Next big highway project?

It could have but the Central Artery was planned long before any expressways so any new expressway would have ultimately fed into the CA.
 
I can attest that people will avoid the Pike and SEE if mass transit is provided at the 128 belt. I lived near Riverside, and the streets were filled with overflow from two massive parking lots, especially on Red Sox game days and such. If the T would only extend every line to large terminals on 128: Red Line to Burlington, Orange Line to Reading/Westwood Station, Blue Line to Salem, etc, and have regular fast service, they'd see plenty of ridership, and it might cut down on congestion (then again, the Red Line and SEE concurrence may disprove my point).

That said, highways are necessary, and I've always thought Route 2 ending in a rotary was silly. I know that that was where it was supposed to meet US-3/I-695, but they should have found a way to let it end more gracefully. Even now, I'd like to see a Y-interchange for the parkways at Alewife there so traffic doesn't have to stop. Ending the SEE or I-93 in city streets, as has been suggested on this thread and elsewhere, underestimates the traffic impact on the city without highways.

Sure, Paris and London have street plans that look pretty and highly-developed mass transit systems. Both also have horrific traffic in their centers. Paris has just one expressway which marks its city limits, and I've been caught there for many hours getting in or out. Our system is simply more efficient than theirs, whatever its own inadequacies might be.

Our next highway project will be the rebuilding of the 93/95 interchange in Reading, followed by the other meeting in Canton (which is far more pressing, in my view). Then, hopefully, the completion of Rte. 3 to Interstate specs down to the Cape, after which it would become I-93. Just a little laundry list, and it leaves some stuff out, but precious little new pavement in there. "Highway project" does not imply massive new roads, merely improved transportation and decreased commute times.
 
The thing I would like to see is Rt. 24 going to 3 lanes at least to Rt. 140 or Fall River and perhaps 4 lanes north of 495. Those Wednesday and Friday afternoon drives to S. Dartmouth and Newport during the summer can be a royal bitch at times.
 
Isn't this another place where the breakdown lane could be appropriated for rush-hour travel? Let's not widen roads when we don't have to. Build a turnout every 5 miles or so for people who really need to pull off the road.
 
Sure, Paris and London have street plans that look pretty and highly-developed mass transit systems. Both also have horrific traffic in their centers. Paris has just one expressway which marks its city limits, and I've been caught there for many hours getting in or out. Our system is simply more efficient than theirs, whatever its own inadequacies might be.
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Actually, London has virtually eliminated traffic in the city center thanks to congestion pricing. And Paris has a significant highway network outside Paris proper, coursing through cities and towns that are for all intents and purposes as urban as the Paris city center itself.
 
Frank Eltman said:
Associated Press / January 28, 2008



OYSTER BAY, N.Y. - It would be the world's longest highway tunnel, running more than 16 miles under the west end of Long Island Sound.
more stories like this

The cost is estimated at $10 billion - and it wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime. A developer wants to build the tunnel with private money, recouping his costs by charging drivers $25 each way and by selling advertising.

Developer Vincent Polimeni says the tunnel between Oyster Bay and Rye on the New York mainland would let travelers going between Long Island and New England avoid crowded New York City highways and help alleviate traffic congestion.

While the planned tunnel would not be completed before 2025, the proposal received renewed attention this past week when a state Senate committee held a hearing.

Polimeni acknowledges that his idea was initially met with "smirks and skepticism." But he added, "The more people looked at the plan, the larger circle of intrigued citizens who said, 'Tell me more.' "

The tunnel also brought back memories of Robert Moses, the powerful New York municipal planner who was rebuffed in his bid to build a bridge over Long Island Sound three decades ago. Long Island officials savaged Moses for his plan.

"Considering that we're on Long Island, I'm amazed they didn't run me out of the room," Polimeni, a developer of malls and office buildings in the New York area and in Poland, said during a recess at the hearing Thursday. "I think it's a good sign."

John Venditto, town supervisor of Oyster Bay, described the project as "intriguing to say the least," but said his initial reaction was "it is unrealistic." He promised to review the data, "so we don't have to make knee-jerk reactions, and we can make an informed decision."

Elected officials from the proposed northern terminus were not as congenial.

"We cannot in Westchester [County] absorb the additional traffic that this tunnel would bring to our roads," said Mayor Steven Otis of Rye. "It simply would make our roads nonfunctional."

He said the Westchester Municipal Officials Association voted in December to oppose the project.

Some Long Island residents agree with Otis. Gino Longinotti of nearby Syosset said he was curious about the project but didn't "see it being feasible. We have traffic conditions now where all the roads are congested."

Polimeni contends that the estimated 80,000 vehicles a day using the tunnel would simply represent a shift in the roads being used, not an increase. He also says the tunnel would ease air pollution because vehicles would be traveling shorter distances.

Polimeni has paid $250,000 out of his own pocket for engineering studies and Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. is providing investment banking advice.

Polimeni has also employed the engineering and construction firm Hatch Mott MacDonald, which has been involved in tunnel projects worldwide, including the 30-mile railroad "Chunnel" that connects Great Britain and France.

At 16 to 18 miles long, depending on the final design, the Long Island Sound project would eclipse Norway's 15.2-mile Laerdal Tunnel as the world's longest highway tunnel.

It would consist of two tubes carrying three lanes of traffic each, plus a central tunnel to be used for maintenance access and emergency ventilation and egress.

Where Moses - the man responsible for many of New York's major spans, including the Verrazano Narrows - failed in his bid to bridge the sound, Polimeni is not discouraged. "Moses had the idea, only he was going to go up and over and nobody wanted to see this," he said.

The key to his strategy, is to take the project underground: "I thought, make it stealth."
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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/a...er_proposes_tunnel_beneath_long_island_sound/

I'd bet a solid chunk of change that this doesn't happen in my lifetime (or beyond for that matter).
 
The eastern half of Long Island would start seeing some pretty massive traffic. They'd have to extend the LIE all the way to the tip, and I think that would be a big mistake. I think a better solution would be to build a rail tunnel like the Chunnel. You would gain the connectivity without the traffic.
 
This proposal wouldn't come near the Eastern portion of Long Island. Rye is where I-287 and I-95 meet, and Oyster Bay is SE of there. There would need to be a highway connection between Oyster Bay and the LIE and other highways, which might be the biggest obstacle to such a proposal, despite the Oyster Bay official being "intrigued".
 
I think something needs to be done with the SE Expressway in the form of creating an elevated HOV lane and adding a full breakdown from the rt3 split, all the way past Savin Hill. It really puts a damper on traffic when there are long stretches where it is only 3 lanes and no breakdown lane during rush hour. Elevating an HOV lane would allow 4 lanes in each direction and and a breakdown lane would allow for disabled vehicle to be pushed to the side by state troopers.


Another project I would like to see, although very unlikely would be to burry the B and C Green lines underground to help make them run faster. It's terrible to think it can take almost an hour to get from points along Comm Ave to downtown. The Charlie card has helped make things run smoother, but making everything underground and have passengers pay before they can stand on the platform, like the Orange, Red and Blue lines, would make things faster.
 
mass88 said:
Another project I would like to see, although very unlikely would be to burry the B and C Green lines underground to help make them run faster. It's terrible to think it can take almost an hour to get from points along Comm Ave to downtown. The Charlie card has helped make things run smoother, but making everything underground and have passengers pay before they can stand on the platform, like the Orange, Red and Blue lines, would make things faster.
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Hopefully they'd remove half the stops on the B line - most you can see the next stop from where you wait. That's another big reason it's so ineffective.
 
They need to upgrade Route 3 to I-293 or I-795. Needs widening and safety improvement on route 1 from Northeast Expressway to I-95 or upgrade it to highway standard and change to I-95/Rt 1. Have the Tobin Bridge for 2-5 more years and replace it with a 6 to 8 lane double deck suspension bridge or Self-anchored suspension double deck bridge and decoration lights on it. Extend I-90 to the East Boston Expressway and improve safety on it. I hope there is going to be a I-95 project that goes through Boston without destroying any houses because it sucks that I-95 goes around Boston instead of going through it and the beltway will be I-595/Rt 128.
 
cool36 said:
They need to upgrade Route 3 to I-293 or I-795. Needs widening and safety improvement on route 1 from Northeast Expressway to I-95 or upgrade it to highway standard and change to I-95/Rt 1.
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You ever spoken to anyone from the South Shore and asked them what they think of improving Rt. 3?

cool36 said:
Have the Tobin Bridge for 2-5 more years and replace it with a 6 to 8 lane double deck suspension bridge or Self-anchored suspension double deck bridge and decoration lights on it.
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Sounds awesome! Will unicorns fund this project?

cool36 said:
Extend I-90 to the East Boston Expressway and improve safety on it. I hope there is going to be a I-95 project that goes through Boston without destroying any houses because it sucks that I-95 goes around Boston instead of going through it and the beltway will be I-595/Rt 128.
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A bit of history -- I-95 would have been built north to Danvers in the 70's, but Governor Sargent put a moratorium on construction, and the land was sold to developers during the first Dukakis administration (yet another case of the 'burbs sticking it to the urbs). You may wanna chat up some folks in Saugus and Lynnfield about cutting eight lanes of blacktop through their towns...
 
I think the last thing we need to do is expand the highway system in urban areas. Route 3 on the South Shore could use an extra lane simply to improve safety for people merging on and off and to loosen up a little of the congestion on that stretch of highway. Route 24 could use a third lane between the 495 cloverleaf and exit 12 in Taunton (Galleria Mall Exit) because that gets backed up regularly.

But in urban areas, focus should be on improving mass transit and expanding the existing routes of both the subway and commuter rail lines (in the case of the commuter rail, more frequent trains would be nice although i have no idea how to do it). We're at a point now where if you add new highways and lanes to existing roadways in the city, you'll only be encouraging more automotive traffic. Not to mention the fact that more highways and lanes will only add cars to the roadways making a wider highway just as congested as the highway was before it was widened.
 
Beton Brut said:
You ever spoken to anyone from the South Shore and asked them what they think of improving Rt. 3?



Sounds awesome! Will unicorns fund this project?



A bit of history -- I-95 would have been built north to Danvers in the 70's, but Governor Sargent put a moratorium on construction, and the land was sold to developers during the first Dukakis administration (yet another case of the 'burbs sticking it to the urbs). You may wanna chat up some folks in Saugus and Lynnfield about cutting eight lanes of blacktop through their towns...
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I made a mistake. I was talking about US 3.
 
I think any highway project should be out around and past 495. Upgrading the Worcester-Providence Turnpike to interstate clearances for instance.

At the very least some signage changes like making Route 3 I-93 would really help people from out of town.
 
Are there underpasses on the Worcester-Providence road that large trucks cannot clear?

I agree about re-signing Route 3 south, though the I-93 signage would have to end just short of the Sagamore bridge (and thus not connect to I-495 or I-195).

The section of ex-Route 128 between I-95 and Route 3 would need a new number since it would no longer be I-93.
 
Route 3 could be renumbered as I-93 all the way to the new interchange with Route 6 on the north end of the Sagamore Bridge. Route 3A could be renumbered as route 3.

Route 128 from I-93 to I-95 could be renumbered as I-393.
 
At the very least some signage changes like making Route 3 I-93 would really help people from out of town.
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Or just a warning sign saying "if you can't read this you're not home right now".
 
All good ideas about the numbering. Some reasons why the obvious hasn't happened (which you probably knew):

Interstate designations (to my understanding) come with a great deal of red tape. An interstate highway must meet a number of FHD criteria, which many roads in NE (Route 3, for example) don't meet. In fact, the old Central Artery, built before the regs and grandfathered in, was so bad in places the Feds refused to post the I-93 signs on it. Of course Route 3 should be I-93, but it will first have to be upgraded, not so much in width as in interchange safety and roadway improvements (grading, banking, etc)

The same applies to Rte. 146 (Worcester-Providence). While with completion of current construction the road will be interstate-grade from Worcester to the Turnpike, the rest of the route has some lower-capacity sections that will still have to be upgraded before it can receive any interstate numbering.

US-3 is a different story. I believe the MA section is now interstate-grade, and could be given a designation as far as Nashua. The main reason for applying for a designation, however, is to qualify for certain types of federal highway funds. Since US-3 already is a federal road, MAEOT probably doesn't want to go through the hassle of applying, especially when 3 is a simpler number than 293 (the probable interstate designation, since that's what they call it in Manchester).

Furthermore, the F.E. Everett Turnpike in NH isn't up to standards (as far as I know). If it was, it would probably have the 293 label already. If NHDOT decides to improve it, we could theoretically see an Interstate 293 from Burlington to Manchester.

One final reason MA probably won't change the number: the current exit numbering system continues Rte. 3's numbering system from the South. This dates back to the time when US-3 was intended to continue to the Inner Belt in Cambridge (along a portion of Rte. 2) and then around to the south down the S.E. Expressway, so the entire route from the Canadian Border to the Cape would have been US-3. MA-3 is supposed to be a virtual extension of US-3 beyond its current terminus in Boston, so I doubt the EOT will want to change the number of one section without affecting the other.

Most likely solution is that when and if these roads all meet standards, all the number changes occur, with I-93 to the Cape, and I-293 to Manchester (or at least to Nashua), and the portion of I-93 south of Braintree taking on some other number, perhaps simply Rte. 128.
 
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