Longfellow Bridge update

JeffDowntown said:
Relatively inexpensive, and removable, replaceable for winter snow plowing, AKA practical.
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This is more practical

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chmeeee said:
Do you point that chute at the sidewalk or the car lanes?
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Actually, we already have bike lanes like this and they're plowed with one of those brush plows mounted to a bobcat or similar vehicle instead of the chute. You get a little build up on the side, but it clears the bike lane without dumping a ton on the sidewalk or street. I watched them do it on Staniford all winter.
 
chmeeee said:
Do you point that chute at the sidewalk or the car lanes?
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It could be blasted straight into the river.

Or if for some reason we feel snow shouldnt fall into the river, blast it straight into the bed of a truck.

(start at 9:55 if it doesnt automatically)
https://youtu.be/pR_4K8pmknk?t=9m55s


Snow isn't a new thing. Bike lanes in areas with snow arent new either. I hate when people bring up snow as a shocking discovery that nobody has ever through about before.

We have the technology. And not as in "surely the home of Harvard, MIT, and a dozen tech firms can figure it out" way, but in the "buy it off the shelf like a dozen other cities do" way.
 
Lrfox said:
Actually, we already have bike lanes like this and they're plowed with one of those brush plows mounted to a bobcat or similar vehicle instead of the chute. You get a little build up on the side, but it clears the bike lane without dumping a ton on the sidewalk or street. I watched them do it on Staniford all winter.
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The City and State are not worried about how to plow the bike lane -- they get the use of bobcats and brushes (where to throw the snow is an issue though).

What they care about is a big plow in the road hitting the edge or gap in one of those solid barriers and throwing the concrete across the road at high speed, killing some one or at least causing major damage to both the road and plow.

Plow drivers are not careful enough (and cannot see) the starts and gaps in those barriers (covered in snow). They do hit them with great damage.
 
JeffDowntown said:
The City and State are not worried about how to plow the bike lane -- they get the use of bobcats and brushes (where to throw the snow is an issue though).

What they care about is a big plow in the road hitting the edge or gap in one of those solid barriers and throwing the concrete across the road at high speed, killing some one or at least causing major damage to both the road and plow.

Plow drivers are not careful enough (and cannot see) the starts and gaps in those barriers (covered in snow). They do hit them with great damage.
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You could simply have the soft hit post for vertical delineation at the start and then a couple of times down the road to ensure theyre going in a straight line

If it works in Montreal, it works in Boston. They get a lot more snow and have been doing this a lot longer.
 
jass said:
You could simply have the soft hit post for vertical delineation at the start and then a couple of times down the road to ensure theyre going in a straight line

If it works in Montreal, it works in Boston. They get a lot more snow and have been doing this a lot longer.
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And probably have more professional snow plow operators. Ours haven't seen an obstacle they can avoid.

But point taken, yes it should be possible to delineate the concrete divider for snow plow operators. But I have seen multiple road design sites that recommend the soft, removable dividers for areas that require snow plowing.
 
JeffDowntown said:
And probably have more professional snow plow operators. Ours haven't seen an obstacle they can avoid.

But point taken, yes it should be possible to delineate the concrete divider for snow plow operators. But I have seen multiple road design sites that recommend the soft, removable dividers for areas that require snow plowing.
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The fact that our sidewalk curbs survive, even in area with no parking, means the plows are decent enough.

Of course, theres an entire other argument that could be made for less plowing and salting, and more winter tires.
 
Someone tell me this isn't the final configuration of the sidewalk. I'm glad they widened some of it, but:

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I wonder if that was outside of the scope of the Longfellow Bride project?
 
Ok, what exactly is that ugly thing that appears to have ladder access to the top?
 
^ Concrete counterweight to the small bascule drawbridge over the Broad Canal.
 
statler said:
I wonder if that was outside of the scope of the Longfellow Bride project?
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It looks as if the new asphalt paving and guard rail was within the scope, in the event either was damaged during the reconstruction.
 
statler said:
I wonder if that was outside of the scope of the Longfellow Bride project?
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Yes...out-of-scope. The new sidewalk widening is just an extension of the widening they did further west on the Mem Drive viaduct about 10 years ago, with the last few dozen feet snaking under the Longfellow punted off until this latest project was complete. The Broad Canal draws are separate structures entirely, and are still considered martime-active (though not sure the last time either was tested...I haven't personally witnessed a raising since the early-2000's). Therefore they can't have any permanent road/sidewalk surface mods that would obstruct a raising, limiting touches to just those pop-up barriers.

AFAIK there's no plans to change the draws' status, and no scheduled MassHighway rehabs since both are in good structural condition (WB draw got a full superstructure and counterweight replacement from '98-00, while EB was left alone I gather because it wasn't as deteriorated at the time that WB was reconstructed). So there'll probably always be a pinch point in the sidewalk here. City of Cambridge did lobby hard for a widening of the public catwalk that connects the two sides of Mem Drive at the draws, as that footbridge is structurally detached from the drawbridges. But I don't see evidence that they ended up cutting the granite wall at the bottom of the Longfellow staircase to allow for a widened egress onto the catwalk, so that might have also been deemed out-of-scope with reinstated footbridge ending up no wider than before. Disappointing oversight, but minor annoyance at worst.
 
stevebikes said:
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QUOTE]


It totally bugs me how the state and cities/towns spend so little time and money on weed control on roads. All those weeds damage the roadway. It's cheap to kill the weeds and preserve the roads, but state, cities and towns would rather wait till the roads are destroyed and rebuild at tremendous cost.
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