Mystic River megaproject

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Kahta

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Everyone should be pleased with this one

http://goo.gl/maps/NKTd

The existing natural gas facilities would be moved offshore

Stage 1 of the urban ring would run along a planned boulevard in the redeveloped area

A relocated Route 1 would pass underneath it all-- there would be an interchange with one of the planned boulevards.

Route 16 would be relocated from it's current alignment onto a new one that takes it below grade with Route 1

The Blue Line would be extended to Lynn.

The Northeast Expressway would be extended to 1A at the southern end of the Lynnway and with an interchange at 107, would remove a lot of the traffic problems that the area currently faces.

Route 1 through Chelsea would be downgraded to a boulevard

I-93 would be rebuilt below it's current alignment as a cut and cover

The redeveloped area would be targeted to the same population density as the surrounding area-- street parking would be deeded separately to allow a market for parking spaces instead of unlimited resident stickers. Minimal parking lots on the actual land itself except for driveways
 
More modestly, I'd like to see bike-ped access restored between Chelsea and Charlestown. This was lost when the Tobin Bridge replaced the old Chelsea Street low-level drawbridge. Let's have a new drawbridge next to the Tobin.

Connectivity from the new Assembly Square T station across the Mystic River to Everett is also very much needed.
 
Ron Newman said:
Connectivity from the new Assembly Square T station across the Mystic River to Everett is also very much needed.
Click to expand...

Local officials keep rallying to open up access over the Earheart Dam, but state officials won't listen.
 
Kahta said:
Everyone should be pleased with this one

http://goo.gl/maps/NKTd

The existing natural gas facilities would be moved offshore

Stage 1 of the urban ring would run along a planned boulevard in the redeveloped area

A relocated Route 1 would pass underneath it all-- there would be an interchange with one of the planned boulevards.

Route 16 would be relocated from it's current alignment onto a new one that takes it below grade with Route 1

The Blue Line would be extended to Lynn.

The Northeast Expressway would be extended to 1A at the southern end of the Lynnway and with an interchange at 107, would remove a lot of the traffic problems that the area currently faces.

Route 1 through Chelsea would be downgraded to a boulevard

I-93 would be rebuilt below it's current alignment as a cut and cover

The redeveloped area would be targeted to the same population density as the surrounding area-- street parking would be deeded separately to allow a market for parking spaces instead of unlimited resident stickers. Minimal parking lots on the actual land itself except for driveways
Click to expand...

Kahta -- if you want a real Mystic Mega Project -- back a few decades ago I played around with the concept of a cut through from Chelsea Creek to the Pines River and the open Atlantic

This would have vastly improved the effeciency of Boston's Inner Harbor as there would be no need to back out of Chesea Creek into the Mystic -- sometimes coming very close to the Charlestown pier of the bridge -- the empty tankers could just head directly out through the Creek and on through the cut to the Point of Pines
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Local officials keep rallying to open up access over the Earheart Dam, but state officials won't listen.
Click to expand...

It's more complicated than that. The Charles River dam locks open only for boat traffic, but the Mystic dam is left open for hours at a time for flood control purposes.
 
Ron Newman said:
It's more complicated than that. The Charles River dam locks open only for boat traffic, but the Mystic dam is left open for hours at a time for flood control purposes.
Click to expand...

I thought they have flood gates under the building on the dam? Those aren't enough?
 
We had some talk about this at the Somerville Bicycle Committee, which I'm a member of. We were told that the Charles River Dam has flood spillways separate from the locks, but the Mystic dam does not.

When the Mystic dam was built in the 1970s, there was no reason to seriously consider pedestrian access, as there were only industrial areas on either side (and declining ones, at that)
 
Ron Newman said:
We had some talk about this at the Somerville Bicycle Committee, which I'm a member of. We were told that the Charles River Dam has flood spillways separate from the locks, but the Mystic dam does not.

When the Mystic dam was built in the 1970s, there was no reason to seriously consider pedestrian access, as there were only industrial areas on either side (and declining ones, at that)
Click to expand...

Ron -- the challenge has to do with the ability to balance a major inflow to the river basin due to heavy rain on the watershed with outflow to the harbor

Boston has this really big tidal swing (3 m typical with almost anouther m for astronomical high tide with optimum lunar / solar alignment) -- what happens if it rains really hard and the dam gates are closed with the tidal river on the other side above the level of the basin

That's why when the New Charles River Dam was built downstream from the old MOS dam -- 6 huge diesel-powered, 2700 horsepower turbo-charged engines drive six pumps with a combined capacity of about 3.7 million US gallons (14,000 m3) per minute

On the Mystic -- the watershed is considerably smaller so the pumping capacity could be less -- from the wiki article

Today's dam, named for Amelia Earhart, was built in 1966. It has three locks to allow the passage of boats, and is equipped with pumps to push fresh water out to the harbor even during high tide. Dam operators leave the locks open at times to allow the passage of fish. There is a fish ladder, but it has never been functional. The dam is closed to the public.
Click to expand...
 
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Looking at that map - why not extend a branch of the urban ring across the newly-downgraded Tobin Bridge to access the Navy Yard and connect to the Harbor Trolley route?
 
BostonUrbEx said:
I thought they have flood gates under the building on the dam? Those aren't enough?
Click to expand...


So that's why. I thought about it before that having a connection there would help traffic a lot as it gives another artery rather than the current configuration of about 4 ways to cross the river and each very spread out.

Can't they just build on top of the dam with so cars (and pedestrians) have another way to get over the bridge?
 
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