Overpasses in and around Boston

Matthew said:
Random fun thing I found on the internets, a 1931 plan for an overpass in Brookline Village: http://www.highstreethill.org/history/overpass.html
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That's Route 9. There's really not much difference between that and the existing overpass they have now about 200 hundred yards to the east (supporting the Jamaica Way). The one located at the intersection of Huntington Avenue with South Huntington Avenue..

I tried to spin Google Maps around to be in the same direction.
See top of the page. Next to A.i.

https://maps.google.com/?ll=42.331987,-71.115205&spn=0.005893,0.007389&t=h&deg=270&z=18
 
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Ron Newman said:
When is Brookline going to remove the disused pedestrian overpass in that area?
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I know an acquaintance that works security at that building. The Pedestrian Overpass goes above Route 9 to the New England Institute of Art. a/k/a "Ai". From what I was made aware, the overpass is off limits. The ramps up to it have been blockaded because it is believed it could collapse. Ai (so I've been told) doesn't have the resources to take it down, and the Town of Brookline says they too have not the resources to take it down either. It remains a ticking time-bomb ready to collapse on route 9 with bits and pieces of it falling off every now and again. Nobody is to be allowed up there from what they tell the security guards.
 
If it might collapse, isn't it a danger to the highway below it, not just to the people who might walk on top of it?
 
This has to be some weird public vs. private thing where neither the school nor the town/state wants to pay to do the right thing, because both parties have a good argument for who should pay and probably neither is flush with cash.

I'm torn over whether money would be better spent on rehab or demo, admittedly not knowing the cost of either. Aesthetically it's classic 70's gloom but no worse than some of the Esplanade ped connections, and it's in a truly awful place to walk. In a perfect world, the school probably sells the whole parcel to a developer who can afford to rehab it, but judging by the continued non-existence of the Children's Hospital expansion next door, it is far from a perfect world on this block.
 
If an overpass is needed here, it should be a bit further up to bridge the bizarre discontinuity across Route 9 of the Emerald Necklace. Every time I drive through that stretch there are cyclists and pedestrians perched precariously on the Route 9 median where Pond Street comes in on the south side without any crossing to the Riverway. At the VERY least, a push-button signalized crosswalk.
 
Much of this should be fixed (or at last be improved) during MassDOT's Gateway East project - project no. 605110. TIP is for 2015.

Per the MassDOT website:
BROOKLINE- INTERSECTION & SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS @ ROUTE 9 & VILLAGE SQUARE (GATEWAY EAST)
The project is located on Route 9 in the Gateway East or Village Square area of Brookline. The project will revitalize the corridor, improve the livability for residents and businesses, improve regional connections for bicycles and pedestrians and improve the overall streetscape. The project will demolish the pedestrian bridge which is currently closed. Walnut Street will be realigned to intersection Route 9 opposite Pearl Street forming a four way intersection. The signals at Washington Street and at Brookline Avenue will be upgraded and interconnected with new signals at the Walnut/Pearl Street intersection.
A PDF of the MassDOT 25% design from December 2011 can be found here on the Town of Brookline's website: https://www.brooklinema.gov/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=5685&Itemid=482


I understand, from the Brookline Bikes Advisory Board, that the Gateway East project will include a new signalized crosswalk at the Emerald Necklace crossing along with a wider median to allow for safe refuge for cyclists.
 
As just discussed in this thread one post and 19 months ago, the Route 9 overpass in Brookline Village is coming down. Now we know when: this Columbus Day weekend.

http://brookline.wickedlocal.com/article/20150922/NEWS/150929266

Buried at the bottom of the article is the claim that the demolition is intended to "make way" for Children's to finally do their Brookline Place project. Couldn't find that thread quite as easily, but the soup place is closing/has closed, so that actually appears to be moving forward.

As for this overpass: wow, built in the early 70s and closed in the late 90s due to deferred maintenance. Nice going, everyone involved. Hopefully the historical commission gets out there to document everything before it's gone.
 
Earlier this year, I had a commute where I connected to the 66 from the D line every day. Crossing Route 9 was always a PITA... You either do it unsafely and illegally directly underneath the overpass, go to the intersection with Washington and use like 4 signaled crosswalks, or walk 1000 ft to the South Huntington stop instead. That connection is one of the worst pedestrian experiences for a "direct" connection (shown on the system map) between a rapid transit line and a key bus route on the entire system.

They really should have repaired the overpass or made a plan to replace it. It would still be a long-ish connection, but at least you wouldn't have to cross Route 9 at grade...
 
The good thing is that the Gateway East project will be adding new crosswalks right near there.
 
MassDOT should be holding a 25% design hearing on the Gateway East project this fall. And yes, VHB added cycle tracks to much of the project, very similar to the BCU proposal.
I attended a Transportation Board Meeting in July where the design team said that was the schedule. If I remember correctly the project delayed its TIP funding from 2015 to 2016.
 
cden4 said:
The good thing is that the Gateway East project will be adding new crosswalks right near there.
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qiVLsfg.png


It's beautiful! :eek:
 
That's the 2012 MassDOT/Town of Brookline Plan.

Here's the new, improved plan from this spring/summer with cycletracks.
Please note that groups such as LivableStreets and WalkBoston are trying to get a crosswalk on the east side of the walnut/Pearl and Route 9 intersection.
2aili6v.jpg



Download the presentation (only 7.5mb) from the Town of Brookline website here: www.brooklinema.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8056

Edit: Thanks Mathew, New and Improved image via gimp
 
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Try GIMP, it should handle just about any image format you throw at it (including PDF).

Failing that, maybe just try enlarging the PDF to fill the screen and then take a screenshot :)
 
Randomgear said:
MassDOT should be holding a 25% design hearing on the Gateway East project this fall. And yes, VHB added cycle tracks to much of the project, very similar to the BCU proposal.
I attended a Transportation Board Meeting in July where the design team said that was the schedule. If I remember correctly the project delayed its TIP funding from 2015 to 2016.
Click to expand...

According to Wicked Local Brookline:
The Gateway East project has been pushed back to fall 2017, according to Selectmen Chairman Neil Wishinsky.
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Maybe funding in 2016, construction in 2017?

http://brookline.wickedlocal.com/article/20150513/NEWS/150518634
 
My understanding was that it would take the design team until late summer/early fall 2016 to have the bid documents prepared, then be sent out to bid for a couple months followed by about a month or so of due diligence and signing the contractor before mid-December 2016 to meet the TIP deadline so that construction would begin sometime in 2017.

The MassDOT project page lists the TIP funding for 2016 with construction beginning summer 2017.
http://www.mhd.state.ma.us/ProjectInfo/Main.asp?ACTION=ViewProject&PROJECT_NO=605110
 
Nice....such a small change has made a big difference.
 
The absurd wideness of the 'highway' is even more glaring.
 
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