River Road/Menino Blvd

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Kahta

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http://g.co/maps/raq97

The signalized rotaries would also feature pedestrian tables. Coincidentally, they'd also force bike riders to follow the same traffic laws as cars.

I need to make a few more updates to it, but the general idea is to cover the MassPike and eliminate Storrow Drive as an expressway. Yeah, Charlesgate would have to remain, but the overall improvement would be substantial.
 
I applaud the idea of downgrading Storrow, returning much of it to parkland, and tying Soldiers Field Road directly into the Pike. But I think a lot of this could be accomplished without a corresponding "Pike Blvd" - all that would be required are new on-ramps and exit-ramps to the Pike itself especially around Back Bay.

Much of the Pike chasm needs development... imagine if instead of the Pru and Copley we instead had an RKG precursor. The one place I'd grant the boulevard idea credence is over the Beacon Yards to restitch that neighborhood together.
 
This is an interesting concept. The major drawback to building over the Pike is that unless you also own a good portion of land around the highway the costs for building a deck and building over just the road are prohibitive (to say the least). There are only a few places along the route where you have land to work into a project: BU can do this because they own so much, and the Fenway Center works because you have the large parking lots. The stretch from Brookline Ave to Mass Ave is going to be very hard to build over and might make more sense for a new road with larger buildings abutting. A landscaped boulevard is still better than a giant trench.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
The stretch from Brookline Ave to Mass Ave is going to be very hard to build over and might make more sense for a new road with larger buildings abutting. A landscaped boulevard is still better than a giant trench.
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Difficult, though, because the buildings fronting Newbury and Ipswitch around Charlesgate are currently at around the same grade as the Pike.

So, you'd have to essentially cut-and-cover the Pike in that area, it seems - not sure if that is possible given the utilities and Green Line?
 
Shepard said:
The one place I'd grant the boulevard idea credence is over the Beacon Yards to restitch that neighborhood together.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't work there, though, because that section of the Pike is elevated. Beacon Yards needs structures above it.
 
This wasn't an entirely serious plan, but I'd really like to see some kind of development over the MassPike Canyon.
 
Parcel 15 has two gigantic issues: Prudential has a portion of the air rights and will likely continue to do nothing with them because.....parcel 15 requires an extension of the Pru tunnel instead of a "bridge". And that in turn triggers developed parcels 12 through 15 to be a tunnel plus the fireproofing of Boylston and Mass Ave, which will be cost prohibitive.

I know there's a memorandum with Chiofaro and Pru on 15, but that building will never get permitted. (I personally wager nothing will happen because of the entanglement of DOT, Pru and CSX plus the tunnel issue with the city, Boston Properties and MCCA.)

Parcel 11 to the north of Fenway Studios will always remain open because the artists will never allow it to be decked even for parkland. They'd claim it was the BRA trying to sneak in the back door on their northern light.
 
I read somewhere (Boston Courant?) last week that the bids already submitted for Parcels 12-15 will remain active but that those who have already bid will need to revise their plans given the changes to the economy and housing / office markets.
 
Yes John, within in a month or two DOT will make a formal request of the bidders to resubmit with any changes. No new bidders are allowed though, and they can only submit modifications on parcels they bid on last time around.

I didn't read the Courant article, but it's not like DOT is making anyone make changes, they just wanted to open it up. Modifications are allowed but not required.
 
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