Public Use Heliport

JumboBuc said:
But how many years away is that expanded Conley Terminal? When that time comes, the heliport could be moved further west in that same area.
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It's approved and funded already. I don't know the exact construction schedule, but it is a project that is in progress, not one that might happen at some point in the future.
 
If we're as far afield as Conley....I wonder if the official team is looking at widet/South Bay which is about as far from ge and also buffered from residential, farther from Logan flight paths, and potentially useful to the hospitals...
 
The under-construction truck entrance to Conley is a 4 minute drive from GE, per Google. That makes it closer than the previously front-running spot next to the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion.

The hospitals (MGH, Tufts, BMC, BIDMC, BWH/BCH) already have their own helipads on campus. A hospital has little to no use for a helipad that requires an ambulance ride to reach it.
 
Fair enough re hospitals.

I what about the roof of that mbta parking garage next to the biolab? Easy drive via haul road....or the city tow lot next to 93...? Or the mbta bus lot on South Bay Ave and Moore st?
 
GE says Logan is fine:

Never mind about that helipad, GE tells Boston

By Jon Chesto GLOBE STAFF FEBRUARY 14, 2017

General Electric Co. has told city and state officials that it no longer needs a new public-access helipad, taking the pressure off of them to find a suitable location for the controversial project.

When the Baker and Walsh administrations worked together just over a year ago to craft an incentive package for GE to convince the company to relocate its headquarters to Boston, a publicly funded helicopter landing facility was a prominent part of the plan.

But GE executives say they have found that Logan Airport, a short drive away from GE’s Fort Point headquarters through the Ted Williams tunnel, has worked better than they initially expected in terms of getting in and out by helicopter through Logan’s private aviation facility.

...

Full article: http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...ipad-boston/IEXKO4hrQ2netiD7IKIrUO/story.html
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^ Wow what a pleasant surprise. There's still some good sense left on this lonely planet after all...
 
Or maybe GE decided that dealing with the pervasive 'culture of no' wasn't worth the headache. Either way, this project stood to benefit other businesses besides GE so I wouldn't call this a victory by any stretch.
 
^ I continue to be skeptical of that. I think this was always about a zombie checkbox on GE's shopping list.

I'm extremely confident that it won't be make-or-break for anyone deciding whether or not to locate in Boston.

I'm extremely confident that its not going to have a meaningful efficiency impact on anyone's operations (assuming going to Logan adds <30 minutes to a trip that is already 90+).

And I'm very confident that there is a higher and better use for almost any multi-acre piece of land within driving distance of fort point.

Let's hope they decide to turn the old dry dock adjacent to the music tent into a seaport-side twin of Piers Park (eastie).
 
datadyne007 said:
GE says Logan is fine:
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Golly gee. Perhaps all the complainers of the intermediate term inconvenience and historically over budget nature of big infrastructure projects need to re-examine the long-term benefits. ;)

This is a clear example of just ONE the real long-term benefits of the Big Dig.

Infrastructure! Cutting edge infrastructure is what will grow Boston. Super tall buildings (which we all love) are the EFFECT not the CAUSE.

Now, let's get on with the NSRL and that will free up development at South Station and Fort Point Channel.
 
Good on GE for admitting they don't need to the helipad.
 
Never made sense to me seeing that our international airport is directly across the water. They don't even need a heliport if they can just drive to logan and hop on a business jet. Its definitely quicker to drive from GE to logan than it is to preflight a helicopter, fly it to an airport, land, and drive over to the jet. They can most likely hop in a black car, drive 15 mins directly onto the tarmac, and get directly in the jet.
 
GE said they're not going to make a helipad a criteria for their move. Their statement still said that they think a helipad would be good for the Boston metro transportation system and that they will continue to advocate for one.
 
Re: Public Use Heliports

I think the discussion should have always been about "public use heliports" plural.

Now that we are more aware that helicopter pads are seen as an amenity for locating businesses in Boston then it makes sense to look at locating some landing pads in various of the industrial areas at the periphery of the city where redevelopment is planned.

Really this should be low hanging fruit... a relatively small section of asphalt with a security fence and a guard shack located sufficiently far enough away from residential areas. Paint a big H on it and you are done. Seems like there should be 3 or 4 located around the edges of the city.

I see plenty of undeveloped land out there that is otherwise not desirable or really expensive to build on big enough for at least a few pads here and there.
 
Re: Public Use Heliports

tangent said:
I think the discussion should have always been about "public use heliports" plural.

Now that we are more aware that helicopter pads are seen as an amenity for locating businesses in Boston then it makes sense to look at locating some landing pads in various of the industrial areas at the periphery of the city where redevelopment is planned.

Really this should be low hanging fruit... a relatively small section of asphalt with a security fence and a guard shack located sufficiently far enough away from residential areas. Paint a big H on it and you are done. Seems like there should be 3 or 4 located around the edges of the city.

I see plenty of undeveloped land out there that is otherwise not desirable or really expensive to build on big enough for at least a few pads here and there.
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What on earth for? I'm not entirely against the helipad thing, but I'm convinced either. Who is hopping from one under-developed area of Boston to another by helicopter and why?

I'll add that helicopters aren't new. We don't use them like flying cars presently because they are both expensive and intrusive. What has changed such that we would want to start using helicopters more?
 
It's not so much about the ability to move around Boston itself but rather to allow movement in the 15-200 mile range. Think Boston-Stamford/White Plains/Providence/Hartford/Hanscom/etc.
 
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