Route 1 Project - Malden, Revere, Saugus

[kingofsheeba]

I’m feeling like bumping old threads.

Somehow this was missed from last year. It’s a drop in the bucket but still…

Saugus, Revere awarded additional $800,000 for Route 1 Improvement Project

Saugus, Revere awarded additional $800,000 for Route 1 Improvement Project

www.google.com

 

[tysmith95]

The original rotary replacement, I don't see the point. The current rotary acutally works fairly well.

 

[kingofsheeba]

The original rotary replacement, I don't see the point. The current rotary acutally works fairly well.

Maybe some milling and bridge replacement?

 

[Stretch_1977]

This allows for a free flow of traffic in all directions without signals (all alternatives I saw containing the ability to go from 1N to 99S required a signal). This won't handle nearly as much traffic as Copeland Circle, so I think it's much better suiting to being a rotary. I think it would fit very nicely.

So you want to go back to the old DeFranzio Circle configuration that this interchange replaced in 1969-73? God help us! This configuration is much improved, except for the left-hand entrance ramp from Route 99 North to Route 1 North, and adding a second overpass parallel to the existing overpass and relocating the entrance ramp to the right-hand side of Route 1 Northbound will fix that issue. If you want to see what DeFranzio Circle looked like before this interchange was built, I suggest you buy or borrow a copy of the Saugus, MA edition from the Images of America Series, by Arcadia Publishing Company. Here's a link on Amazon:

Amazon.com

The DeFranzio Circle (named for a local man Killed In Action (KIA) in WWII) was replaced at about the same time that the Lynn Fells Parkway Interchange was built further North on Route 1, replacing a dangerous traffic light on Route 1, at the location of Kelley's Roast Beef (formerly the Red Coach Grill) and the old Saugus Drive-In (present location of Marshall's, Home Goods and Michael's Arts & Crafts). The business located at 10 Frank Bennett Highway, at the NE corner of this interchange, was the location of the Adventure Car Hop, a drive-in fast food restaurant in the 1950's, home to local DJ Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsberg's Saturday Night radio show on WMEX (1510 AM). When the Adventure Car Hop closed, the restaurant was taken over by Howard Johnson's some time in the mid-1960's, before the restaurant closed completely in the 1970's, and the present pool supply store took over the site, which bears almost no resemblance to it's car hop configuration.

 

[Stretch_1977]

Digging at historicaerials.com I find the ramps are all graded.

To my best ability, this is what it looks like they were designing. A part of me is wishing this happened, simply to see the amazing interchange that would have taken place, but undoubtedly it would have been very destructive to so many areas. And I forgot to include the land sticking off of 107 (which doesn't appeared in 1969 along with most of the sand brought in (however, it appears little if any sand was brought in between 69 and 71 but all the grading was done during this time). If I extend those red lines, they'll run right into that spit of land.

The small spit of land in the lower right corner of the photo was the cancelled East Boston Expressway, which would have upgraded Route 60 and Route 1A to Interstate Standards between Logan Airport, the Sumner & Callahan Tunnels, and I-95, and was cancelled at the same time Governor Frank Sargent cancelled I-95 inside Route 128. The East Boston Expressway would have merged with I-95 at Cutler Circle in Revere. The right-of-way for this interchange was vacant and posted as "State Property: No Trespassing" for years until the Cataldo Ambulance Garage was built on the site sometime at the turn of the 21st Century.

 

[Charlie_mta]

So you want to go back to the old DeFranzio Circle configuration that this interchange replaced in 1969-73? God help us!

You have the wrong rotary. The discussion was referring to the rotary at Route 60 and Route 1, further to the south.

 

[Stretch_1977]

A simple pedestrian bridge can fix a bisected woods quite effectively

Or a pedestrian tunnel, they're quite common out West, but a rarity east of the Mississippi River.

 

[Stretch_1977]

You have the wrong rotary. The discussion was referring to the rotary at Route 60 and Route 1, further to the south.

Then how come the picture shows the prior location of DeFranzo Circle, the Route 99 & Route 1 Interchange, with the proposed rotary drawn in red on the picture? The caption under the picture follows below:

"This allows for a free flow of traffic in all directions without signals (all alternatives I saw containing the ability to go from 1N to 99S required a signal). This won't handle nearly as much traffic as Copeland Circle, so I think it's much better suiting to being a rotary. I think it would fit very nicely."

 

[Stretch_1977]

Why is Route 1 an impediment to anything? It is fully grade-separated from any intersections, except for one lone traffic light in Lynnfield near 128. It works just like a real freeway except that it happens to have lots of abutting businesses.

I'm glad the Lynn Woods weren't bisected by a freeway, and wish the Middlesex Fells had been spared that indignity.

And those abutting businesses are the reason that US Route 1 between Saugus and Danvers has one of the worst accident rates in MA! Each curb cut forces traffic to make a ninety (90) degree right turn then accelerate from a dead stop to sixty (60) mph! All of the grade separated interchanges likewise force traffic to accelerate from a dead stop to highway speeds, with substandard geometry and no acceleration and deceleration lanes, and dangerous weaving movements between traffic entering and leaving Route 1. According to my father, who grew up in Saugus, there were actually curb cuts in the median to allow traffic to make U-Turns between interchanges in the 1930's. He told me that he used to rent horses to ride down the median strip when he was growing up! As for the "jug handle" traffic light north of the Route 1/128, that location has also been the site of numerous accidents when Route 1 traffic traveling at 60 mph has to jam on its brakes when that light turns red!

 

[Stretch_1977]

Its amazing how much more perceptive the folks were in 1948 then when Frank (aka the corporal) Seargent killed everything inside 128 to placate some folks in Cambridge

while the Inner Belt would have been incredibly disruptive -- there were several major highway improvements which should have been built in the post 1970's -- RT-1 North of Logan has always been a handicap to the development in the Lynn to Cape Ann area

while I'm as strong a proponent as there can be for extending the Blue Line to Lynn and beyond -- it should be part of a larger scale transportation improvement project to integrate Lynn, Salem and Cape Anne into the overall region

Yes, extend the Blue line not just Lynn, but to Peabody, with the Terminal Station located at the Northshore Mall. I-95 and the Beverly-Salem connector should have been built, to improve access to 128 from Lynn, Salem, Swampscott and Marblehead, while reducing the traffic volume on Route 1 from the present 250k cars per day between Revere and Peabody to about 100k cars per day. FYI, Route 1 was originally designed to handle only 75k cars per day between Revere and Peabody. I-95 was to be designed with six (6) lanes, for an expected traffic volume of 150k cars per day. If I were building it today, I'd use eight (8) or ten (10) lanes, and allow capacity for something in excess of 200k cars per day.

A similar argument could be made for I-95 between Mass Ave. and 128 (the Southwest Expressway), as the flow on I-95 would reduce traffic on the Southeast Expressway (MA Route 3). The Inner Belt (I-695) could have been buried and the Urban Ring Transit Line co-located in the same tunnel, to allow for auto traffic to bypass the central urban core and implement a "car free" zone in Downtown Boston.

 

[Charlie_mta]

Yes, extend the Blue line not just Lynn, but to Peabody, with the Terminal Station located at the Northshore Mall. I-95 and the Beverly-Salem connector should have been built, to improve access to 128 from Lynn, Salem, Swampscott and Marblehead, while reducing the traffic volume on Route 1 from the present 250k cars per day between Revere and Peabody to about 100k cars per day. FYI, Route 1 was originally designed to handle only 75k cars per day between Revere and Peabody. I-95 was to be designed with six (6) lanes, for an expected traffic volume of 150k cars per day. If I were building it today, I'd use eight (8) or ten (10) lanes, and allow capacity for something in excess of 200k cars per day.

A similar argument could be made for I-95 between Mass Ave. and 128 (the Southwest Expressway), as the flow on I-95 would reduce traffic on the Southeast Expressway (MA Route 3). The Inner Belt (I-695) could have been buried and the Urban Ring Transit Line co-located in the same tunnel, to allow for auto traffic to bypass the central urban core and implement a "car free" zone in Downtown Boston.

The problem with building an I-95 of 8 lanes is: where does the traffic go when it arrives at the Boston core? Answer: nowhere. It would've just been one giant gridlock in central Boston if the proposed NE, NW, and SW expressways had been built without the Inner Belt to distribute the traffic. So, when the Inner Belt through Cambridge was cancelled, the proposed radial expressways had to likewise be cancelled. The answer isn't to build more expressways, the answer is new transit extensions in tandem with transit oriented zoning and development.

 

[Highwayguy]

I think a reasonable argument could be made that not completing I-95 Bell circle-128 was the closest thing to a net loss under Sargent’s moratorium, if only for the safety implications of placing interstate level demand (and driver expectations) on a very much non-interstate standard roadway.

But I would still take the trade of canceling the innerbelt/ SWXway over having I-95 Saugus 11 times out of 10.

 

[kingofsheeba]

This should be in “crazy transit pitches” but what about burying Route 1 from Lynnfield to Saugus? Bury Route 1 and build a boulevard above?

 

[Stretch_1977]

The problem with building an I-95 of 8 lanes is: where does the traffic go when it arrives at the Boston core? Answer: nowhere. It would've just been one giant gridlock in central Boston if the proposed NE, NW, and SW expressways had been built without the Inner Belt to distribute the traffic. So, when the Inner Belt through Cambridge was cancelled, the proposed radial expressways had to likewise be cancelled. The answer isn't to build more expressways, the answer is new transit extensions in tandem with transit oriented zoning and development.

I'm not against transit (see the beginning of my post), and yes, transit needs upgrades, but the sad fact is that we don't have enough road capacity to handle the cars on the road now, let alone future growth in auto use, and the "spoke" roads (US Route 1, I-93, Mass Pike, and the SE Expressway) won't function well in any case. Route 1 needs more capacity between the Tobin Bridge and Cutler Circle, but unless the Tobin Bridge gets upgraded or replaced, it won't get it. As I pointed out, joint development of both road and transit projects in the same footprint offers the users true choices, and maximizes the use of expensive land in dense urban centers, both good things, IMHO. There were plans to place a transit line in the median strip of Route 128 that have gone exactly nowhere since the 1948 Metropolitan Transportation Master Plan first proposed it. The problem for me, and millions of others is that the "hub and spoke" transit model fundamentally fails suburban tech workers, who must drive, since we worked between the 128 and I-495 beltways, where public transit is non-existent. Completion of the cancelled roads would at least redistribute the flow and reduce failing Levels of Service (LOS) periods, a.k.a. "rush hours". Extending ALL of the MBTA lines to terminate either at 128 or I-495 would help, but until you give suburban "beltway bandits" more options than a car, the beltways will continue to clog up with more cars.

Just as an aside, the big debate over the Inner Belt may have been sealed when Jim Callahan (head of the Turnpike Authority) fought with Governor Foster Furcolo about the location of the MA Turnpike Extension. Furcolo wanted the Extension to terminate at the Inner Belt, but Callahan wanted the Extension to continue on to the Central Artery. Spoiler Alert: Callahan won. Source: Building the Mass Turnpike, by Yanni Tsipsis, from the "Images of America" book series, by the Arcadia Press. Here's a link:

Building the Mass Pike (Images of America): Tsipis, Yanni K.: 9780738509723: Amazon.com: Books

Building the Mass Pike (Images of America) [Tsipis, Yanni K.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Building the Mass Pike (Images of America)

www.amazon.com

With the extension of the Pike all of the way to the Central Artery, and later to Logan Airport via the Ted Williams Tunnel, the need for the Inner Belt became less clear, although finishing it would have removed a great deal of the volume from the Central Artery, so the need for the Big Dig may have been less urgent. There's always a trade off. At the very least, if the Inner Belt had been built, the Central Artery could have been closed and demolished during the construction of the Big Dig, greatly reducing the cost, since the Inner Belt would have provided a fine alternate route.

BTW, I always take forecasts of gridlock with a grain of salt ever since Frank Sargent refused to open the newly completed I-93 extension in 1973 because of predictions of gridlock at the Route 1/I-93 merge. He had no choice, however, when an overloaded dump truck, named "George's Tonka Toy", smashed into a support column on the Tobin Bridge, causing the upper deck of the Tobin Bridge to collapse, and closing the Tobin for six (6) months. With no highway access from the North Shore into Boston, "Sarge" had no choice but to open the newly built I-93 extension. When the Tobin was repaired and reopened, the predicted "gridlock" failed to materialize.

 

[Stretch_1977]

This should be in “crazy transit pitches” but what about burying Route 1 from Lynnfield to Saugus? Bury Route 1 and build a boulevard above?

Only if we get a capacity upgrade between Lynnfield and Saugus! If not burying Route 1, at least add frontage roads to both sides of the highway so traffic entering from businesses doesn't immediately conflict with the through traffic running at highway speeds, and collecting the businesses into the several shopping plazas along Route 1, and restricting access to the plazas to roadways with existing interchanges, to eliminate as many curb cuts as possible along the route. Ditto burying the McClellan Highway and removing that ugly viaduct in East Boston!

While we're at it, how about extending the Red Line from Alewife Station out to Hanscom Field along the MA Route 2 median strip?

 

[Stretch_1977]

I think a reasonable argument could be made that not completing I-95 Bell circle-128 was the closest thing to a net loss under Sargent’s moratorium, if only for the safety implications of placing interstate level demand (and driver expectations) on a very much non-interstate standard roadway.

But I would still take the trade of canceling the innerbelt/ SWXway over having I-95 Saugus 11 times out of 10.

I agree. The corollary is that it doesn't have to be either/or, but why not both transit AND highways? The Orange Line was to be run in the median of the SW Expressway and terminate at University Ave. RR Station instead of Forest Hills, so we lost both highway and transit capacity when "Sarge" cancelled the SW Expressway, so that's a net loss IMHO.

 

[themissinglink]

I agree. The corollary is that it doesn't have to be either/or, but why not both transit AND highways?

Highways are incredibly destructive to urban environments. The SW Expressway would have done irreparable damage to multiple neighborhoods.

Obliterating large parts of Boston's urban fabric so that suburban commuters could drive into the city quicker is a terrible idea. Cities should be designed for the people who live there, not the people who need to drive through there.

the sad fact is that we don't have enough road capacity to handle the cars on the road now, let alone future growth in auto use, and the "spoke" roads (US Route 1, I-93, Mass Pike, and the SE Expressway) won't function well in any case.

This is exactly why fewer people need to drive and more people need to take public transportation. We shouldn't be trying to funnel even more automobile traffic into the Boston metro.

 

[Delvin4519]

I'm not against transit (see the beginning of my post), and yes, transit needs upgrades, but the sad fact is that we don't have enough road capacity to handle the cars on the road now, let alone future growth in auto use, and the "spoke" roads (US Route 1, I-93, Mass Pike, and the SE Expressway) won't function well in any case.

There should be NO more highway expansion if there's a climate crisis and an oil crisis. Highways are known to destory land values, induce sprawl and congestion, cause financial insolvency, are money sinks, reduces mobility and indepdence for a segment of the population, worsens air pollution, depresses life expectency, and increases rates of asthma, and lung cancer, etc.

The only solution is rail transit, buses, and bike lanes. Road capacity scales poorly and will never be able to handle demand for transportation.

Route 1 either needs to have it's myraid egress and access points removed, or turned back to nature. It cannot be expanded in capacity. It's construction and growth of auto oriented businesses should have never happened in the first place. Rail and bus transport will do poorly in this area due to the massive sprawl in the area, meaning only dedicated bike paths will ever be able to provide multi modal transport in this area. The portion south of Linden Sq./Northgate should turn into a rail corridor.

 

[Stretch_1977]

Highways are incredibly destructive to urban environments. The SW Expressway would have done irreparable damage to multiple neighborhoods.

Obliterating large parts of Boston's urban fabric so that suburban commuters could drive into the city quicker is a terrible idea. Cities should be designed for the people who live there, not the people who need to drive through there.



This is exactly why fewer people need to drive and more people need to take public transportation. We shouldn't be trying to funnel even more automobile traffic into the Boston metro.

Again, I ask the question, what public transportation? I worked in Billerica, MA; Durham, NH; Salem, MA; Danvers, MA; North Andover, MA and Andover, MA, during my thirty-year engineering career, and not one (1) of those locations was served by public transit! So while what you propose sounds great in theory, it would be a disaster in practice. The fact is that those highways, for good or for ill, were built, and they aren't going away, so how do you propose we all get to work, walk? Bicycle? I got news for you, it's not happening! People are voting with their feet, and it's planted firmly on the accelerator pedals of their cars, if for no other reason that transit only serves the urban core, not the suburban beltways. The engineering firms that sprang up after WWII all located first along 128, and later along I-495, so that's where the jobs, cars and people all are. The tech giants recruit from MIT and Harvard, but build their laboratories and factories in the suburbs, because land is cheaper and the highways have supplanted the railroads as the prime mover of raw materials and finished goods. That's not going to change anytime soon, either!

 

[kingofsheeba]

I’m beginning to see a pattern with wealthy elites who live in Boston and don’t want outsiders. Must go back to the Colonial-era.

No, I think that a middle ground could’ve been met - and could still be met’- regarding Route 1. Hopefully some headway is made on these initiatives.