Northern Avenue Bridge Fort Point Channel

Every city on earth is scrambling to copy the High Line. Must Boston, too?
 
Just because you put flowers on a piece of old infrastructure doesn't mean it is, or is trying to be, the high-line. A 50 yard bridge can't be that by definition. While a more complete build out of the bridge would be ideal, I think at its most basic the rest of the bridge needs to be made safe and open for foot traffic. Then put some flowers on it and its fine for what it is, a bridge over water. As the Seaport and James Hook eventually build up and become successful, some developer will find the bridge a viable rehab investment.
 
Uh, yeah. I don't think anyone has to worry about confusing this project with the HighLine.

A WalMart parking lot, maybe.

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Christ, that is awful.
 
It also hasn't been designed yet but that would never get in the way of some good old ArchBoston whining
 
Just when I thought people on this board had found the most ridiculous thing to complain about, along comes someone paying for a couple of free potters and it's the end of civilization as we know it.
 
I wouldn't expect a profound transformation from $50,000 but it's pretty absurd that there seems to be no plan to open the whole bridge to pedestrians and remove the heinous chain link fence (which the rendering shows unapologetically - I wonder why?). Until then, this will just look like a dilapidated bridge that someone tried to pretty up with planters and a cheesy paint scheme.

And before anyone shouts, I do still think that's better than a dilapidated bridge with no flowers. I take the opportunity however to wonder whether there is any real vision at work whatsoever.
 
statler said:
Uh, yeah. I don't think anyone has to worry about confusing this project with the HighLine.

A WalMart parking lot, maybe.

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Christ, that is awful.
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Could we refer to this as the "'Are You Fucking High?' Line"?
 
It might look better if they planted wisteria in all the planters to grow up and over the bridge. It would give the effect of the pergolas in Christopher Columbus Park which I think looks good.
But to avoid the disaster of the North End parks pergolas, which are metal and therefore too hot for anything to grow up on them, they would need to erect wooden beams up and over the bridge for the vines to grow on.
 
underground said:
Just when I thought people on this board had found the most ridiculous thing to complain about, along comes someone paying for a couple of free potters and it's the end of civilization as we know it.
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Think in context. Is it really beyond the realm of possibility that in five years some community group will claim that these new planters constitute a park ... flash forward to shadow restrictions ...
I'd much rather see this place embraced for what it is - a pedestrian bridge. Give me coffee shacks and c-store type kiosks. Maybe a restaurant at the old bridge house.
 
I'd rather have a bare, cleaned up bridge than those cheap, ugly planters with unnecessary colored paving.
 
On the evening of*Tuesday, October 29, Mayor Thomas M. Menino will "flip the switch" to inaugurate a dramatic and artistic illumination of the Northern Avenue Bridge.*This permanent installation was made possible by Boston Public Works. It was coordinated by Light Boston and designed by Boston artist John Powell.
*
The hundred-year-old, industrial-age girders and built-up structure will "take the light" magnificently, dancing to a changing spectrum of LED lighting. *The public, especially members of civic organizations concerned with joy of understanding and husbanding the richness of our physical environment, is encouraged to join the celebration. The program is scheduled to start at about*6 p.m., with the main event - the illumination - coming alive at*6:30.*
*
Light Boston is an advocacy group that has been organizing the illumination of remarkable aspects of our city since the early 1990s.
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From Boston Preservation Alliance
 
I agree it should be cleaned up and left to itself. BU bridge has a whole new life after its renovation.

cca
 
Whoa.

Wait, what we saw this summer was the end result of the plantings? Yikes. I walked through there a couple months ago (on my DMU trip) and was so depressed.

Wayback machine: 1989. Proposal calls for a new bridge (the Moakley Bridge) and for the redesign of the Old Northern Ave Bridge - bridge will be permanently "open" and "serve as an historic sea-oriented museum and landing area".

 
JohnAKeith said:
Whoa.

Wait, what we saw this summer was the end result of the plantings? Yikes. I walked through there a couple months ago (on my DMU trip) and was so depressed.

Wayback machine: 1989. Proposal calls for a new bridge (the Moakley Bridge) and for the redesign of the Old Northern Ave Bridge - bridge will be permanently "open" and "serve as an historic sea-oriented museum and landing area".

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John,

The original proposal was to rotate the bridge open and connect the center with two narrow pedestrian bridges -- There were unexpected structural problems with leaving the bridge open but unsupported

There were subsequent proposals to jack-up the open span off the center pier for clearance on two new piers and then link the two fixed ends sections with connector 1/2 bridges -- this idea was priced-out of consideration

Thus, since the channel remains a navigable waterway with the its limits being imposed by the clearance of the permanent Moakley Bridge -- we are left with a mostly closed pedestrian bridge as is or as can be done on a temporary basis

I would humbly suggest that a single pair of sidewalks be created on the two edges with a series of semi-permanent kiosks and planters installed along the central axis with the most massive and significant near to the center where the weight can be supported if the bridge has to be opened

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