Northern Avenue Bridge Fort Point Channel

Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Ron Newman said:
I just don't think it is sufficient for the amount of pedestrian traffic in this area, especially once Fan Pier and areas further east are built out.
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The future's teeming masses?
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Yes, infrastructure is good... if done by states that aren't Massachusetts, but this is a luxury footbridge, next to a brand new bridge - this is just not a piece of "infrastructure".
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

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City: Rebuild Northern Ave. span By Casey Ross, Globe Staff | November 14, 2008

Seeking to boost development of the South Boston Waterfront, Mayor Thomas M. Menino will tonight unveil plans to rebuild the old Northern Avenue Bridge, which connects the Seaport District to downtown.

The bridge over Fort Point Channel, with its distinctive steel trusses, will be reinforced to allow one lane of traffic for emergency vehicles, another for pedestrians, and a third for retail shops.

Yesterday, the city approved the first building that will be constructed in nearby Seaport Square, a 23-acre development on the waterfront that will include a dozen or more blocks of office buildings, residences, hotels, stores, and parks.

The bridge's rebuilding will be announced by Menino at an event tonight.
The span would also be elevated by 8 feet so it would not have to be opened for boat traffic at high tide. Currently, the bridge is used by pedestrians only because it cannot support vehicles. It has previously hosted a farmers' market.

"We'll be able to preserve and maintain the bridge and at the same time keep open the pedestrian connection," said Richard McGuinness, deputy director of waterfront planning for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Neighborhood meetings are being planned to consider the restoration plan.

The bridge has long been the subject of fanciful proposals, including one a decade ago to convert it into a mini Faneuil Hall-like destination.

Now, the city sees the bridge as a key connection to the new developments coming to the waterfront, as well as a link for the Harborwalk, which is currently difficult to navigate in that area.

McGuinness said the bridge reconstruction will cost between $35 million and $40 million. The city has obtained $9.5 million in federal aid for the work, but will seek additional money from state and federal sources as the project moves forward, he said.

Meanwhile, the Seaport Square building, to be developed by Boston Residential Group and Gale International, will be six stories, with 34 luxury condominiums above two floors of retail shops and underground parking. Its approval advances waterfront development that has been otherwise stalled by the frozen credit markets and weak economy. "We're hoping to get the Boston Residential project going as soon as possible, which would mean within the next six to nine months," said John B. Hynes III, Gale International's chief executive.

But Hynes acknowledged it is difficult to predict when the rest of the work will proceed.

"We used to be able to gauge that a little easier two months ago," said Hynes, who last week was forced to delay construction of the $700 million redevelopment of the Filene's block in Downtown Crossing.
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http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/11/14/city_rebuild_northern_ave_span/
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

What is that fucking mess in the photo?
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

^It looks like the entrance to Washington DC's Holocaust Museum... how warm and inviting!
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

By 'mess' do you mean the glass box? I assume it's to turn the middle section of the bridge into an enclosed climate-controlled area for the vendors.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

I think you could say the whole thing is a mess.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Oh okay. I get it now. The first rendering threw me for a loop, I had no idea what it was supposed to look like. Ugly. I'm certainly not against this bridge, I'm glad it was saved, but the glassy stuff is shit. Although, if they made that a permanent stone pier going along the middle, that would be pretty cool. Put like a mini lighthouse on the end. Would make it seem like what it should be- ex-industrial turned luxury loft village.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Not bad, better than it is now. Maybe in the spring and summer they can have hanging plants or some vines.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

What's the problem with this? One of the first things this city has done in awhile that I actually like.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

I take back what I said, I hate it. They should put something like the Calatrava footbridge in Buenos Aires here. It would look awesome contrasted against all the brick in the Fort Point area.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Why have some starchitect do something that will cost a billion $$ and will look like everything else they've done when we already have something that is uniquely Boston?
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

IMO Fort Port Channel is already clogged with too much contemporary psuedocrap. The warehouses of the Fort Point neighborhood have become the Blackstone Block of the area, huddled together against the flashy mass of the Convention Center, Denver-esque boulevards, and petty palaces of precast.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

It will continue to be developed in brick and look like more warehouse lofts. The channel itself is uniquely Boston. Most of the buildings surrounding this are already quintessentially Boston. I think a striking, modern light bridge would contrast nicely and provide an excellent gateway into the "contemporary pseudocrap" (is it fake crap or fake contemporary?) which with any luck will become a thriving modern neighborhood, with Fort Point and Fan Pier and the Courthouse balancing it out.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

what emergencies do buicks respond to exactly? To judge by the rendering that emergency lane will be dedicated to vehicular traffic and paved differently? also there is a glass hallway with trees somehow growing out of it? wtf is going on with that perspective?
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Most of the buildings surrounding this are already quintessentially Boston.
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By "most", don't you mean "only the ones on half of one side"?
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

By most, I mean the existing ones, and the ones that will exist in the future when the Fort Point development that died awhile ago gets going again-you know, the one with the pseudo-old-warehouses, turned loft apartments with clubs, dining, and retail on the first floor? A Calatrava bridge would look excellent contrasted against that.
 
Don't know if anyone posted about this yet...

They have finally begun to disassemble the decrepit rundown building next to the Northern Avenue Bridge on the Fort Point. Crane loads of garbage one bucket at a time. Did not have a camera to grab some pictures but I'm sure we will see some soon.

Saw there was a thread right after posting...I guess just move this.
 
BostonYoureMyHome said:
Don't know if anyone posted about this yet...

They have finally begun to disassemble the decrepit rundown building next to the Northern Avenue Bridge on the Fort Point. Crane loads of garbage one bucket at a time. Did not have a camera to grab some pictures but I'm sure we will see some soon.

I think this is the beginning stage of the new Boston Tea Party Museum, but I'm not sure.
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