Northern Avenue Bridge Fort Point Channel

[millerm277]

Sure, thats what they say. But by building it for vehicles, all it takes to allow all cars to use it is changing a sign.

The design shown is clearly not compatible with letting normal drivers on it for safety reasons as much as anything else.

The road intersection on the Atlantic side means it wouldn't accomplish much of anything with private traffic utilizing it.

It would be many times cheaper if it was designed only for peds, because you wouldnt need to support the weight of heavy vehicles.

If it was just a basic, narrower, bike/ped bridge to make a connection without any of the fanfare, sure. The huge thing being shown? Probably not so much.

A dense crowd of people weighs as much or more per sq ft than vehicles typically do. Your typical pedestrian bridge doesn't need massive supports and girders because it's narrow (in relative terms) and can't physically hold that many people for a unit of length.

But this thing as proposed has lots of space and is theoretical social space that you can very much expect will someday have a crowd of people shoulder to shoulder, whether that's for fireworks or an arts event, or whatever.

It'll have to be built to hold probably as much or more total weight than if it was a vehicle bridge. It'll certainly get far less wear and tear and need less maintenance/repairs by not seeing vehicle traffic, but I'm not sure that you save much on construction.

 

[stick n move]

I know they chose a design, which doesnt appear to be going anywhere lately, but I came across an interesting proposal and website that I had never seen before. Looks really good, much better than the other half assed proposal. This would truly be an icon on the other side of the skyline. It would also add a pinnacle and some flair to an otherwise buzz cut end of the skyline. Id love to see this built instead.

https://www.rosalespartners.com/project/northern-avenue-bridge-boston-ma/

 

[stick n move]

Heres the current proposal

 

[Charlie_mta]

Heres the current proposal

Ugh.

 

[Brattle Loop]

I know they chose a design, which doesnt appear to be going anywhere lately, but I came across an interesting proposal and website that I had never seen before. Looks really good, much better than the other half assed proposal. This would truly be an icon on the other side of the skyline. It would also add a pinnacle and some flair to an otherwise buzz cut end of the skyline. Id love to see this built instead.

https://www.rosalespartners.com/project/northern-avenue-bridge-boston-ma/

Am I the only one who finds that design weirdly too-tall? It looks like someone made a hybrid of the Zakim Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, which isn't a bad thing, but why is it so tall?

 

[JeffDowntown]

Am I the only one who finds that design weirdly too-tall? It looks like someone made a hybrid of the Zakim Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, which isn't a bad thing, but why is it so tall?

Too make it look like the mast of a sailing ship.

 

[jass]

We should have stuck to our new england roots

 

[BeyondRevenue]

We should have stuck to our new england roots

Honestly, that crossing is going to be windy and cold AF for a good part of the year. A modernized covered bridge with amenities wouldn’t be a bad idea. Movable glass walls — open for nice days closed for winter. Make it taller and with steel instead of wood. Put a bar in the middle with a dock below. People seem to put limits on what a bridge can be.

 

[crawform]

Is this project delayed indefinitely?

 

[BosDevelop]

Is this project delayed indefinitely?

Why do you say that? This thread is a year older than my teenage daughter.

 

[goldenretrievers]

found this recently...no idea of any project status

Northern Avenue Bridge - Boston Bold - A People First Experience

 

[Charlie_mta]

Is this project delayed indefinitely?

it seems that limbo is where a lot of erstwhile transportation projects in Massachusetts end up. There's an initial rolling out of the preliminary deign(s), but then nothing for years....for decades....for ever.

 

[lainpimicaja]

I've heard that this was definitely more of a priority under Walsh, when it got a lot of criticism given the cost relative to other citywide priorities (and Mayor Wu is definitely thinking citywide with other transportation projects and programs).

 

[stick n move]

It looks extremely expensive. I get wanting to make it nice, but theres so much extra/unnecessary stuff added on to that proposal that just blows up the cost. The platform that drops down to the water is cool, but is it really necessary with different harborwalk infrastructure all over the place nearby? Then they also added those beams that are only decorative to envoke the old bridge and create a visual of an “iconic”/gateway structure at the mouth of the channel. Again cool, but a lot of extra money for something with 0 structural value that I can see.

Thats okay, but for way cheaper they could just float in a prebuilt tied arch bridge and lift it in to place. It would be quick and easy to do plus have an “iconic” arch that is actually structural, and it could be lit up at night and would look great there. It could be a pretty small bridge too saving more money if they just make it wide enough for 2 dedicated center running bus lanes with bike/ped paths on either side. This would be cheap, functional, iconic, and easy to do. They need to go back to the drawing board and try again, theres options out there that can save costs and still be just as if not more iconic than this proposal in this spot.

Obviously something like this spanning the entire channel would be the most iconic, but also most expensive and not necessary here.

Instead they can use something small like this that just spans the center of the channel from the middle 2 piers.

 

[Smuttynose]

From this morning, no change except this is that much closer to collapsing and finally succumbing to the Harbor--

Can't we just fix this bridge? It's such a cool landmark and is squarely in one of the city's most photogenic areas (minus the existing bridge about to fall in). Watching this is depressing; for a city that is so successful economically, it is insane how inept we are at basic infrastructure maintenance. This should be such a cool landmark. Just fix it, try to maintain stuff. Other cities take care of their shit. Pittsburgh just rehabbed their Three Sisters bridges (three larger bridges) and Pittsburgh has weathered a lot more economic challenges than Boston. For a city that demolished so much under the guise of urban renewal, we don't really seem to have learned much.

 

[BeyondRevenue]

Just say it’s a life-sciences bridge and it will get unquestioned approval and and copious investment.

 

[Charlie_mta]

From this morning, no change except this is that much closer to collapsing and finally succumbing to the Harbor--

Can't we just fix this bridge? It's such a cool landmark and is squarely in one of the city's most photogenic areas (minus the existing bridge about to fall in). Watching this is depressing; for a city that is so successful economically, it is insane how inept we are at basic infrastructure maintenance. This should be such a cool landmark. Just fix it, try to maintain stuff. Other cities take care of their shit. Pittsburgh just rehabbed their Three Sisters bridges (three larger bridges) and Pittsburgh has weathered a lot more economic challenges than Boston. For a city that demolished so much under the guise of urban renewal, we don't really seem to have learned much.

I agree. I like the old truss bridges, and they can and should be rehabbed and preserved. I wish that this had been done with the North Washington Street bridge; replace as much of the truss as needed and rehab the rest. The truss bridges have a lot more character and context sensitivity to Boston than does the Miami/suburban new N Washington St bridge and some of the proposals I've seen to replace this bridge.

 

[stellarfun]

.... the Fort Point barrier idea. It would turn the channel into a giant bathtub when a particularly bad storm looms. The gates would be closed at low tide, allowing room to store roughly 160 million gallons of rainwater as the tide rises on the other side of the barrier. The excess water would then be released once the tide waters recede. Pumps could be activated, in a pinch, to release some of the water earlier during a long-running storm.
...
The bridge discussions continue to percolate, but the barrier concept offers a new twist. Why not build the bridge and the barrier together, improving its aesthetics and perhaps attracting some money to help defray the cost? The Hazen report envisions this as an option. Even if the bridge never gets rebuilt, Hazen’s alternatives include some sort of pedestrian path that would connect the downtown side to the Seaport.

Fort Point Channel floodgate idea advances, but how to pay for it? - The Boston Globe

A new report makes the case that the storm barrier could prevent billions of dollars in property damage if a catastrophic storm hits Boston when the tide is perilously high.

www.bostonglobe.com

 

[king_vibe]

The ugliest fucking thing in the world.

 

[Brattle Loop]

The ugliest fucking thing in the world.

It is kind of a neat trick to manage to make both a bridge and a flood barrier that ugly at the same time. I see the City Hall-school of architecture isn't quite dead yet...