MBTA Construction Projects

How does that shed roof at Kendall actually work? It seems to change its direction and degree of pitch in each picture and to have really spindly supports (sometimes sloped toward the building, sometimes sloped toward the plaza).

How will it manage 36” of snow or an inch of ice?
 
I hope they accounted for when the sun hits the snow or ice covered roof the chunks sliding off or water refreezing on the ground.
 
Any initial reports about the operation of the North Station fare gates this weekend ? Especially on more likely to be unaware weekend travelers vs the weekday rush hour (i.e. daily/regular commute) crowd?
 
WestMedford said:
Any initial reports about the operation of the North Station fare gates this weekend ? Especially on more likely to be unaware weekend travelers vs the weekday rush hour (i.e. daily/regular commute) crowd?
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Haven't heard anything yet. On that topic, though, does anyone know if the gates can tell if a ticket has already been used in them? (At various points in time the subway gates have been prone to a glitch where they'd have an error reading CharlieTicket passes, and then say the pass had already been used when they were tried again, which was excruciatingly annoying, and would be extremely annoying to CR passengers if these gates can do the same thing.)
 
WestMedford said:
Any initial reports about the operation of the North Station fare gates this weekend ? Especially on more likely to be unaware weekend travelers vs the weekday rush hour (i.e. daily/regular commute) crowd?
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I got off a Downeaster yesterday around 10pm in North Station, and the fare gates were all just open 🤷‍♂️

I have no idea why; maybe they had confusion when previous Downeasters came in? Or maybe there weren't any Commuter Rail trains leaving soon, so they figured they'd give the incoming Amtrak riders a break? Or maybe something about the gates wasn't working as expected, so they left them open?
 
Lynn Commuter Rail Station Closes For Reconstruction Project
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The MBTA on Saturday shut down the Lynn Commuter Rail station for an undetermined period of time in order to demolish and rebuild the station, finally addressing the station’s many structural issues.

The $72 million project, part of the MBTA’s Lynn Commuter Rail Station Improvementsinitiative, will “improve safety, accessibility, and the customer experience.” Upgrades to the station include the following:

 
stick n move said:
Lynn Commuter Rail Station Closes For Reconstruction Project
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The MBTA on Saturday shut down the Lynn Commuter Rail station for an undetermined period of time in order to demolish and rebuild the station, finally addressing the station’s many structural issues.

The $72 million project, part of the MBTA’s Lynn Commuter Rail Station Improvementsinitiative, will “improve safety, accessibility, and the customer experience.” Upgrades to the station include the following:

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Doesn't this just scream quality project management: "undetermined period of time"
 
WestMedford said:
Any initial reports about the operation of the North Station fare gates this weekend ? Especially on more likely to be unaware weekend travelers vs the weekday rush hour (i.e. daily/regular commute) crowd?
Click to expand...
I scanned the Downeaster ticket on my phone when leaving and entering the waiting area last Friday. Definitely not designed for lefties but no issues otherwise.

I wonder how this will work when I purchase a ticket for another person and myself. Amtrak only issues one QR code. Will we both be able to scan that same code to enter and leave?
 
Tom Nevers said:
I scanned the Downeaster ticket on my phone when leaving and entering the waiting area last Friday. Definitely not designed for lefties but no issues otherwise.

I wonder how this will work when I purchase a ticket for another person and myself. Amtrak only issues one QR code. Will we both be able to scan that same code to enter and leave?
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I think the faregates only confirm the validity of the date but does not cancel the ticket....
 
stick n move said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1590355755521409024
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It's a crime that this was even an unfinished item with construction at >50%. Like...how was district membership not settled years ago?!? But at least the vote margins were overwhelming. There was a lot of loud astroturfing going on in both cities for the "No" side about how CR would make housing unaffordable (spoiler: it's already well trending that way), but it thankfully didn't seem to affect the vote.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
It's a crime that this was even an unfinished item with construction at >50%. Like...how was district membership not settled years ago?!? But at least the vote margins were overwhelming. There was a lot of loud astroturfing going on in both cities for the "No" side about how CR would make housing unaffordable (spoiler: it's already well trending that way), but it thankfully didn't seem to affect the vote.
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District membership only makes sense when service is ready to run, trying to get people to pay a service fee when no service is running will never go over well, see Bourne https://www.boston.com/news/local-n...is-paying-for-rail-service-that-doesnt-exist/

It truly doesn't matter, there was never a chance of no winning. A town has never voted no, they're basically procedural votes. And if it somehow did, they could just bring it to another election, or have the state legislature modify the MBTA Communities bill. It's really not as big of a deal as you're trying to make it. The law states that communities need to hold a referendum before the 1st of the year they wish to start service and that's exactly what they did.
 
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HelloBostonHi said:
District membership only makes sense when service is ready to run, trying to get people to pay a service fee when no service is running will never go over well, see Bourne https://www.boston.com/news/local-n...is-paying-for-rail-service-that-doesnt-exist/
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Then do it when it's first funded for project starts, which was over 3-1/2 years ago. And make the execution of the offered funding starts contingent on a vote. This should've been on the ballot absolutely no later than the 2019 municipal elections. And preferably earlier. Nobody in their right mind should be risking a "No" vote torpedoing the thing when the construction is majority-complete. Inexcusable delay on settling up that bit of bureaucracy.
 
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It looks like this awning has the least amount of usable space possible for this footprint. In the bottom pic it appears to not even stick out over the entrance at all. Whats the point of this if all it does it covers the dead space between the entrance and elevator? Is it only here as protection from falling ice off the building and not to give cover from the elements at the headhouse?
 
stick n move said:
It looks like this awning has the least amount of usable space possible for this footprint. In the bottom pic it appears to not even stick out over the entrance at all. Whats the point of this if all it does it covers the dead space between the entrance and elevator? Is it only here as protection from falling ice off the building and not to give cover from the elements at the headhouse?
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Some guesses: This isn't really a waiting area; if you are waiting for your train, you can literally just go inside the station, which is right there, and get full shelter from the elements (before you need to pay your fare). For those who do need to congregate outside for some reason, there is actually a fair amount of covered space in the middle (it's tough to see from the angles I shot, which were primarily chosen to avoid the construction barriers that are still in place around most of this). Also, the stairwells are fully covered by their own roofs, including a ~3-4ft landing area at the top. But from a design standpoint regarding this awning itself: I think this is more of a sunshade than it is a rain cover. This narrow stretch of land is now a key corridor, containing the entrances to the MIT welcome center and the museum: my guess is they were trying to provide sunshading to this corridor without actually blocking all of the daylight/natural illumination.
 
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