I-90 Interchange Improvement Project & West Station | Allston

[bakgwailo]

I feel like there must be a solution with routing onto Soldier's field/Storrow plus the 20-22 ft between the viaduct and Storrow. Maybe put temp lanes there and grab 2 lanes from Soldier's field for the pike (leaving 1 lane each way on Storrow), then rip down the viaduct.

 

[BeyondRevenue]

Wanna know the easy (though politically untenable) way to get your 20+ feet? Narrow The Pike to 6 lanes.
Eastbound 90 picks up a lane in Newton Center -- and then never gets rid of it. When I used to drive back into town I always sped up there because it turns into a four lane free for all. It encourages bad behavior. I can't tell you how many times I went into the inside lane eastbound where the tolls used to be wondering if my tires were going to blow out. We should design now what MassDOT should have designed then - I highway that gets you from point A to point B in a very boring way. You want speed? Move to Loudon, NH.
Realistically, they used to be able to justify long ramps because of the Allston tollbooths. The need isn't there anymore. Make the Newtonians merge into the rabble.

Also, I went down to the Throat Sunday and stood at the East end looking west. Yes, it looks awful. This needs to happen ASAP.
With a little help from Boston University's Department of Planning and Operations we could squeeze everything in -- and maybe a new line of tracks south of the highway supports -- if BU cooperates. I don't think it's too much of a God Mode diversion to suggest BU could elevate, deck over and extend Harry Agganis Way by moving the contents of a couple low-rise building additions (in orange below) so the Commonwealth can run rail underneath. Or we can play a very costly game of infrastructure Tetris.

 

[stick n move]

Not really any new news but commonwealth magazine laid out 10 reasons why at grade is the best option.

10 reasons for building a better highway
Greater safety, better connectivity, and economic growth

FOR US, the Allston interchange is more than a highway project. It’s a way to fix the mistakes of the past, reunite long-separated neighborhoods, and lay the groundwork for an equitable economic expansion of Boston.

We believe the all-at-grade option for the throat section of the project, along with the project’s other amenities, offers the best chance of achieving our goals. Here are 10 reasons why: …

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/10-reasons-for-building-a-better-highway/

Plus another article about the bigger picture with the development of the area along with before and after pictures Ive never seen of the pike construction.

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/a-partnership-of-sorts-is-transforming-recovering-allston/

 

[stick n move]

BU proposes three new buildings as part of $1-billion campus upgrade; also wants to start looking at building over the turnpike

Possible BU expansion sites in green, including decks over the turnpike.

Boston University recently filed a 10-year, $1-billion "institutional master plan" that calls for a new research building, possibly up to 16 stories, and a new premium student dorm, along with an expansion of solar panels across the campus and a major rehab of the Warren Towers dorms on Commonwealth Avenue.

The plan looks even further out, saying BU has identified a number of locations where the school could grow even further, including the Massachusetts Turnpike, from roughly Buick Street to Beacon Street, over which the school has identified six potential areas where the school could lease air rights from the state, then build decks on which to place buildings.

The University has a strong interest in the future development of air rights over the Turnpike.

https://www.universalhub.com/2022/bu-proposes-three-new-buildings-part-1-billion

 

[Equilibria]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1602460693135065089

 

[Charlie_mta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1602460693135065089

Cool. I'm glad that the clearance and selection process is moving along on schedule, and am especially glad that the modified at-grade alternative for the throat area was selected. Visually and maintenance-wise it's better to not have a viaduct. Also, the at-grade roadways provide an opportunity for future air rights parks and buildings over the Pike and SFR in the throat area.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Which one is 3L?

 

[ulrichomega]

Which one is 3L?

I think this presentation lays it out. Specifically:

 

[bigeman312]

Is the Charles River Path routed over a boardwalk in this one?

 

[jklo]

Is the Charles River Path routed over a boardwalk in this one?

Looks like it.

 

[DrFreewind]

I'm still not impressed with the way that traffic will get from 90 to SFR, I feel this will create unnecessary traffic in what should be "city streets" hopefully lined with buildings and shops near west station. Unless their idea of road safety is to create gridlock so that it's safer for bikes and peds

 

[HenryAlan]

Is the Charles River Path routed over a boardwalk in this one?

Yes, I think this is the boardwalk version, with the "living shore" between the bike/pedestrian route and the car lanes. Overall, I think this is the best option.

 

[millerm277]

Is the Charles River Path routed over a boardwalk in this one?

Slides 31 + 32 from the previous post have the details, but yes. 20ft usable width on the boardwalk.

 

[Teban54]

BU proposes three new buildings as part of $1-billion campus upgrade; also wants to start looking at building over the turnpike

Possible BU expansion sites in green, including decks over the turnpike.

Boston University recently filed a 10-year, $1-billion "institutional master plan" that calls for a new research building, possibly up to 16 stories, and a new premium student dorm, along with an expansion of solar panels across the campus and a major rehab of the Warren Towers dorms on Commonwealth Avenue.

The plan looks even further out, saying BU has identified a number of locations where the school could grow even further, including the Massachusetts Turnpike, from roughly Buick Street to Beacon Street, over which the school has identified six potential areas where the school could lease air rights from the state, then build decks on which to place buildings.



https://www.universalhub.com/2022/bu-proposes-three-new-buildings-part-1-billion

Would buildings over parcel 1 kill the hope for an Urban Ring service from Grand Junction towards BU/Kenmore/LMA?

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Would buildings over parcel 1 killing hope for an Urban Ring service from Grand Junction towards BU/Kenmore/LMA?

I very highly doubt that anything's going to be built on that one. The grades are crappy all around with the hillside, it's irregularly shaped with the hillside chunk taken out, the Pike is on a slight upslope coming under the Comm Ave. overpass and won't be level with it even with the grounding making the air rights decking way more complicated, the BU Bridge side lacks a street interface because of the hill and wall, and there's a lack of any feasible rear-driveway access. Manifold construction challenges at a very pinned-in location. That'll probably be the very last parcel that ever gets anything attempted on it, and since the other more lucrative air rights parcels (especially #2 and #3) are complex undertakings themselves I would think it's going to be a good 30 years before they seriously look at that one. The Urban Ring, whatever the actual-build odds are, will have been thoroughly re-studied by that point and had its routings pinned down with more exactitute well before BU plans anything.

 

[stefal]

I very highly doubt that anything's going to be built on that one. The grades are crappy all around with the hillside, it's irregularly shaped with the hillside chunk taken out, the Pike is on a slight upslope coming under the Comm Ave. overpass and won't be level with it even with the grounding making the air rights decking way more complicated, the BU Bridge side lacks a street interface because of the hill and wall, and there's a lack of any feasible rear-driveway access. Manifold construction challenges at a very pinned-in location. That'll probably be the very last parcel that ever gets anything attempted on it, and since the other more lucrative air rights parcels (especially #2 and #3) are complex undertakings themselves I would think it's going to be a good 30 years before they seriously look at that one. The Urban Ring, whatever the actual-build odds are, will have been thoroughly re-studied by that point and had its routings pinned down with more exactitute well before BU plans anything.

Are they referencing MassDOT parcel numbering? Otherwise, it's strange that it's labeled Parcel 1 if it's among the least infeasible to build on.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Are they referencing MassDOT parcel numbering? Otherwise, it's strange that it's labeled Parcel 1 if it's among the least infeasible to build on.

No...it's internal BU numbering from the Institutional Master Plan 2023. The numbering of Pike parcels goes West-East, and the lettering goes West-East on the north side of Comm Ave. first, then West-East on the south side (West Campus is cropped out-of-view on the article screencap).

 

[soundguise]

Are they referencing MassDOT parcel numbering? Otherwise, it's strange that it's labeled Parcel 1 if it's among the least infeasible to build on.

I believe so, here is a map I put together from MassDOT documents of the Pike Parcels. I am sure there are errors but it matches up generally with the BU master plan map.

 

[MjolnirMan]

Here's a fantastic document from 2000 covering pretty much everything about the Pike parcels from the City of Boston perspective. On page 3, they identify that parcels 2 & 3 are located in Brookline and subject to their zoning.

Also - the renders are beautiful. Can you imagine?

 

[Charlie_mta]

I'm still not impressed with the way that traffic will get from 90 to SFR, I feel this will create unnecessary traffic in what should be "city streets" hopefully lined with buildings and shops near west station. Unless their idea of road safety is to create gridlock so that it's safer for bikes and peds

The traffic heading west from SFR WB onto Mass Pike WB is kept off the streets pretty well. The eastbound traffic is a problem though, where traffic coming off the EB Mass Pike headed for EB SFR will be on streets right in front of the new West Station, and then wind it's way through blocks of new development and streets before finally arriving on SFR. The constrained horizontal and vertical clearances through that whole complex of roads, rail, and blocks makes it really hard to avoid that.