Rose Kennedy Greenway

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Found in an old EIS on google books
 
Should have been way more development along RKG. Though I suppose a lot of the current "park" space is better than parking lots waiting to be developed.
 
I honestly like what we have more than the sea of precast we would have got.
 
^ I'll finally trek out of the house and get some Greenway pics once I'm done catching up on the last month of posts... I'd love to document some of the terrible parts of the Greenway that we're all arguing about here.

Having finally had the chance to work along the Greenway, I feel that much more confident in saying that the Central Artery Project and resultant Greenway and Surface Road checked a whole bunch of boxes, but most of those were from the myopic perspective of relieving congestion (HAH!) and greenwashing.

Greenway doesn't serve mobility needs particularly well:
- we now basically have a boulevard plus an underground highway along this corridor
- the width of Atlantic Ave and the John Fitzgerald Surface Road turn the Greenway into an island corridor than an outdoor room
- their copious amounts of surface dedicated to cars and parking limits the utility of the bike reservation to anyone but dedicated cyclists
- without physically separated bus and bike lanes, the vehicles that allow connections to the rest of the transit network have limited utility for the people who don't live near a subway but would otherwise drive to transit if only transit was treated just like any other vehicle and added time to their commute
- the on- and off-ramps have a detrimental effect to the street grid and pedestrian realm - buildings on top would just be a band-aid - and further contribute to the transit-car commute time disparity with people being able to drive on the highway practically to their office door - Seattle has chosen to do a single tunnel with no ramps

Poor Fred Salvucci now spends his days lamenting the fact that the state missed its opportunity on NSRL. It's time for a road diet for Atlantic Ave and Surface Road.
 
Why exactly does the greenway abruptly end where it does, instead of continuing through the now built on parcels up to the zakim entrance?
 
Probably something to do with Haymarket having a 250' wide section of roadways, mostly consisting of highway ramps. Plus an attempt to heal the Bullfinch Triangle.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
Should have been way more development along RKG. Though I suppose a lot of the current "park" space is better than parking lots waiting to be developed.
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Van -- before any planning for after the Central Artery began -- the CLF exacted their pound of flesh

The settlement of the threatened laws suit insured that here was to be minimum of 75% of the footprint of the Central Artery [which would be freed by construction of the underground and surface artery and necessary ramps] devoted to Parks

https://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig/ProjectBackground.aspx
While three quarters of the 30 downtown acres will remain as open space, 25% is set aside for modest development including retail, commercial, and housing uses in low-rise buildings.
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as shown on the parcel map [Green is Park] [Red is development]
parcelmap.gif
 
^ Nice link. This statement about reduced congestion is still on that 'Project Background' page.

Achievements
Due to traffic improvements and substantial reductions in traffic delay, the total vehicle- hours of travel on Project highways has dropped 62 percent between 1995 and 2003 and are now providing approximately $168 million annually in time and cost savings to travelers. Residents from south and west of Boston average travel times from the I-90/I-93 interchange to Logan Airport during peak periods have decreased between 42 and 74 percent depending on direction and time of day.
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Those figure seem quaint today. I wonder what the comparable congestion figures are now - I assume its not nearly as favorable.
 
whighlander said:
Van -- before any planning for after the Central Artery began -- the CLF exacted their pound of flesh

The settlement of the threatened laws suit insured that here was to be minimum of 75% of the footprint of the Central Artery [which would be freed by construction of the underground and surface artery and necessary ramps] devoted to Parks

https://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig/ProjectBackground.aspx
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Oh also: I don't recall hearing anything ever before about the CLF lawsuit being the driving force behind building the greenway as parks / open space (there were supposed to be civic buildings in may places but they couldn't find the money, right?)

I always thought it just leapt fully formed from Jim Aloisi's forehead...

And your link says nothing about the lawsuit. And I can't find any supporting evidence through google. There's a lot about the transit commitments, nothing about the CLF demanding open space.

So what are you talking about?
 
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shmessy said:
Yikes! Different stokes for different folks and all, but, imho,that looks North Point Awful right there. Just a tall office park campus. Very anti-urban. Is it Albany or Brasilia?
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Yeah, the buildings suck, but the concept of buildings and streets continuing across the freeway corridor, with intermittent parks, appealed to me.
 
I don't understand what's wrong with it. Since when are parks anti-urban?
 
CSTH said:
Oh also: I don't recall hearing anything ever before about the CLF lawsuit being the driving force behind building the greenway as parks / open space (there were supposed to be civic buildings in may places but they couldn't find the money, right?)

I always thought i just leapt fully formed from Jim Aloisi's forehead...

And your link says nothing about the lawsuit. And I can't find any supporting evidence through google. There's a lot about the transit commitments, nothing about the CLF demanding open space.

So what are you talking about?
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CSTH -- the pressure applied by the CLF was on several levels -- a more direct push for the Transit mitigation and the sotto voce action on parks as a percentage of land

Google the following
75% park commitment for Rose Kennedy Greenway
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and you get this site
http://broomo2.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Rose Kennedy Greenway&item_type=topic
which I'm viewing for the first time, although its seems quite well documented**

The explanationof the land use from the website seems quite explicit -- [with my highlights in Bold]
Land use

Greenway open space and development parcels
Big Dig planners debated the mix between open space and buildings on the land to be freed up by the removal of the elevated highway. Proposals in 1985 by the state and in 1988 by the Boston Society of Architects suggested that most of the land should be used for mid-rise buildings.[36] But in 1991, the Boston Redevelopment Authority's "Boston 2000" plan called for 75% of the land "to be developed as a series of parks and urban plazas."[37]

The 1991 environmental certificate for the project adopted this idea, mandating that not more than 25% of the surface could be developed, with the rest maintained as public open space.[38] [39] The certificate specifically required that three parcels near South Station, encompassing about four acres of land, be turned over to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MassHort) for outdoor gardens and an enclosed winter garden.[36] And the certificate required that the three ramps at Parcels 6, 12, and 18 be covered "to mitigate their impacts on the surface environment."[36]

The 2001 Central Artery Corridor Master Plan[40] followed the 1991 mandate by designating specific parcels for open space or for development.[41] [42] A map showed the location of each open space and development parcel.[43] Parcels 19, 21, and 22 were assigned to MassHort.

The three parcels containing highway ramps were designated for development. All of the other parcels directly above the underground highway from Parcel 17 north to Parcel 7 were designated as parkland. All of the parcels not located directly above the new tunnel were designated for development.[44]

A surface road carrying local traffic existed underneath most of the length of the elevated Central Artery.[45] Big Dig plans called for the creation of a pair of one-way surface roads extending the length of the Greenway, to handle local traffic. Greenway parks and development sites would be bordered by these surface roads as well as by cross streets separating each parcel.[46]
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as shown on the parcel map [Green is Park] [Red is development]
parcelmap.gif


**
References
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  • Toussaint, Kristin. "10-foot-tall animal heads are coming to the Rose Kennedy Greenway". Boston.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
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  • Conti, Matt (1 May 2016). "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads Debut at Greenway Rings Fountain". North End Waterfront.com. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
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  • "Visitation numbers for the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway rose sharply in 2013, conservancy says - Business news". Boston.com. 2014-03-17. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
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whighlander, where is CLF, even sotto voce, in the anthology you cut and pasted?

I greatly suspect the reason there is more green than urban grittiness is that it would cost too much friggin money to design and build tunnels so that buildings could be built on top, and this on a project that turned out to be so much over-budget, that the Feds stopped contributing. Today, nobody seems willing to pay the cost of building over the ramps, which were designed to accept buildings above.
 
stellarfun said:
whighlander, where is CLF, even sotto voce, in the anthology you cut and pasted?

I greatly suspect the reason there is more green than urban grittiness is that it would cost too much friggin money to design and build tunnels so that buildings could be built on top, and this on a project that turned out to be so much over-budget, that the Feds stopped contributing. Today, nobody seems willing to pay the cost of building over the ramps, which were designed to accept buildings above.
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Stellar -- the sotto voce influence of the CLF is in the statement with accompanying referemnces
The 1991 environmental certificate for the project adopted this idea, mandating that not more than 25% of the surface could be developed, with the rest maintained as public open space.[38] [39]
....
ref's
  • 36 -- Luberoff, David (3 May 2004). "Civic Leadership and the Big Dig" (PDF). Rappaport Institute Working Papers: 9. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  • 37 --"Boston 2000: A Plan for the Central Artery" (PDF). Boston Redevelopment Authority. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  • 38 --"The Central Artery Environmental Oversight Committee". Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  • 39 --Turner, Robert L. (30 March 2003). "Glass Act". Boston Globe. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  • 40 --Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. "Boston Central Artery Corridor Master Plan". C/W MARS. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
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specifically there is a considerable discussion in Ref #36
CIVIC LEADERSHIP AND THE BIG DIG
prepared by BY DAVID LUBEROFF UBEROFF

WORKING PAPER 11
MAY 3, 2004 3, 2004 3, 2004 3, 2004
RAPPAPORT INSTITUTE FOR GREATER BOSTON
TAUBMAN CENTER FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
JOHN F. KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

https://www.hks.harvard.edu/content/download/68572/1247098/version/1/file/abc_1.pdf

This reference cites in detail soto voce and [much more blatant pressure] by numerous entities [you need a sophisticated database to keep track of the shifting alliances and constantly reformulating groups on each side of each of numerous issues over more than a decade of jockeying-- for example:
Despite Salvucci’s efforts, there was growing and increasingly public controversy over the project, particularly over Scheme Z. Leading opponents included several major
environmental groups and some neighborhood activists......

DeVillars announced in late December that he was likely to approve the CA/T project but intended to impose some particularly stringent conditions on it as well. In particular, he backed an agreement reached earlier in the month between the state and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) about transit commitments that CLF’s leaders contended (in the virtual absence of any supporting data) were needed to ensure the new project did not lead to more automobile travel and air pollution.46
DeVillars’ comments greatly angered those concerned about the cost of the CLF agreements such as Weld’s top advisors and representatives of the cities and towns that partially funded the region’s transit system. In keeping with the summer’s pattern, DeVillars’ subsequently approved the project, subject to conditions that were less stringent than what his rhetoric had suggested……

In early 1991, Leventhal and key members of the design committee [of the Artery Business Council] also were increasingly concerned about what the artery would look like when it was done. In keeping with its by-now standard practices, ABC formed yet another committee.

At the same time, another ABC committee closely followed the work of city and state planners who, in accordance with DeVillars’ ruling on the project, were developing more detailed plans for the land created by removal of the elevated highway and changing to city’s zoning code so that it reflected these plans. Though they were uncomfortable with DeVillars’ requirement that 75 percent of the land be set aside as open space, ABC’s leaders did not raise the issue at this time, largely because they did not want to anger allies, such as Move Massachusetts 2000, whose chair Mark Primack had warned:
… the commitment to the Project of environmental groups represented in Move Massachusetts 2000 is predicated on the Project’s commitment to open space improvements [in the artery corridor], parkland at the Charles River, and the creation of a park on Spectacle Island. If these commitments are not upheld … there is a danger that these environmental groups will reconsider their support for the project.53

…… What Should the Land Be Used For? ABC’s leaders and the expert consultants hired by the group saw two primary problems with DeVillars’ plan to set aside 75 percent of land for “open space,” much of it in the portion of the corridor closest to the city’s commercial core. First, they believed the plan called for too much parkland in relation to the number of people who lived, worked, shopped, or visited the area. Krieger, for example, observed that the total amount of parkland proposed in the corridor was 13 times greater than the size of the park at Post Office Square, which is surrounded by office buildings.
Though the latter park was highly regarded and heavily used, he asked: “Would 13 of these together be 13 times better?”91 Second, some ABC leaders, along with architects and designers advising them believed that DeVillars’ plan incorrectly aligned the corridor’s use along the road’s right of way, which ran roughly from north to south. This part of the city, however, generally was oriented on an east/west axis, which suggested that any plan for the new land should re-knit the scar that had disconnected downtown Boston from its historic waterfront.
ABC’s leaders grew concerned no one knew how much the new parks might cost, who would own and maintain them, and where the funding for both capital and maintenance costs would come from.
…In particular, in late 2001 the Wharf District committee released a plan that called for construction of:
• A museum on the parcel between Rowe’s Wharf and International Place (Parcel 18)94
• A performing arts center with above- and below-grade space on the parcel near Rowe’s Wharf and the adjacent Harbor Towers residential building (Parcel 17)
• A sculpture garden on a parcel located between a major parking garage and low-rise commercial buildings (Parcel 16)
• A Harbor Visitor’s Center, as well as bathrooms, cafes, and a water park on two parcels located between Quincy Market and the wharves housing the New England Aquarium, Marriott Long Wharf hotel, and boats offering tours of Boston Harbor (Parcels 14 and 15).
Funding for the facilities, the group believed, would come from a combination of other public sources as well as new and existing non-profit groups. (Leventhal and Sidman subsequently helped organize a new group interested in building the proposed museum or cultural facility on Parcel 18.)
The plan’s authors contended that their approaches did not violate DeVillars’ requirements that these parcels be reserved for “open space” because that term meant more than parks. The committee argued, while parks grew out of a nineteenth century need to provide open space for those living in an unhealthy and overcrowded city:
… the urban malaise of the early twenty-first century is arguably less to do with physical morbidity than with … social and psychic alienation. … By creating shared space in the center of the city, a civic realm which defines community on a grander scale than the self, the street, or the neighborhood, the city will be performing an act as vital to its continuing health as the Emerald Necklace accomplished in its time.95
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this reference in particular has over 122 numbered notes and other extensive appendices
 
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whighlander, few dispute CLF's extensive involvement with transit improvements (realized, hoped-for, and fantasy) associated with the Big Dig. However, this is about lawns, trees, and shrubs, and I await evidence that the CLF are latter-day Johnny Appleseed's or Luther Burbanks who foisted this green carpet on the unsuspecting citizens of Boston.
 
The Greenway was pretty much set in stone in the 1987 federal funding legislation, including the naming The Rose Kennedy Greenway, inserted by Senator Ted Kennedy.
 
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