MBTA Red Line / Blue Line Connector

IIRC, the projected $700 million is severely padded with about 40% contingency. I think the purposely made it appear to be hugely more expensive than actual to get it declared a boondoggle and thus dropped.

Yes. Some of that justified because of the dig abutting Beacon Hill and there being palpable nervousness about what 400 year old booby traps could be lurking underground that could cause every house on the bottom 3 blocks to slide down the hill into the lobby of MGH. Despite the fact that Cambridge St. was widened with its own Medium Dig only about 70 years ago with well-documented utility re-laying and the tunnel footprint wouldn't stretch more than 2 feet into the right traffic lanes. That's prudent for a scoping report that took place well over a decade ago...when they were actively turning up exactly those kinds of nasty surprises in the Big Dig. You never know.

However...it was totally expected that the project would start bleeding off some of that contingency after the initial scoping. And that it was reasonable expectation that performing the EIS would take most of the rest of it off. This is why performing the EIS was in the Transit Commitments, but not the build itself. If they got actionable answers and the final price tag bled off most of that contingency, then it was supposed to be a slam-dunk to git-'r-dun. But that's why they were to be held to the fire to do the EIS on a set timetable. It was the only path for achieving actionable costs.


The rationale for dropping this as if the padded price tag were some immovable object is...as they say...a steaming pile of horseshit. But that's why they're making the killshot after weaseling out of a variety of other (including less expensive) Commitments. They've already long-established that they can act with impunity. If they'd tried this 3 years ago before, say, the Arborway lawsuit had been settled they would've been called out immediately on the framing games with the contingency budget and been sacked for a loss with the Commitment legally reaffirmed. Had to wait until it was watered down to such a farce the game was over...and pound everyone's brains to goo with the poverty cry and gun to the head re: the agency debt.


It sucks, but what can you say...the Legislature has to reform the agency in totally fundamental/sea change ways or status quo bullshit now is going to be status quo bullshit forever. This move is completely consistent with the non- money-saving "money savers" in the budget deal that that simply grind more longstanding internal axes and offer more cover to the most reform-resistant enclaves on the inside.


Ultimately, law-bound projects like commuter rail PTC and advancing on their ADA compliance are law-bound things...they're just mandated, no ifs/ands/buts. Agreement-bound things like South Station expansion and other stuff with Amtrak capital improvements coattails are agreement-bound...they get generous stimulus money for doing their part and face the wrath of federal interests you don't want to be facing wrath from if they're negligent. Don't enter into an agreement with somebody bigger'n you if you aren't going to make good. State of good repair is state of good repair...things don't freaking run at all if you don't maintain the system.

But beyond the strings-attached stuff, it's GLX...then Red-Blue...then Blue-Lynn. Nothing else--save for some of the more meaningful pieces of the Key Bus Routes program--matters for system expansion until those 3 projects are done. That report last month about downtown circulation choking to death in under 20 years if the T does not make an honest investment in better radial circulation was just the first public warning in what's going to be an escalating series of warnings about that looming transit chokehold. Ignore it and one of these days there's going to be a D'Alessandro Report-level report slamming them for it. Red is the fastest-growing downtown line by far, with the SS-area explosion putting a serious--and open-ended--strain that's going to crunch the double-transfer stations HARD. There has to be a direct transfer, and the transfers have to be spread further apart from the gravitational singularities at Park/DTX/State/GC. It's going to get...bad...out there if they don't do Red-Blue as first effort in recirculation improvements. It's absolutely going to have to go back on the project list when the circulation problems become acute enough. But it'll be twice as expensive and take twice as long if they do that, so there's the lunacy of taking it off right now and ducking an EIS requirement that really only serves to LOWER the cost and make it EASIER to expedite the build.

This isn't a nice-to-have. This is consigning the system to pretty hellish congestion by middle of next decade that'll then take 20 more years to address if they succeed at the passive-aggressive move today.

If I were the Mayor and I gave a shit about what my successor was going to have to deal with, I'd be carpet-bombing this one with bluster and forging a public-private bluster alliance with the heaviest of heavies at MGH and Eye & Ear. The bully pulpit works for this case because we all know finances have jack shit to do with what the too-comfy political factions within the T are trying to do here. It would be a bully pulpit vs. bully pulpit fight. And the city is MUCH more effective at bully-pulpiting on a united front when it feels so motivated. The T just isn't structurally united enough to not blink in the face of that. Look what Somerville has accomplished. Hell...look what the dilettantes in the 'burbs have accomplished through organized chaos alone. Somehow Boston developed its own culture of "learned helplessness" in the face of the T's paper-tiger head games. Everybody is an actor playing to some script. It doesn't have to be this way...and some better-motivated pockets (e.g. Somerville) have looked straight at the situation at face value and said, "Pfft!...it ISN'T this way." Because--once more, with feeling--these moves have jack shit to do with finances.
 
Don't they have to make an underground loop to turn around after Charles/MGH? That's pretty much under the beginning of the Longfellow Bridge and Storrow Drive, and possibly under the Charles. I could see that being pretty expensive, far more expensive than the cut and cover down Cambridge St.
 
Don't they have to make an underground loop to turn around after Charles/MGH? That's pretty much under the beginning of the Longfellow Bridge and Storrow Drive, and possibly under the Charles. I could see that being pretty expensive, far more expensive than the cut and cover down Cambridge St.

No. Reverse-ends like every other line. Ultra-tight Bowdoin loop only exists in the first place because single-ended trolleys ran on the Blue Line when it first opened. Weekends and after Bowdoin closes for the night the trains reverse direction on the GC platform just like they do at Wonderland, Alewife, Oak Grove, Braintree, and Forest Hills. Ashmont's the only other place where heavy rail trains loop. Makes no difference whatsoever to headways. Bowdoin loop is slow as hell anyway because it's the tightestmost possible turning radius that can still physically turn a heavy rail-dimension car.

Charles station would've had a "spreading wedge" platform with separate tail tracks on each side that could store two 6-car trains per track beyond the station. They'd just follow the Charles Circle street grid when it spreads around the above-ground station's abutments. The northerly tail track would end right about here at the turn-in to the MGH parking lot. The southerly tail track would end here right about where all those newspaper boxes are at the intersection of Charles St. and Embankment Rd. The platform itself is offset a bit from the Charles lobby and basically would stop here underneath that patch of median cobblestone, with an escalator connecting to the lobby at the exact location of the emergency exit doors (meaning there'd be a little sloping addendum grafted onto the outside of the station on that seldom-used rear sidewalk, where the escalator and elevators would connect into the current emergency exit doors).

Each tail track is angled such that if they ever wanted to extend the subway elsewhere they could turn it south under Storrow (Riverbank Subway II) or north under Embankment Rd./MGH lot to Leverett Circle and wherever they wanted to go from there. And, if they wanted to eventually link up a long line on both ends (say, D Line heavy rail to Riverbank to Lynn/Salem) they could snake around the backside of Charles Circle in a long loop, reactivate dormant (but preserved) Maverick loop, and run service as two distinct halves that overlap and double-up between Charles and Maverick. Which is pretty much the only way Blue could ever be rigged to run 128-to-128 given its lack of branches or express tracks.
 
Each tail track is angled such that if they ever wanted to extend the subway elsewhere they could turn it south under Storrow (Riverbank Subway II) or north under Embankment Rd./MGH lot to Leverett Circle and wherever they wanted to go from there. And, if they wanted to eventually link up a long line on both ends (say, D Line heavy rail to Riverbank to Lynn/Salem) they could snake around the backside of Charles Circle in a long loop, reactivate dormant (but preserved) Maverick loop, and run service as two distinct halves that overlap and double-up between Charles and Maverick. Which is pretty much the only way Blue could ever be rigged to run 128-to-128 given its lack of branches or express tracks.

Transit wet dream right there... but is there a way to save this. The globe had an editorial how Gov. Patrick should use his clout and "backbone" to step on some toes to get things done in Mass. Regardless of political leanings of anyone here, I would love for him to take up transit in Boston, the state's economic center. It's in need of a lot, and it wont get done unless someone in power isn't afraid to step on some toes.
 
WTF is Patrick doing? The one big thing I was looking forward to seeing the coming of Patrick when he was first elected was democrats tends to be pro-rail. I'm not seeing it.
 
WTF is Patrick doing? The one big thing I was looking forward to seeing the coming of Patrick when he was first elected was democrats tends to be pro-rail. I'm not seeing it.

It's kind of like that in New York too with Andrew Cuomo. Came in saying the right things and on the strength of bullish expectations that he'd make a splash...but has been full-bore on only some oddly cherry-picked projects (Metro North to Penn) there, half-bore on some others that would seem dead obvious, totally silent and passive on others, undercutting some other logical efforts, and totally silent about reforming the MTA's budget woes (although the MTA is at least trying to expend some honest effort internally).

The only stuff in MA that's been getting any play are the Amtrak-driven stimulus projects and Zombie South Coast Rail, which is of course just a naked swing vote pander. I'm discounting Tim Murray's occasional Worcester Line bluster because that's yet to result in signs of actual commitment to follow-up on the post-CSX landscape (chief amongst which: incredible retreating South Station expansion). The mouthpiece from the statehouse has pretty much just been cherry-picking somebody else's easy-to-glom-off projects and vaporware that only exists for purposes of insider ball. I mean...has the Admin even staged that many press conferences for GLX milestones? That's an easy...easy...photo op, but it's been mostly Capuano and the Somerville delegation tooting their own horns and not the state.
 
isn't MGH one of the main proponents of this project? They built a large satellite office in Revere Beach specifically because they expected this project to occur.
 
It's kind of like that in New York too with Andrew Cuomo. Came in saying the right things and on the strength of bullish expectations that he'd make a splash...but has been full-bore on only some oddly cherry-picked projects (Metro North to Penn) there, half-bore on some others that would seem dead obvious, totally silent and passive on others, undercutting some other logical efforts, and totally silent about reforming the MTA's budget woes (although the MTA is at least trying to expend some honest effort internally).

The only stuff in MA that's been getting any play are the Amtrak-driven stimulus projects and Zombie South Coast Rail, which is of course just a naked swing vote pander. I'm discounting Tim Murray's occasional Worcester Line bluster because that's yet to result in signs of actual commitment to follow-up on the post-CSX landscape (chief amongst which: incredible retreating South Station expansion). The mouthpiece from the statehouse has pretty much just been cherry-picking somebody else's easy-to-glom-off projects and vaporware that only exists for purposes of insider ball. I mean...has the Admin even staged that many press conferences for GLX milestones? That's an easy...easy...photo op, but it's been mostly Capuano and the Somerville delegation tooting their own horns and not the state.

He's been scared to touch major transit expansion because it would require funding, and his last transit funding plan (rightly, IMO) went down in flames along with Jim Aloisi.

The income tax is automatically going down to 5.25% due to economic growth levels. Block that and you probably get enough money to cover the T's deficit in the short term. Maybe knock it up to 5.4%, give that money to the T, and they'd be in pretty good shape. Fix the highway department with a significant gas tax increase (and tie it to inflation), eliminate all tolls outside tunnels and bridges, and our transportation system's looking pretty good.
 
So with all of this talk of killing it. Is anyone here going to the meeting Thursday? Are going to make a stand? We spend so much time speculating and talking, should we at least try a hand in this?

Yes, I will be going and voicing my opinion at the 1:00pm time frame.

This project is absolutely critical for Eastie, Chelsea, Winthrop, Revere, and even for Lynn, because this must be done before BLX Lynn is even contemplated. And most importantly, this project benefits the system as a whole. No more massive throngs rushing down State Station and holding the doors of the Orange Line cars to let more run down, and less crushing loads at Government Center and Park Street. The whole system is suffering from this minor gap, and I'd file this under "fix it before you expand it". This isn't an extension, this is a system fix.
 
Yes, I will be going and voicing my opinion at the 1:00pm time frame.

This project is absolutely critical for Eastie, Chelsea, Winthrop, Revere, and even for Lynn, because this must be done before BLX Lynn is even contemplated. And most importantly, this project benefits the system as a whole. No more massive throngs rushing down State Station and holding the doors of the Orange Line cars to let more run down, and less crushing loads at Government Center and Park Street. The whole system is suffering from this minor gap, and I'd file this under "fix it before you expand it". This isn't an extension, this is a system fix.

And I hope somebody asks them to give a no-wiggle room answer for the budget contingency ≠ project price tag question. Which I expect they will blow off anyway, but is probably the one question they most dread being asked.
 
So first off I guess I should apologize for bumping this thread without any new info about the project, but I've been reading up on it a lot and came across this:

http://amateurplanner.blogspot.com/2014/03/red-blue-connector-think-outside-tunnel.html

If you don't feel like reading essentially it argues for an elevated solution, where the Blue line would come above ground near the old Joy St. portal and travel on an elevated track down Cambridge St. to join the Charles/MGH station. It would seem to prevent future expansion (ie Riverbank subway down Storrow) but would certainly be a cheaper option, and the author makes a good point about the transfers from Blue to Red. With all the talk of the Olympics, I would think this project would be an absolute requirement if theres any chance of the olympics, and maybe this is the way it would be done?

Anyway, just like to get your opinions on this option for the Red/Blue connector. Do people like the idea? It does accomplish the end goal, even if we'd all prefer an underground tunnel.
 
Preventing future expansions is a real bad thing to do and I don't think its good planning to block options for the future when unnecessary. You don't know if Boston in the future would require a Blue Line extension in the future.

For example, the commuter rail tracks that run through Dorchester are single tracked because at the time there was no desire for rail service to the South Shore, but now I'm sure a whole lot of people would have preferred that transportation planners decades ago didn't unnecessarily/purposefully neutered that right of way.
 
Abutters will force even any surface or Aerial track to be fully enclosed for noise and it's going to need emergency platform egress and track egress--all of which will make it to hulking to "fly"

I am also not sure that the firehouse fronting Cambridge will go for big obstructions so close.
 
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On a historical note, the original plan in the early 1900's for the rapid transit line to Cambridge was to extend the Blue Line up out of the old Cambridge Street portal, then elevated to Longfellow Bridge, and on into Cambridge. The plan was then changed to build the Red Line tunnel under Beacon Hill instead.

As for an elevated Red-Blue Connector now, I'd be all for it, but I'm sure every moneyed NIMBY on Beacon Hill would ensure that it's DOA.
 
Once of my roommates commutes via the T from Somerville to East Boston every day. It's amazing to think of the time savings he would have if this were ever constructed. I wonder the number of people whose daily commutes takes them on both the Blue Line and the northern half of the Red Line. Just think:

  • Somerville -> East Boston
  • Somerville -> Revere
  • Cambridge -> East Boston
  • Cambridge -> Revere
  • East Boston -> Somerville
  • East Boston -> Cambridge
  • Revere -> Somerville
  • Revere -> Cambridge
  • Watertown -> East Boston
  • Watertown -> Revere
  • East Boston -> Watertown
  • Revere -> Watertown
  • Belmont -> East Boston
  • Belmont -> Revere
  • East Boston -> Belmont
  • Revere -> Belmont
  • Arlington -> East Boston
  • Arlington -> Revere
  • East Boston -> Arlington
  • Revere -> Arlington
  • Chelsea -> Cambridge
  • Chelsea -> Somerville
  • Chelsea -> Arlington
  • Chelsea -> Belmont
  • Chelsea -> Watertown
  • Cambridge -> Chelsea
  • Somerville -> Chelsea
  • Arlington -> Chelsea
  • Belmont -> Chelsea
  • Watertown -> Chelsea

Sorry for the long list, but there must be a huge number of people in this situation.
 
Not to mention the crowing number of people who's final destination is actually MGH itself. I know a lot of people who commute to MGH/Cambridge from the north shore and just drive to the red line instead of the much easier/closer blue line to avoid transfers.
 
People drive to Alewife from the North Shore?!
 
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Not to mention the crowing number of people who's final destination is actually MGH itself. I know a lot of people who commute to MGH/Cambridge from the north shore and just drive to the red line instead of the much easier/closer blue line to avoid transfers.

I don't get this. It's not that far a walk from Bowdoin. If your destination is MGH, then it's about a 5-10 min walk from the station.
 
There are lots of rumblings happening right now amongst folks in East Boston, Winthrop and elsewhere along the BL to make this project happen. While cognizant of the project's shelved status, it's believed to have been shelved more due to political reasoning rather than from any lack of merit as a major transportation improvement.

http://www.winthroptranscript.com/2...hearing-for-mbta-blue-line-red-line-connector
 

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