MBTA Red Line / Blue Line Connector

[whighlander]

What are you talking about? The only people talking about bringing the BL past MGH are here on aB.

Busses -- I'm talking to and about the people here -- aka Crazy Transit Pitches

The reality is that there is no money available now to proceed with any project not already at the stage of say Government Center Station

Even Green Line to Medford is at least on hold for a while -- the Fed's require more than 50% and that will not materialize for at least a couple more years

from today's Herald

Charlie Baker: State budget gap stands at $765M

-- that's double what Deval was saying and it could even be more as a lot of it is Medicaid related

The result is that there will be no funds for anything new until at least the FY 2017 budget is approved

 

[fattony]

Even Green Line to Medford is at least on hold for a while -- the Fed's require more than 50% and that will not materialize for at least a couple more years

wut?

 

[Arlington]

The result is that there will be no funds for anything new until at least the FY 2017 budget is approved

Objection, speculation on the part of the witness.

 

[whighlander]

Objection, speculation on the part of the witness.

Arlington -- see the post in the other thread

The budget deficit will have a significant impact on what happens in many sectors for the next 6 months and possibly beyond

It appears that for CFY14 [aka the Commonwealth's current Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2015]:

• revenues grew about 4% -- however this was less than what was expected in the budget
• spending from grew by more than 7% from CFY13 to CFY14 -- a lot of it due to Medicaid / Obamacare and the Health Connector

http://www.masstaxpayers.org/sites/masstaxpayers.org/files/MTF - FY15 Budget Risks.pdf

Table 1: Summary of Fiscal 2015 Budget Risks
Risk Category $ millions
Revenue Exposure (288)
Spending Exposure (525)
Temporary Medicaid (180) (300)
Total Risks to FY 15 Budget (993) (1,113)

 

[anthonyx26]

Just spotted this, a new presentation by the Wentworth team on their proposed RBC alternative...

An Alternative Vision for the Red/Blue Connector & Extension...

https://www.facebook.com/events/385754261607808

 

[Beton Brut]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwClKscseCk

 

[Shepard]

tl;dw summary?

 

[datadyne007]

tl;dw summary?

Blue Line to Riverside, via Park, Hynes, and Fenway. New station at Dartmouth. Newbury Street alignment. TBM tunneling from the Mass Ave Pike on-ramp across the Public Garden/Common.

 

[George_Apley]

Blue Line to Riverside, via Park, Hynes, and Fenway. New station at Dartmouth. Newbury Street alignment. TBM tunneling from the Mass Ave Pike on-ramp across the Public Garden/Common.

Interesting to get it on the radar. But getting Blue west of Charles/MGH should be a VERY low priority.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

I only watched half so excuse me if I missed something but I'm still not sold. I think fundamentally there are better ways to reach the end goal of increased capacity along the Green Line that would serve these areas better. The first thing I noticed about this is that there are no alternatives studied, they seemed to have just come up with a solution and found a way to work it out (which isn't a BAD plan, just not the best plan).

With this new plan they bypass Charles/MGH entirely which would actually put more pressure on the Red Line where it is most congested. Not that it is needed in the next 20 years but I think keeping open the Blue Line terminal so that it could be extended to Cambridge somehow would be a better option. Growth in Kendall Sq is exploding and the Red Line is the only connection. Veering the Blue Line south and west would leave you with very few options when the Red Line is bursting at Kendall.

 

[George_Apley]

I only watched half so excuse me if I missed something but I'm still not sold. I think fundamentally there are better ways to reach the end goal of increased capacity along the Green Line that would serve these areas better. The first thing I noticed about this is that there are no alternatives studied, they seemed to have just come up with a solution and found a way to work it out (which isn't a BAD plan, just not the best plan).

Yup. Any sort of Riverbank subway to Kenmore is a much later resort if Green Line growth cripples the line even after modernization and upgrades/expansions. Plus, as mentioned upthread, Blue should never take over the D branch. If it ever extends westward it should either just terminate at Kenmore or find a fresh route to Allston/Watertown.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

I like the idea of, after Charles, it crossing the river to the north side of Kendall Sq and then running southwest along the Grand Junction, crossing the Charles again, and terminating at West Station (hate that name). It's going to be a LONG time before that's needed but it would solve a lot of problems including Green Line congestion along the B.

 

[datadyne007]

Their numbers for costs & time are also very light.

I'm also in the camp that doesn't believe the BL should be barreling under Boston and into the D ROW. The BL should go elsewhere.

 

[whighlander]

I like the idea of, after Charles, it crossing the river to the north side of Kendall Sq and then running southwest along the Grand Junction, crossing the Charles again, and terminating at West Station (hate that name). It's going to be a LONG time before that's needed but it would solve a lot of problems including Green Line congestion along the B.

Van -- I think that you are right about crossing the Charles

My Blue Line extension:


Rebuilt Bowdoin a bit further down Charles St.

Deep Bore tunnel for the next few segments:

• New Station @ 2nd & Bent
• New Station @ One Kendall
• Junction with Red Line @ Central Sq.
• New Station @ Cambridge end of BU Bridge
• Connect to Green Line @ BU West
• West Station
• Terminates @ Guest Street

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Before this thread veers off course too much I've continued the Blue Line West thinking in the Crazy Transit Pitch thread.

 

[Scalziand]

One more thing re the Wentworth plan; the tbm is supposed to stay in the blue clay layer underneath the unstable fill layer.

As for riverside yard, they anticipate splitting it between Blue line and Green line trolleys, and having the trolley's dead head to Reservoir. The over head lines are compatible with both trainsets, but I don't know if the rail profiles are the same.

 

[Scalziand]

Their numbers for costs & time are also very light.

They didn't include the cost of expanding teh blue line fleet, for one thing.

 

[393b40]

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

Well I hope they like waiting. Baker might fix the MBTA but I doubt he is signing up for any expansion.

 

[Commuting Boston Student]

Well I hope they like waiting. Baker might fix the MBTA but I doubt he is signing up for any expansion.

If I recall correctly, the stated cost of Blue to Charles/MGH was $750 million. This is running entirely under a clean-roomed 60s urban-renewal boulevard and an "extension" of less than a mile, so the actual price point is likely lower and potentially significantly lower than that. This will also allow us to close Bowdoin and go a long way towards disentangling downtown transfers. There's frankly nothing else we can possibly do that's going to result in a more immediate and more permanent increase to core capacity simply for how much crush loading it's going to suck away from Park/State/DTX/Gov't Center.

If there's any "expansion" that I can see Baker going for, it's this.

 

[winstonoboogie]

If I recall correctly, the stated cost of Blue to Charles/MGH was $750 million. This is running entirely under a clean-roomed 60s urban-renewal boulevard and an "extension" of less than a mile, so the actual price point is likely lower and potentially significantly lower than that. This will also allow us to close Bowdoin and go a long way towards disentangling downtown transfers. There's frankly nothing else we can possibly do that's going to result in a more immediate and more permanent increase to core capacity simply for how much crush loading it's going to suck away from Park/State/DTX/Gov't Center.

If there's any "expansion" that I can see Baker going for, it's this.

The "max load" points on the Red Line during the peak are between Central and Kendall on the northside and between Broadway and South Station on the south. The max load points on the Green are between Hynes and Copley. Red/Blue does nothing to relieve crowding on the Red Line at its two most heavily utilized segments. We are getting by for two years (one year left to go) with Government Center being closed and all Blue/Red traffic being forced to use the very crowded Orange Line. Seems hard to make the case that the ability to make the Red/Blue transfer with the present network is at capacity when the capacity was cut in half for two years and the resulting crowding was considered acceptable.