I-90 Interchange Improvement Project & West Station | Allston

The toll plaza alone has eight separate bridge structures of varying length which are going to be replaced with two. From a maintenance perspective, just that alone is worth the project.
 
davem said:
The toll plaza alone has eight separate bridge structures of varying length which are going to be replaced with two. From a maintenance perspective, just that alone is worth the project.
Click to expand...

I've always wondered... from a budget/approval perspective how maintenance costs are considered. Are they included in the "total cost" that is frequently quoted as the construction cost or merely an afterthought? It seems like it would be beneficial to state finances to consider not only the construction, but also the maintenance and replacement/retirement of infrastructure when these projects are in the design phase.
 
BPLange7 said:
I've always wondered... from a budget/approval perspective how maintenance costs are considered. Are they included in the "total cost" that is frequently quoted as the construction cost or merely an afterthought? It seems like it would be beneficial to state finances to consider not only the construction, but also the maintenance and replacement/retirement of infrastructure when these projects are in the design phase.
Click to expand...

Day-to-day costs also vary a lot by MassDOT maintenance area. The inside-128 tolls, despite being large structures with a lot of booth attendants on-staff, probably are a pretty efficient operation on cost recovery. Simply because the geographical area is so small that the employees have fewer commute-related costs to subsidize and roving supervisors, maintenance crews, and armored trucks that collect the daily proceeds can cover a lot more booths out of one location with fewer people and equipment. The offsite staff might be able to administer the Tobin, Ted, Sumner, Allston, and Weston all from one office. Or at most a Pike office and a bridges/tunnels office owing to how recent the Turnpike Authorithy's dissolution was.

Western MA has got to be the most expensive. West Stockbridge and Lee are probably the most expensive installations of all because of how remote they are, despite having the fewest booths. Palmer probably stinks too since that's neither here nor there between Greater Springfield and Greater Worcester. And I-84's probably worse than every other interchange with another interstate highway.



Watch the sequence in which they abolish the tolls. They'll probably tackle the Sumner and Ted next just to finish the bridges/tunnels, but they probably won't be working linearly westward out of Boston despite 495, Weston, and Allston all being acute priorities (and Allston will get the booths retired years before the first shovel goes in ground on the new alignment). It'll probably flip to the opposite end of the state to purge Berkshire County, then hop over Springfield to Palmer and 84 before the Westfield/91/33/291 cluster, 290/146/122/495/9/30 Auburn-Framingham cluster, and Weston/Newton-redux/Allston inside-128 cluster get done.

It doesn't make linear sense until you look at the MassDOT maint district map and where the staff and maint bases are located on a map. Then it makes complete sense finances > traffic levels.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Watch the sequence in which they abolish the tolls. They'll probably tackle the Sumner and Ted next just to finish the bridges/tunnels, but they probably won't be working linearly westward out of Boston despite 495, Weston, and Allston all being acute priorities (and Allston will get the booths retired years before the first shovel goes in ground on the new alignment). It'll probably flip to the opposite end of the state to purge Berkshire County, then hop over Springfield to Palmer and 84 before the Westfield/91/33/291 cluster, 290/146/122/495/9/30 Auburn-Framingham cluster, and Weston/Newton-redux/Allston inside-128 cluster get done.

It doesn't make linear sense until you look at the MassDOT maint district map and where the staff and maint bases are located on a map. Then it makes complete sense finances > traffic levels.
Click to expand...

Actually, I believe they said in the same press release as the announcement of Raytheon's contract that Weston is going first. No other word on order, though.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...tts-turpike/8JG6ROIJ9ekk77aaFACHuL/story.html
 
Arlington said:
I agree. Harvard and the Turnpike had a no-Olympics-needed land swap deal almost as soon as the state closed its purchase of the line from CSX (Harvard having earlier bought the rest)

The rail component has taken a little longer, but is still very much a non-Olympic thing.

To recap:

The Turnpike's interest is shedding all the expensive-to-maintain structures--most of which are nearing the need for full-rebuild and replacing all the bridges and toll plazas with just a e-toll gantry and simple offramps, straightening the Pike itself and ditching a lot of circuitous routings.

The State & City like returning all the land underneath to uses that can power economic growth and even expediting car trips with a straighter pike, no toll booths, and simpler network connections. Boston might not get taxes from Harvard, but it'll probably get some PILOT payments.

And Harvard's non-Olympic interests are well known too: attach more of the yards it owns to its Allston campus and serve it with a street grid and get it served with transit. Initially, this powered the land swap, but the logic, extended, leads pretty quickly to a need for transit. Which is why Harvard (and not the Olympic committee) has pledged the next 1/3

Recent Insights on West Station:

Infill Stations are all the rage in transitland since they offer good bang-for-buck. And the MBTA likes getting the most out of its purchase of the Worcester Line from CSX. So the state putting up 1/3 of the cost is a good deal (and a win Worcester/Framingham, which gets easy access to "Harvard" jobs)

And then there's Boston University. Asked by a reporter, the Governor answered "no comment" to the question of whether BU is the obvious party to pay the "other 1/3rd" I have to believe that even now arms are being twisted to get BU to think of West Station as a natural place for gateway, and research, and vertical growth.

For me, the final 1/3 should come half from the City of Boston and half from BU. BU can't really afford 1/3...it doesn't have a huge speculative parcel whose access is at stake like Harvard does...but 1/6th of the Station's cost seems fair.

And then Boston, who is way behind on the trend of cities (NYC, Chicago, & DC) that are spending their own money to upgrade their urban transit at key places. Boston should pay 1/6th just for the brand polishing that comes from getting "Boston West Station"
Click to expand...

This area would be a perfect gateway for BU, but the fact that Harvard owns the adjacent land makes it not as attractive, in my opinion. Now, if there were some sort of way to allow BU to expand North and West there, it would be great!
 
Seth said:
This area would be a perfect gateway for BU, but the fact that Harvard owns the adjacent land makes it not as attractive, in my opinion. Now, if there were some sort of way to allow BU to expand North and West there, it would be great!
Click to expand...

IIRC, BU was the other party Harvard was bidding against when they bought Beacon Park from CSX. In all honesty, I think BU getting the property would have been better, as it would have possibly allowed them to unload some of their brownstones back to the public and given them a chance to have a real quad. Extending Malvern, Alcorn and/or Babcock Streets across the Pike would probably be a non-issue if BU owned the property too. But hey, rose tints and all that.
 
davem said:
IIRC, BU was the other party Harvard was bidding against when they bought Beacon Park from CSX. In all honesty, I think BU getting the property would have been better, as it would have possibly allowed them to unload some of their brownstones back to the public and given them a chance to have a real quad. Extending Malvern, Alcorn and/or Babcock Streets across the Pike would probably be a non-issue if BU owned the property too. But hey, rose tints and all that.
Click to expand...

Even so, BU has some pretty "scruffy" uses backed up to the tracks that can/should be replaced with better, taller stuff
 
davem said:
IIRC, BU was the other party Harvard was bidding against when they bought Beacon Park from CSX. In all honesty, I think BU getting the property would have been better, as it would have possibly allowed them to unload some of their brownstones back to the public and given them a chance to have a real quad. Extending Malvern, Alcorn and/or Babcock Streets across the Pike would probably be a non-issue if BU owned the property too. But hey, rose tints and all that.
Click to expand...

I remember the same thing, though I couldn't find an news to support it in a brief search. I recall BU bidding the same amount, but Harvard just "getting it." Overall, I think BU would be ready to pounce on this area, though I don't think BU would ever plan to give up it's Brownstones.

Arlington said:
Even so, BU has some pretty "scruffy" uses backed up to the tracks that can/should be replaced with better, taller stuff
Click to expand...

Agreed. Hopefully whatever direction this finally goes, it can facilitate a feeling of that area being connected, rather than hitting a wall to the North...
 
Future site of West Station perhaps.
IMG_20141018_155035.jpg


IMG_20141018_155150.jpg


IMG_20141018_155309.jpg
 
By the way, the PNF is being filed tomorrow and hopefully should be available next week. By the 5th, presumably, which is the final task force meeting (for this phase).
 
stellarfun said:
map.jpg

This map, from 2003, shows Harvard bought the entire kit and kaboodle.
Parts of the land were/are subject to easements, some extending into perpetuity.

The story of the fight over the sale is narrated here. BU may have been interested but IIRC, they never entered a competitive bid.

http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/over-91-acre-allston-pur-html
Click to expand...

It's a fuzzy memory now, but as I recall, BU bid the same amount as Harvard, but lost out for no other apparent reason than "Harvard."
 
The ENF (83MB PDF) is now available. Go nuts. Task Force meeting 10 is tonight, the last one before the design process, possibly the last one ever.
 
Matthew said:
The ENF (83MB PDF) is now available. Go nuts. Task Force meeting 10 is tonight, the last one before the design process, possibly the last one ever.
Click to expand...

Lots of the illustrations are showing A Line tracks to Union Square, ha.
 
Oh yeah, a lot of maps have that. I guess they're still there, underneath the median.

I've seen maps with tracks on Cambridge Street (east of Union Sq), from the really old days.
 
Incredibly stupid question: how the hell do you get to Storrow?
 
^ that + get off at an exit, head to eastern-most ramp, then turn right onto Soldier's Field Road connector.

They've made it easier in an attempt to fix the whole SFR/Cambridge St/River St Bridge intersection.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top