrepancy is probably the source of confusion here).
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Ah, ok, yeah, agreed. I thought you were trying to use that as an example where there were only guard rails over the highway in Boston :ROFLMAO:
 
Brattle Loop said:
Please tell me you accidentally clicked on a link from 2010 or something. I thought that foolish Worcester-to-NS-via-GJ project died when Tim Murray vacated the Lt. Governor's office. Why must only the worst projects keep coming back as zombies?
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With all of the difficulties and challenges designing this project, you really don't think the fact that they were adamant about building a double track to the Grand Junction, a single track railroad, means anything?
 
Perhaps I missed it but are there any renders as to how the commuter rail line will impact the BU Bridge. I get that these are renders but they still seem ambitious

869E3AF8-B0F3-45BC-8EA9-DFEE1288D99D.jpeg
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BostonTrainGuy said:
With all of the difficulties and challenges designing this project, you really don't think the fact that they were adamant about building a double track to the Grand Junction, a single track railroad, means anything?
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I'm confused as to whether the implication is that they're planning to improve the GJ or if the implication is that building a two-track incline to a one-track railroad is indicative of less-than-awesome project management.

Neither of those is particularly relevant to the question of whether it's a good idea to run CR trains Worcester-NS via the GJ, a proposal that has always been somewhat half-baked whenever it's been floated on Beacon Hill.
 
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