Longfellow Bridge update

Scalziand said:
^I think you can only get onto memorial drive if you're on the other side of the Red Line tracks. And the Jersey barriers kind of preclude using the other set of ramps or turning around.
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Wadsworth St is right there, I would imagine people saw the traffic before the point of no return. Although I'm surprised they didn't leave the ramps open, unless they needed the space as a staging area. Granted, you can't turn onto the Harvard Bridge, and a zillion people using that u-turn at Ames St could get dicey.


BussesAin'tTrains, yes, I am convinced that the majority of drivers know literally only one path from A to B. Then again, I can't understand why anyone would willingly drive through Charles Circle to begin with. Or really any part of the city east of Mass Ave. I would rather a spike through the head.
 
If you are going east on Main St in Cambridge towards the Longfellow Bridge now, you reach a fork in front of the MIT Sloan School -- right for westbound Memorial Drive, left for the bridge.
 
jass said:
12 people is an endless line of traffic?
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Perhaps you were just being sarcastic. Enlarge the picture and you'll see the cars are backed up all the way across the bridge. With the larger image it is quite obvious that there are more than a dozen.

I am not taking a stance on this, I don't drive, just sharing the view with those who are not able to visit the Longfellow (or avoiding it).
 
abdinoor said:
Perhaps you were just being sarcastic. Enlarge the picture and you'll see the cars are backed up all the way across the bridge. With the larger image it is quite obvious that there are more than a dozen.

I am not taking a stance on this, I don't drive, just sharing the view with those who are not able to visit the Longfellow (or avoiding it).
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Moreover, that pic is taken right in front of 101 Main, so you have no context as to how far the traffic is backed up onto Broadway.
 
Harvard (Mass Ave) bridge is now continuously choked as well. Museum of Science is no better. Welcome to the next three years...
 
Harvard bridge has been congested forever. It's specious to blame it on the Longfellow closure.
 
The Anderson Bridge is one lane in each direction with construction. They made the Boston side lights into flashers which helped with traffic a lot, but it still backs up past the stadium most days.

The Memorial Drive overpass is closed, forcing all BU Bridge and through traffic down into the Rotary.

The Harvard Bridge handles Mass Ave, pretty much a disaster most times of day.

Longfellow is basically closed for rebuilding.

The Craigie Bridge is back open I guess, but its a mess under the best circumstances too.

So basically, if you are crossing the Charles, you are royally screwed. On the plus side, the fact that bridges are going down for rebuilding pretty much the rest of the decade may actually make a dent in car use within the city. I would almost say they should start a few more construction projects to screw things up even worse.
 
We'll soon get what you wished for: the Western Ave and River Street bridges are planned to be rehabilitated in 2014. The latest documents are from April.

The Reid (Memorial Drive) Overpass was recently reopened. It looks like the scope of work was limited to repairing the two 'bumps' on the outbound side. The surface is still concrete and exposed steel reinforcement. The few time I take my motorcycle over it I'm 60% sure I'm going to die.
 
Scalziand said:
^I think you can only get onto memorial drive if you're on the other side of the Red Line tracks. And the Jersey barriers kind of preclude using the other set of ramps or turning around.
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I was thinking of a right turn onto Mem Drive westbound from Main Street heading towards the bridge... does that not exist? I thought I've bailed out on the Longfellow there before.

Shepard said:
Harvard (Mass Ave) bridge is now continuously choked as well. Museum of Science is no better. Welcome to the next three years...
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Harvard Bridge is usually choked. Used to take it from Cambridge to get to the South End when I worked in there. Often would take 10+ minutes to cross, and this was three years ago. The Craigie as well is always a shit-show. Used to take that all the time to get to/from the old Spaulding. Leverett and the miserable light cycles by NorthPoint destroy any traffic flow there. Longfellow's partial closure might be making both marginally worse, but don't assume it's all because of the bridge disruption. That's just daily traffic...
 
The River street bridge project begins when Anderson is complete.
 
davem said:
BussesAin'tTrains, yes, I am convinced that the majority of drivers know literally only one path from A to B. Then again, I can't understand why anyone would willingly drive through Charles Circle to begin with. Or really any part of the city east of Mass Ave. I would rather a spike through the head.
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Ugh. As someone who has a car in the city, and doesn't really like using it when he doesn't have to, I can't fathom people not learning more than one route from A to B. I always have at least half a dozen alternative routes in mind. Granted in rush hour you will hit gridlock somewhere or another, but these people act like they're on rails for chrissake...
 
crash575 said:
The Reid (Memorial Drive) Overpass was recently reopened. It looks like the scope of work was limited to repairing the two 'bumps' on the outbound side. The surface is still concrete and exposed steel reinforcement. The few time I take my motorcycle over it I'm 60% sure I'm going to die.
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Ahh, I've been in NY the majority of this summer; last time I was there it was still torn apart. I'm surprised they put the metal decking back though. They had the bridge torn down to the bare frame when they started the repairs, I thought they were going to upgrade the decking to something more normal. I'll miss the bump though, I used to love taking a zipcar over it at top speed and seeing how much of the downhill I could clear... I mean... that damned bump was dangerous!

Busses, I'm the same way. If I don't already know the area like the back of my hand (all/bright/brook) I have google maps tracking me on my phone for alternate routes.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
I was thinking of a right turn onto Mem Drive westbound from Main Street heading towards the bridge... does that not exist? I thought I've bailed out on the Longfellow there before.
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Yes, it does, and I'm pretty sure I answered this before too.
 
My store is in Charlestown, I live in West Roxbury. The only businesses benefiting from this three year closure will be the liquor stores. I can personally guarantee that! Lol. Here are my observations on the bridge closing...5:00 rush hour: O'Brien highway is backed up from the Target in Somerville to as far as the eye can see past the Museum of Science. I made the mistake of getting on McGrath highway only to sit there for 15 minutes just to get to Twin City Plaza. I detoured through Twin City Plaza. Grid lock. I can't see how these businesses can accept this. I wouldn't go near twin city plaza for the next three years knowing the grid lock, just in the parking lot alone. Not to mention the other businesses like the duck tours, Museum of Science, Red Sox games, etc. Emergency vehicles will get nowhere fast.
I realize this a historic bridge, and support renovating it 100%.
There has to be a better plan for traffic flow during the process.
Someone online mentioned the bike lanes could easily support another lane of car traffic. ?!?
Wait till vacations are over and students return. Oh boy!
 
Oh and one last thing. Once finished ..this bridge better be SPECTACULAR! I want LED lights! A new and improved icon for Boston. Lord knows our architecture is bland and boxy!
 
Landofozboston said:
My store is in Charlestown, I live in West Roxbury. The only businesses benefiting from this three year closure will be the liquor stores. I can personally guarantee that! Lol. Here are my observations on the bridge closing...5:00 rush hour: O'Brien highway is backed up from the Target in Somerville to as far as the eye can see past the Museum of Science. I made the mistake of getting on McGrath highway only to sit there for 15 minutes just to get to Twin City Plaza. I detoured through Twin City Plaza. Grid lock. I can't see how these businesses can accept this. I wouldn't go near twin city plaza for the next three years knowing the grid lock, just in the parking lot alone. Not to mention the other businesses like the duck tours, Museum of Science, Red Sox games, etc. Emergency vehicles will get nowhere fast.
I realize this a historic bridge, and support renovating it 100%.
There has to be a better plan for traffic flow during the process.
Someone online mentioned the bike lanes could easily support another lane of car traffic. ?!?
Wait till vacations are over and students return. Oh boy!
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Give it two weeks.

The traffic is only bad because people are trying to do the same thing theyve always done.

Once people start making changes to their patterns, the traffic will go down quickly.
 
jass said:
Give it two weeks.

The traffic is only bad because people are trying to do the same thing theyve always done.

Once people start making changes to their patterns, the traffic will go down quickly.
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Right. The same thing occurred when the Memorial Drive BU Bridge overpass was closed. Mem Drive was a nightmare for a few days until people spread themselves over several alternate routes. The same thing should happen here. "Carpocalypses" are rarely as catastrophic the media and drivers hype them up to be. Give it another four or five.
 
Landofozboston said:
Someone online mentioned the bike lanes could easily support another lane of car traffic. ?!?
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Maybe, but then you wouldn't have the bike lanes- considering the heavy volume of bike traffic the bridge sees I think having them is the right decision.
 
MassDOT is really bad about communicating. When a lane was closed on the Alexander Hamilton Bridge in NYC (which handles much more traffic than anything here) they made sure that it was heard far and wide. I think probably everyone in the tristate area knew about the closure, they were whooping it up as the next "Carmageddon" and all that nonsense. After all the hoopla, during the actual period of construction, traffic levels were lower than usual and it turned out to be easier to travel that corridor than normal.

MassDOT does some outreach community meetings but seems to have no interest in publicizing its plans beyond that.
 
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