MBTA Construction Projects

[F-Line to Dudley]

Since Brickbottom (I assume you mean the artists' community) is on the other side of the ROW from what I call the "nostrils", it's unclear to me why they should have been advocating for that to be upgraded. As far as I know there's nothing residential in there.

As I said in the thread tangent 2 weeks ago: "Do Cobble Hill Apts. residents never walk more than 1 block from their front door?" Apparently not, because they never cared. Those folks are likewise needy complainers at all manner of town meetings who get lumped in with the artist lofts as similar voices in same neighborhood. You would think their walksheds getting harshed would stir up a little sentiment given how active they are in other community matters, but apparently not.

 

[ceo]

I'm still not sure why Cobble Hill (which is not the same as Brickbottom) residents should care about access to somewhere they have no reason to walk to, other than whatever tiny percentage of them work in the Innerbelt industrial park. I mean yes, the too-narrow, half-assed culvert is definitely a problem, but it's not like there's major pedestrian demand through there.

 

[stefal]

Looking like there's potential funding for a rehab of the Longfellow Approach and associated infrastructure at Charles/MGH, or its at least on the docket.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Per an RR.net spotter. . .

The replacement Bacon St. Wellesley rail bridge span on the Worcester Line has been jacked into place for its rapid replacement the weekend of July 23. For the next 2 weeks they'll be doing abutment prep for the final move. Then during a weekend outage what's left of the old bridge (in the background) will be demoed and new one slid in its place. New span is 3-track width in prep for the greenlit Wellesley-Natick tri-tracking project.

 

[matredsoxfan5]

Per an RR.net spotter. . .

The replacement Bacon St. Wellesley rail bridge span on the Worcester Line has been jacked into place for its rapid replacement the weekend of July 23. For the next 2 weeks they'll be doing abutment prep for the final move. Then during a weekend outage what's left of the old bridge (in the background) will be demoed and new one slid in its place. New span is 3-track width in prep for the greenlit Wellesley-Natick tri-tracking project.

They will also be sliding the Intervale Road bridge as well that weekend. 2 bridge slides, one weekend. Also a bridge slide by MassDOT in Weymouth on Route 18 over the Commuter Rail that same weekend. And of course another rapid replacement on the Pike in Southborough. Busy weekend

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Per an RR.net spotter. . .

The replacement Bacon St. Wellesley rail bridge span on the Worcester Line has been jacked into place for its rapid replacement the weekend of July 23. For the next 2 weeks they'll be doing abutment prep for the final move. Then during a weekend outage what's left of the old bridge (in the background) will be demoed and new one slid in its place. New span is 3-track width in prep for the greenlit Wellesley-Natick tri-tracking project.

From the same spotter, 'after' pics of the same deck now fully in-place on the mainline. . .

Cleanup work continues as the old abutments eventually come down to widen the road underneath.

 

[The EGE]

Progress on construction at Natick Center station from July 2. I'm a big fan of this project - Natick Center is the second-highest-ridership CR station that's not yet accessible, and they've done a great job integrating the station into the dense town center. It's especially cool that they're taking good advantage of the existing trench width to add the space for the future third track - without having to modify any of the road bridges.

Footings for the east end of the new platforms:

Footings for the central sections:

Detail of the new footings:

And a mystery! This structure, west of the Main Street bridge at the junction with the new rail trail, is not shown on public plans. Anyone have an idea what it is?

 

[The EGE]

More construction updates, all taken between July 4 and July 8. First, the commuter rail side.

Chelsea station looked nearly complete - all I could see that was unfinished was a few bits of ramps.

The new retaining wall at Porter is complete:

Crane is up for the High Line bridge replacement (carries the Lowell Line and the Downeaster) on the north side of BET:

A couple years old, but this is the garage at Ayer station. There was a big controversy over parking at the station a few years back. It was resolved with the town taking a property by eminent domain to preserve public access to the station, which made it possible to access federal funds for the garage, and clears the way for the station to be made accessible in the future. When I went by, the new MART bus loop and the public plaza were both nearly complete.

The Roberts Street bridge at Roslindale Village station, which was replaced in June:

 

[The EGE]

And the rapid transit side, all taken between July 5 and July 8.

Waterproofing and leak repairs at Courthouse are under way:

The Temple Place exit (looks like it'll be exit-only) from Park Street is looking bright and shiny for reopening later this year. It opened in 1936 and was closed in 1976.

The new platforms at Brookline Village are under construction for reopening later this year:

And the new terrazzo flooring at North Station looks so, so much better than the old broken tiles. I'm very glad that terrazzo seems to be the MBTA's main choice going forward.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Chelsea station looked nearly complete - all I could see that was unfinished was a few bits of ramps.

Slowest...project....ever. I'm straining to see the difference between now and March. 5 months for LED screens, few links of fencing, and ramps that are still not done???

 

[jass]

Lot of great updates

 

[JeffDowntown]

Slowest...project....ever. I'm straining to see the difference between now and March. 5 months for LED screens, few links of fencing, and ramps that are still not done???

Well LED screens are one of those items hit by the microprocessor backorders right now.

 

[Arlington]

The Temple Place exit (looks like it'll be exit-only) from Park Street is looking bright and shiny for reopening later this year. It opened in 1936 and was closed in 1976.

Had to Google the Temple Place exit. From Wikipedia here's 2015 View of the stairs closed in 1976 (and reskinned c. 1996?).
Photo Credit: Pi.1415926535 (who is one of Archboston's photo mavens under a different name. It is you EGE?)

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Well LED screens are one of those items hit by the microprocessor backorders right now.

Wasn't "needs Signal Dept. sign-off" also a blanket excuse du jour for awhile there? Seriously...this one and the time it took to finish the extra Ruggles platform do not lend a lot of confidence to Purple Line station project management to get accessibility projects done on a sustainable pace.

 

[The EGE]

Had to Google the Temple Place exit. From Wikipedia here's 2015 View of the stairs closed in 1976 (and reskinned c. 1996?).
Photo Credit: Pi.1415926535 (who is one of Archboston's photo mavens under a different name. It is you EGE?)

One and the same! The vast majority of my photography is for Wikipedia (mostly historical transit stuff), but I also post photos here when they're of interest.

For those not familiar, the Tremont Place exit is one of those many old station headhouses hidden around downtown. There are stairs on both sides of Temple Place here. It's quietly being modernized and reopened as part of the recent station brightening project. Unfortunately, it looks like they're only reusing part of the wedge-shaped section, and making it exit-only, rather than having it be an entrance as well.

 

[Jahvon09]

For subway stations that have only been built just a few years ago, why are they leaking so soon? I remember that happening immediately after the revamped Gov't Center Station was opened for business!!

 

[Bostonia1630]

For subway stations that have only been built just a few years ago, why are they leaking so soon? I remember that happening immediately after the revamped Gov't Center was opened for business!!

If only Courthouse was a subway station and not an extravagant, palatial underground bus stop. Someday, maybe.

 

[Brattle Loop]

For subway stations that have only been built just a few years ago, why are they leaking so soon? I remember that happening immediately after the revamped Gov't Center was opened for business!!

I believe the Government Center leaks shortly after were reopening were traced directly to the fact that construction work was still ongoing on the surface. Meaning essentially the station was open but the project wasn't quite done (I assume the landscaping's waterproofing was part of the "not done"). That's what was said at the time, if it's still leaking then it's something else. But if that's what it was then, it's a different category from Courthouse's leaky-in-finished-form problem. (Neither of the things are good, but one is doubleplusungood)

 

[reno]

I believe the Government Center leaks shortly after were reopening were traced directly to the fact that construction work was still ongoing on the surface. Meaning essentially the station was open but the project wasn't quite done (I assume the landscaping's waterproofing was part of the "not done"). That's what was said at the time, if it's still leaking then it's something else. But if that's what it was then, it's a different category from Courthouse's leaky-in-finished-form problem. (Neither of the things are good, but one is doubleplusungood)

At an existing station like Government Center unless you expose the exterior of the buried structure to see where the problem is you will never fully stop leaks. Injection from the inside is the best way to attempt to stop the problem but its not 100% effective. Many times by stopping a leak in one area you create another one somewhere else. Water is very stubborn.

 

[The EGE]

Some updates from my trip last week.

Pawtucket/Central Falls is progressing nicely; last I heard, it's scheduled to open in 2022.

The old busway canopy at Haymarket is gone, and a temporary walkway leads to the Green Line entrance:

The Temple Place exit at Park Street looks just about ready to reopen:

Brookline Hills looks to be nearly complete:

I'll post GLX and SCR photos in their own threads as I upload them.