Even if you create the overpass connection from 93---then you have 93 at its Mercy in that location.
Moving Sullivan Square out to a direct access to the Casino would help with the Train scenario.
Please enlighten on the solution to this? I know this area very well and I don't see an easy solution for the Traffic congestion. It will only get worse and won't matter how much money is pumped into this.
Build the missing legs of the 93/Route 16 interchange in Medford:
http://goo.gl/maps/xg7Cg. Get the expressway traffic off the neighborhood roads and onto the maximally-built (and most under-capacity) section of parkway.
Here's the possible directions where these roads intersect (
bold are the ones to/from the casino):
1. 93S-->16W (to Cambridge, n/a on casino) -- no direct access. Must get off at 16E, U-turn on Mystic Ave., get on 93N, get on 16W ramp. Or get off at 60W, get on 16W in Medford Sq. Out-of-towners not familiar with the shortcuts do the former, locals do the latter.
2.
93S-->16E (to casino from north)-- direct access.
3. 93N-->16W (to Cambridge, n/a on casino) -- direct access.
4.
93N-->16E (to casino from Boston/south) --
no direct access. Must get off at
Sullivan or Fellsway @ Assembly.
5. 16E-->93N (from Cambridge, n/a on casino) -- direct access.
6. 16E-->93S (from Cambridge, n/a on casino) -- direct access.
7.
16W-->93N (from casino to north) --
no direct access. Must U-turn from 16 onto Mystic Ave., get on 93N. Or go to Sullivan and pick up 93N on Mystic in front of Home Depot.
8.
16W-->93S (from casino to south) --
no direct access. Must U-turn from 16 onto Mystic Ave., get on 93S by Fellsway. Easiest to just take Fellsway or slam Sullivan and Rutherford Ave.
See the huge fricking problem here? Boston-originating car traffic can't take the highest-capacity numbered route to the casino, and traffic heading from the casino to 93 can't take the highest-capacity route home. They have to slam Sullivan, and slam to lesser degree Fellsway by making a goddamn mess of Wellington Circle. Meanwhile, that portion of 16 between Wellington Circle and 93 is nearly empty.
Second problem: the 16/99 interchange. It's mostly OK, but. . .
1. 16W-->99N (n/a on casino) -- direct ramp.
2.
16W-->99S (to casino from Revere) -- direct ramp.
3. 16E-->99N (n/a on casino) -- no direct ramp. Have to use half-assed half-ramp/half-street off the Gateway Ctr. rotary and sit through traffic light.
4.
16E-->99S (to casino from 93) --
no direct ramp. Have to use half-assed half-ramp/half-street off the Gateway Ctr. rotary and sit through traffic light.
5.
99N-->16E (from casino to Revere) -- direct ramp.
6.
99N-->16W (from casino to 93) --
no direct ramp. Have to use half-assed half-ramp/half-street off the Gateway Ctr. rotary and sit through traffic light.
7. 99S-->16W (n/a on casino) -- no direct ramp. Have to use half-assed half-ramp/half-street off the Gateway Ctr. rotary and sit through traffic light.
8. 99S-->16E (n/a on casino) -- direct ramp.
Oh, look! The directions you actually
can reach the casino straight from 93 on the highest-capacity route go through the most mangled part of this interchange and get stuck at the traffic light. Better go slam Sullivan!
There is no reason why this has to be.
-- Graft a proper 93N ramp onto that overbuilt 16 flyover so the most underutilized part of the parkway is where everybody going north goes home.
-- Graft a simple-ass offramp and traffic light from 93N to 16E. Sign this as the preferred route to the casino. Yes...people who know their way around town are still going to take the Sullivan/Alford St. shortcut. But the out-of-towners...they're gonna stick to the state highways and the signage.
-- Graft a simple-ass 93S onramp at the existing 16/93 traffic light.
-- Make 93/16 the
mandatory route for all the private tourbuses. You know...same as the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun ones that are the scourge of I-95. Ban those fuckers in Sullivan and make them take 16 or pay the fine.
-- Graft a direct 16E-to-99 ramp and eliminate that distended...whatever that is...path off the Gateway rotary.
-- Graft a direct 16W ramp off the 99 rotary so casino-exiting traffic doesn't have to sit through a traffic light. Relocate the 16W-->99 loop ramp (tricky). May take some re-shaping of this area or re-centering of the rotary to get all four 16 legs in balance.
What does all this do?
1. Cleans most of the highway traffic
departing the casino off Sullivan.
2. Cleans the less shortcut-adept out-of-towners from the south to the casino off Sullivan in favor of the signed state routes. Not much relief in a vacuum except that it gives a little bit extra kick to the big reliever in #1.
3. Bans those tourbus fuckers from any residential area.
4. Saves the residential part of Mystic Ave. from excessive traffic. I would even delete the 93 ramps off that street to ram home the point.
5. Cleans up Wellington Circle and accentuates the road diet on Fellsway (which in turn discourages more people from using Fellsway + Sullivan for the casino). If more of the 16 traffic is passing straight through instead of having to do the Fellsway detour, the rotary performs lots better than having excessive turning traffic going 28<-->16.
6. Cleans up the Gateway rotary by de-commissioning the traffic lights and that distended frontage road to 99. Thereby making the WHOLE Wellington to 99 stretch of 16 suck a lot less and be able to handle the volumes.
Now...the 3 rotaries (especially Wellington) are still not going to be pleasant despite the considerable flow improvements. 16 is still an old parkway. And people will still be shortcutting through Sullivan. But the state-highway preferred route squares the mismatch in traffic volumes that puts way too much load to/from 93 onto Sullivan and Fellsway and not nearly enough on that empty section of 16 west of Wellington. The imbalance here is symptomatic of fucked flow. It's not natural. Fix it and it'll be more natural, and better distributed to the roads that can handle it.
Is that the killshot fix? No. Is that 40% of the way there. Yeah, probably. Is a 40% improvement enough to swallow the casino increases and still net a modest improvement over today...definitely. Take the gains here and then work on other mitigating strategies to other roads. Pretty much every one of the 1950's-ruined thoroughfares through here can be de-crapified to above-and-beyond benefit.
