Removing the Elevated 1A from Sumner/Callahan to Airport Station?

[BostonUrbEx]

Can anyone think of any major problems with removing of the elevated 1A from the I-90 split to the Callahan/Sumner tunnel entrance? I assume most cars use the new tunnel anyway, right? I would like to pitch the idea to you that we remove this connection, scale down the Sumner toll plaza and reconstruct the grid. The tunnel could still serve for the neighborhood connection and thru traffic simply takes the Ted.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

By adding tolling cameras you could do away with the plaza entirely. Then continue the tunnels out to East Boston Memorial Park, cut and cover, to new portals. It wouldn't take too much park space and you'd have a nice landscaped boulevard from London St to Bremen St.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

That leaves very limited room though. Is there enough room from the southernmost entry/exit ramps to Bremen Street for the roadway to descend and go below grade? And if there is, does it still leave room from the Eastie Greenway to run undisrupted? The portal incline would likely disrupt the path and the only room it has to pass by 1A is between the Blue Line portal and Bremen St.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Of course, the plaza is already there. Leave 1 lane there and put the rest underground.

As for lost parkland if you configure the portal right it wouldn't disrupt much or a path can be moved over.

 

[Ron Newman]

Cars heading from Eastie or Logan to I-93 north or Storrow Drive are still more likely to use the old tunnel than the Ted. In the other direction, you have to use the old tunnel as there is no ramp from southbound I-93 to the Ted.

 

[mass88]

Cars heading from Eastie or Logan to I-93 north or Storrow Drive are still more likely to use the old tunnel than the Ted. In the other direction, you have to use the old tunnel as there is no ramp from southbound I-93 to the Ted.

Wasn't that the plan? To have people coming from the South and West use the Ted Williams Tunnel and those coming from the North use the Sumner and Callahan?

 

[CSTH]

Wasn't that the plan? To have people coming from the South and West use the Ted Williams Tunnel and those coming from the North use the Sumner and Callahan?

Absolutely. But i'd modify that statement to say that those coming from the west on the pike will use the ted and those coming from the west on storrow will use the old tunnels.

And I'll add that there is no way to get to the tobin and 1N from 93S without hitting Rutherford and a couple of stoplights (or Route 16). The tobin, the old tunnels, and the ted are a system and you can't take 1A (as a freeway) out without the whole thing falling apart.

Put 1A underground, as a freeway, if you like - but it'll be hard to convince me that that's a high priority right now...

 

[BostonUrbEx]

And I'll add that there is no way to get to the tobin and 1N from 93S without hitting Rutherford and a couple of stoplights (or Route 16).

Nor can you go from 1S to 93N.


I forgot about the missing directional ramps here... kinda puts a damper on the plan...

You'd think for $20 billion we'd be able to have better directional mobility.

 

[Ron Newman]

The reconfiguration of the 1A-Airport interchange for the Big Dig already makes it less of a formidable barrier to the neighborhood than it was before. For instance, there is now an easy-to-find neighborhood entrance to the Airport T stop.

 

[HenryAlan]

By adding tolling cameras you could do away with the plaza entirely. Then continue the tunnels out to East Boston Memorial Park, cut and cover, to new portals. It wouldn't take too much park space and you'd have a nice landscaped boulevard from London St to Bremen St.

But that would kill the Santarpio's parking lot and create a mini-RKG. I like it the way things are. It works fine, it makes getting pizza easy, and if we have the money to spend on some cut and cover, let's spend it to fix the B-Line.

 

[Kahta]

Can anyone think of any major problems with removing of the elevated 1A from the I-90 split to the Callahan/Sumner tunnel entrance? I assume most cars use the new tunnel anyway, right? I would like to pitch the idea to you that we remove this connection, scale down the Sumner toll plaza and reconstruct the grid. The tunnel could still serve for the neighborhood connection and thru traffic simply takes the Ted.

Aside from the toll plaza being shrunk down to a normal size, this strikes me as an awful idea-- it will dump a ton of traffic onto an already terribly congested I-93, plus put a ton of traffic at street level. It will also significantly worsen congestion at the I-90 interchange with I-93, where like coming off of the tobin it will create another chokepoint where 3+ lanes of traffic have to merge into two one lane roads.

It would also dramatically cut the revenue for maintaining the callahan/Sumner because East Boston residents pay something like 30 cents to use the tunnels.

I also don't think that the impact of the 1A elevated highway

And I'll add that there is no way to get to the tobin and 1N from 93S without hitting Rutherford and a couple of stoplights (or Route 16). The tobin, the old tunnels, and the ted are a system and you can't take 1A (as a freeway) out without the whole thing falling apart.

I forgot about the missing directional ramps here... kinda puts a damper on the plan...

As I understand it, from talking to my grandfather, internally within his engineering firm, tearing down the entire double deck portion of I-93 to the Sullivan square exit was discussed at one point to extend the full 8 lane highway to the new tunnel, but for cost reasons the discussion never went beyond that.

Also, if I recall correctly, the missing directional ramps were removed as part of the cost savings.

 

[Charlie_mta]

Also, if I recall correctly, the missing directional ramps were removed as part of the cost savings.

The original "Scheme Z" design did include the directional ramps connecting I-93 to the north with the Tobin Bridge. One goal of dropping Scheme Z was to reduce the footprint of the sprawling ramps and also move them a bit further away from Charlestown. So, in the plans following Scheme Z, the directional ramps were dropped. I don't recall it being so much a money issue as an interchange size issue.

 

[Kahta]

The original "Scheme Z" design did include the directional ramps connecting I-93 to the north with the Tobin Bridge. One goal of dropping Scheme Z was to reduce the footprint of the sprawling ramps and also move them a bit further away from Charlestown. So, in the plans following Scheme Z, the directional ramps were dropped. I don't recall it being so much a money issue as an interchange size issue.

Why not just utilize space in the railyard wasteland for this?

 

[Charlie_mta]

The ramp that would have provided access from the Tobin Bridge to I-93 northbound was dropped because it was too close to Charlestown. It would have been a long ramp parallel to Rutherford Ave. So, with that one deleted, it made little sense to have the other one that would have connected I-93 southbound to the Tobin Bridge. Scheme Z had created such an uproar of protest in both Charlestown and Cambridge, the reaction was to shrink down the number of ramps.