MBTA Winter 2015: Failure and Recovery

Other records Boston has set during this stretch include:

- Record 30-day snowfall: 94.4 inches from Jan. 24- Feb. 22, 2015, inclusive (previous record: 58.8 inches from Jan. 9 - Feb. 7, 1978). Incredibly, this 30-day total would be the third snowiest season!

- Record snowfall for meteorological winter (December, January and February): 97.3 inches as of Feb. 22 (previous record: 81.5 inches in 1993-94; of the 107.6 inches in 1995-96, only 79.4 inches came in December, January and February)

- Record snow depth*: 37 inches on Feb. 9 (previous record: 31 inches on Jan. 11, 1996; * gaps in this dataset exist)

- Fastest six-foot snowfall: 72.5 inches in 18 days from Jan. 24 - Feb. 10, 2015 (previous record: 73 inches in 45 days from Dec. 29, 1993 to Feb. 11, 1994)

- Fastest 90-inch snowfall: 23 days from Jan. 24 - Feb. 15, 2015 (previous record: 78 days from Dec. 30, 1993 to Mar. 17, 1994)

- Four calendar days with at least 12 inches of snow, a first for any snow season (previously, only two seasons had as many as two such days, in 1977-1978 and 1960-1961 seasons)

- At least 0.5 inch of snow had fallen 6 straight days through Feb. 12, topping the previous such record stretch of 5 days in 1943. The record stretch of measurable snow (at least 0.1 inch) was 9 straight days ending on Mar. 10, 1916.

- Most days with measurable snow in a month: 14 so far in February, tying the record of 14 days in March 1916, January 1923 and January 1994. It also breaks the record for the month of February, which was previously 13 days set in 1907 and 1967.

- Finally, the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts set an all-time snow depth record on the morning of February 15.

- While not a snow record per se, part of the difficulty Boston has faced in dealing with the snow is the persistent cold weather, which has prevented any meaningful snowmelt. The city recorded 28 consecutive days with lows 20 degrees or colder from Jan. 25 through Feb. 21 (inclusive), breaking the all-time record of 27 consecutive days set Jan. 12 through Feb. 7, 1881.
Click to expand...


http://www.weather.com/news/news/new-england-boston-record-snow-tracker
 
I can almost PROMISE you that next winter, they'll have some kind of system in place that will make commuting to and from work during rush hour far less painful than what has happened THIS winter!

If they don't then they'll just be kicking themselves in the butt, knowing full well what might very well happen again. :eek:
 
stefalarchitect said:
f lines are capped/tunneled (say, for example, part of the red line,) more focus and workers can be used to clear other lines that exist above ground, and thus leading to a quicker and more efficient clearing after the snow storm. I realize that this would cost a lot of money (which we all know the T does not currently have) and the T would have to operate a top-notch system during these snow storms to avoid delays, but its just an idea.
Click to expand...


How hard would it be to cover the OL's SW corridor trench? I understand the difficulty in covering the NEC trench, but it seems like the Orange Line could be covered at fairly low cost, until you reach the portal for the fantasy Roslindale extension just south of Forest Hills.
 
How about a canopy over certain portions of the system covered with photovoltaics? The canopy would not need to fully "seal" the lines but provide adequate cover for most snow storms. An air rights lease with a solar developer and power purchase agreement could help to offset some of the T's electricity use.
 
Semass said:
How about a canopy over certain portions of the system covered with photovoltaics? The canopy would not need to fully "seal" the lines but provide adequate cover for most snow storms. An air rights lease with a solar developer and power purchase agreement could help to offset some of the T's electricity use.
Click to expand...

I like this idea a lot. It's a reasonable fix that could eventually bring much needed revenue to the T.

It wouldn't have to be this drastic, but here are some images of a similar idea in Europe, with 16,000 solar panels covering the train lines.
16000-Solar-Panel-Train-Tunnel-2.jpg

belgium_solar_tunnel_Enfin.jpg
 
I doubt very seriously if we'll se that here! But it would probably be good if they did.

My guess is that they're not going to fork up the dough for it. Hah! :idea:
 
Last edited:
HenryAlan said:
How hard would it be to cover the OL's SW corridor trench? I understand the difficulty in covering the NEC trench, but it seems like the Orange Line could be covered at fairly low cost, until you reach the portal for the fantasy Roslindale extension just south of Forest Hills.
Click to expand...

This would probably work for almost all of the open areas of the rapid transit system, however on the flip side of the coin, you probably can't do the same to the commuter rail tracks due to freight clearance requirements. F-Line and the rest of the experts will probably tell me if I'm right or wrong on that though.
 
Arlington said:
One more picture you need to see. How far beyond normal February has been (and article at FiveThirtyEight). Note, I think that that's the "Blizzard of 78" there in the late 70s with "its month" at 36 inches. And you see 2005 was busy, and in general there is an undeniable climate change toward snowier months. Pretty much "the hockey stick" in the sudden appearance of months in the 35" to 40" range. And then our current 58.5"
Click to expand...

Arlington -- Not to dump snow on your Climate Change :) -- but part of the amazing amount of snow is Measurement Change

while its a bit subtle -- gnerdly-stuff Dave Epstein explains it in his recent blog

http://www.boston.com/news/weather/weather_wisdom/2015/02/when_will_we_see_bare_ground_a.html

here's the gist with my highlights bolded

When Will We See Bare Ground And Have We Really Had 100 Inches Of Snow?
David Epstein
@GrowingWisdom Boston.com Correspondent
FEBRUARY 23, 2015 2:14 PM
...Since the 23rd of January more snow has fallen than would typically be had in an entire winter. Most areas have seen about 100 inches of snow this season , at least that’s what’s in the record books. But if that much snow has fallen, where is it all? Sarcastically you might answer in your backyard, but seriously, where did all that snow go?

Temperatures have been below freezing 22 days since January 23rd. In February alone, Boston has had 62 inches of snow and nearly the entire time has been under 32F. Depending on where you live, most areas have between 20 and 40 inches of snow on the ground.

snowdepth12523.jpg


How We Measure
If this winter had occurred 40 years ago, the amount of snow measured in each storm would have been less and therefore Boston would not have had 100 inches of snow right now. You might think this is ridiculous, isn’t a foot of snow in 1965 the same as foot of snow in 2015? The answer is no.

Decades ago snow was measured differently. Today, we have snow boards. According the National Weather Service, “A snowboard should be any lightly colored board that is about 2 feet by 2 feet. A piece of plywood painted white works very well. Ideally, it should be painted white to minimize heating by sunlight.” These boards are used to measure the snow that falls. They are measured and cleared every 6 hours or 4 times each day. The measurements are then added up and that’s the total amount of snow for a storm. Here’s the problem. This eliminates a percentage of compaction that occurs during snowstorms. This creates inflated snow amounts as compared to older records. It’s not that our snow amounts today are wrong; it’s just that they can’t be compared to earlier storms or years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Epstein has been a professional meteorologist and horticulturalist for three decades. David spent 16 years at WCVB in Boston and currently is a meteorology professor at Framingham State College and teaches a January Program at Colby College
Click to expand...

Also if you go back to the early 20th C the measurement was not taken at Logan as it is today

So just like city measures of temperatures that today are high due to the measurement process and location -- snow fall is also high

Moral of this story -- the Blizzards and other storms of the late 19th C and earlier

These and others individual storms and complete devastating seasons in the pre-industrial era were likely just as substantial if not more so than the February of 2015 -- we can not definitively know
 
Last edited:
The limitation on the Southwest Corridor is not height for the most part - there's no freight, certainly no doublestack freight, so the highest clearances you'll ever need is the current bilevels under wires. But the more of it you cover, the more serious you have to get about ventilation, until you reach a point where it's mostly/all electrics running.
 
Right -- that's why I only suggested it for the Orange Line.
 
HenryAlan said:
How hard would it be to cover the OL's SW corridor trench? I understand the difficulty in covering the NEC trench, but it seems like the Orange Line could be covered at fairly low cost, until you reach the portal for the fantasy Roslindale extension just south of Forest Hills.
Click to expand...



That would more than likely be far too costly, not to mention time-consuming, possibly causing delays with service and no doubt, creating another years-long "Big-Dig-style" venture into uncharted waters.

Also, Amtrak would probably want the same thing for THEIR part of the trench, slowing down service on THAT side as well. Why create a monster, where or when it does not have to be created? :eek:
 
Jahvon09 said:
Also, Amtrak would probably want the same thing for THEIR part of the trench, slowing down service on THAT side as well. Why create a monster, where or when it does not have to be created? :eek:
Click to expand...

The problem with the Amtrak side of things is that you start running into clearance issues with the catenary system. And the other problem is if you cover 2 tracks (Orange Line) but leave 3 exposed (Amtrak & Commuter Rail) what happens when you get snow that is blown under the solar cover, which could very likely happen in a windy snow storm.
 
On Highlander's new inches != old inches, that is good stuff! Still 37" of snow-on-ground appears to not have the fluff/compaction problem and is an all time record.

On the worry of blown snow under cover, I thnik that's a non-issue in that those amounts can be handled by traditional train-plows-itself clearing

I believe the one in the picture {works no differently than an avalanche shelter over a mountain pass rail line}
 
Last edited:
This article in Commonwealth Magazine does a good job collating a number of articles about the ongoing battle between the "fix the core first" camp and the "continue expanding while fixing the core" camp.

"Battle for MBA's Soul Underway"

http://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/battle-mbtas-soul-underway/

There are a number of links within this piece, to the Globe, Herald, Cape News, Patriot Ledger, etc. More of a collation of others' reporting rather than her own reporting, but still a good gathering of different pieces of the battle.

I can't say how happy I am this battle is happening more in the public eye now, instead of being below the local media's radar screen most of the time.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
Don't think I've seen this posted here yet. Aloisi's opinion piece in Commonwealth Magazine is very good. It needs to be distributed far and wide, despite the fact that it's TL;DR for the layman...

http://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/short-long-term-plan/
Click to expand...

I've really enjoyed Aloisi's rise to relevance again throughout this ordeal. He's a brilliant man who can see a way forward. I'm glad he's writing these articles & being very active on social media. He's definitely succeeding in getting non-transit people talking about these matters. I've seen people posting stuff from him on FB and Twitter.

It'd be great if Baker could bring him in as a consultant or something.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
Don't think I've seen this posted here yet. Aloisi's opinion piece in Commonwealth Magazine is very good. It needs to be distributed far and wide, despite the fact that it's TL;DR for the layman...

http://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/short-long-term-plan/
Click to expand...

It's a good piece with lots of good ideas, but I have some issues:

- His "cut highway projects in the MBTA district idea" sounds good until you get to the section later where he defends every transit extension project far and wide as being good for something. Tell me what highway projects in Boston you'd cut, or I'm going to see this as a trojan horse. Would you cut Allston/Brighton? Canton? 128 add-a-lane that eliminates the breathtaking insanity of breakdown lane travel? Highway projects can enhance regional equity and create economic benefits just as much as transit projects, and there's a ton of deferred maintenance on that side of the ledger too (MA does not "lavish money" on highways, not even close).

- He throws out VMT taxing in conjunction with AET without connecting the two. Clearly, he means that all drivers would be taxed (somehow through a pilot program) for all mileage driven, not just for the Turnpike. That's fine, but he obfuscates his meaning and offers no concrete details on how to implement the program other than "eh, we'll do a pilot."

- He claims that Worcester needed Commuter Rail service because it "wasn't connected to our only east-west interstate highway." Umm... it was, by I-290 and then by MA-146. I know that I-90 doesn't go through the middle of Worcester because they pissed Callahan off, but I'm pretty sure that they're fine with that in Worcester.
 
We've been down a lane on Huntington inbound from S Huntington to Brigham for a few weeks now and though there is a lot of traffic, it's actually similar to the average traffic. Perhaps that's an indication that we can add a bus/trolley only lane, even if in only one direction.
 
MassDOT Board of Directors have voted unanimously to make Frank DePaola MBTA Interim General Manager.

https://blog.mass.gov/transportatio...d-names-depaola-interim-mbta-general-manager/

“I want to thank the Board of Directors for their trust in my abilities, and I am excited to take on this critical role at the MBTA,” DePaola said. “I also look forward to assisting with the Special Panel’s search to get to the root cause of the issues our transit system faces. Once the issues are diagnosed, I look forward to helping implement a strategy to restore our system to full strength, and restoring our customers’ faith in our ability to provide safe, reliable, efficient transit service.”

“I cannot think of a better, more qualified person to take the reins immediately, and provide the necessary leadership to move our transit system in the right direction,” said MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott. “I can leave this job I’ve loved, knowing that MBTA customers as well as employees are in very capable hands and I look forward to working with Frank during the transition process.”
Click to expand...
 
sm89 said:
We've been down a lane on Huntington inbound from S Huntington to Brigham for a few weeks now and though there is a lot of traffic, it's actually similar to the average traffic. Perhaps that's an indication that we can add a bus/trolley only lane, even if in only one direction.
Click to expand...

^This. Traffic has been fairly NORMAL (which is usually pretty heavy) with one less lane. A dedicated lane would help the flow considerably since commuters wouldn't have to wait on sidewalk to board in the middle, holding up traffic. This would speed up the #39 round trip as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top