Saugus Branch BRT Proposal

[BostonUrbEx]

As someone who hates BRT, I believe the Saugus Branch is one case where BRT would work. Light rail could serve the Saugus Branch effectively too, however street running is looked down upon by the MBTA and is more restrictive when dealing with mixed traffic. I believe buses would handle the load fine and don't forget: the ROW will be preserved in better condition this way if rail comes into play in the future.

Here's the map: http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...14107067401485.00049fbacd8d0e6ec8770&t=h&z=13



Phase I as a whole includes a brief run in mixed traffic from Malden Station's busways, down Centre St/Rt 60, and then peals off the road immediately upon reaching the Saugus Branch ROW. A fully paved busway with bike lanes in the center will now form nearly all of the rest of the BRT route. "Stations" (bus icon on map) will come with complete shelters (not *too* fancy, though!) and raised platforms which come up to the height of the bus floor. "Stops" (plain blue point icon) will be a very simple and basic platform as I'd expect these stops to have the lowest ridership.

Across Salem St from the former Rowes Quarry is a potential location for a Park & Ride collector for Rt 1 (and will also be convenient for the large apartment buildings going in the former quarry). It could be kept on a small scale as we can only do so much with capacity here and we don't want to cram the inbound buses before they even pass through Malden.

At the Salem St crossing on the Rever/Saugus line, half of the buses will head for Cliftondale Sq in Saugus in mixed traffic for about 3000 feet before looping around the Cliftondale Sq rotary. I'm unsure of where exactly the stop for Cliftondale Sq would be placed. As for the rest of the buses, they would proceed along the former Saugus Branch past Salem St and continue on up through the curve around present day Belmonte Middle School. It hits up Central St which will be the placement for the Saugus Center Station and the end of the line for Phase I, and buses will loop on a loop to the east on the ROW.

Phase II will hinge upon success of Phase I and/or Blue Line extension to Lynn. The BRT busway would continue along the Saugus Branch ROW until Lynn Common where it will once again run in mixed traffic making it's way to the Lynn Station busway and then making it's way back to the Saugus Branch ROW again.



ALL intersections with the dedicated busway will give buses priority/on demand signals. For the most part, stations will be located at street crossing, where platforms will be located before buses cross the street. This way, as soon as the bus stops, the cycle for priority will begin or the cycle can wait until some sort of on-demand system is initiated. However, it may vary by situation such as Linden Square where both platforms will be between two roads. Automatic cycles when buses stop are good for moderately used stations, and on-demand for stations with high use as they will likely need more time to stop and will not be immediately heading forward. Low traffic stops will automatically begin cycling before the bus even stops (if it does). Low volume roads (Denver St, Saugus and a couple streets around Railroad Ave, Malden may be the only cases) will place stop signs for all cars at all times and allow buses to continue without evening stopping.

Comments, questions, and suggestions are all welcome here. I think I really like this idea, very much! I feel like I should find a way to make this an official proposal somehow. Some may say the ridership would be low (at least in Saugus), but I would have to say it would be welcomed really well, and much more than rail, too. This could also be used to reroute existing bus routes off of streets or even eliminate some buses which would then be rendered significantly inferior and redundant. I believe Saugus would actually be a greatly improved town, perhaps becoming a bid of a minor TOD area, a bit more denser, and much more lively.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Saugus Branch is crippled by a truly hellish number of grade crossings, a lot of them at odd angles or crossing very close between other traffic lights. Downtown Malden the worst, but there's also pockets in Saugus and Lynn where the street grid is operationally prohibitive for anything rapid-transitish. The only reason the line lasted as long as it did as a railroad is because it was a bypass for the Saugus River drawbridge on the Eastern Route mainline, which had weight restrictions for really heavy freights. Boston & Maine would take the slow roundabout to avoid that. The line probably would've been abandoned outright after WWII if not for that. It had an almost mind-boggling station density as a passenger line in ancient days, mainly because speeds were so slow through grade crossings that it was OK to stop frequently. But service ended pretty much the moment diesel buses first became viable vehicle technology. The only reason it's still connected today is because the tracks were rehabbed in the 1980's for a large customer in Malden who pulled out at the last minute.

Only place I could see it having busway potential is in Malden-proper if a line originating at Malden Center cut off Route 60 onto the ROW, or a line originating from Lynn went along Lynn Common to where it meets with the ROW. But from Route 1 in Malden to Summer St. in Lynn you have lots of wetlands issues that would make permitting for a fairly limited-use line very difficult. And the stretch from Santilli Circle in Everett to downtown Malden is duplicated by the Orange Line. With the grade crossing density posing its own problems I don't see how the upgrade over local buses is going to be significant enough to justify a dedicated ROW and overcome the price premium the wetlands pose. Maybe a couple several-block chunks could be usable as a bypass, but that's definitely not going to merit the investment.

Unfortunate because this is a pretty big rail transit gap and something like a light rail branch off the northside Urban Ring or an Orange-Blue connector Malden Ctr. to Lynn makes sense on a map. But the implementation is more cost-prohibitive than just about any other rapid transit proposal because of the grade crossings. Either you'd have to deal with a very slow LRT through grade crossing city or eliminate them all for LRT or heavy-rail at expense that'll be a total deal-breaker. Infinitely more upside on the northside for Blue Line to Lynn (which should be @#$% ready to build instead of canceled), Orange Line to Reading, Urban Ring LRT Everett-Chelsea-Eastie, or further extending the Green Line past Route 16 to Woburn.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Good idea but putting the bike lanes in the middle is asking for trouble. Put them on just one side of the line so people can access them easier.

 

[Charlie_mta]

BostonUrbEx, I like the idea of using the Saugus Branch for transit. I shortened the route to go to Revere instead of Saugus and Lynn, and opted for light rail. I don't like my routing thru Revere, as it skirts the northern edge of development, but I did that to avoid taking residences or commercial land. The routing also avoids any significant wetland take. The Google My Maps link is: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...339377609299454038.00049fc05cdcb92773603&z=13

The route and stations could facilitate TOD on the shopping center area east of the NE Expressway. The line would be on the surface except for an undercrossing of Route 1.