Silver Line to Chelsea

[cybah]

Hey All-

Well it's been some time since the last update and considering the next week or so weather-wise has it looking dull and grey. I decided to seize the moment and take some updated shots.

Like before, things are 'moving along'.. little things here and there are done. Traffic lights now at Everett Ave & Spruce Street. And now at the Broadway Bridge. Today it looks like they are getting ready to setup the forms and what not for the Bellingham Sq station canopies.

I think alot of the more noticable stuff will happen from here on out, as it gets warmer out.

But it's all coming together, very very quietly.

If you'd like to see the previous photo sets they can be found here by clicking on the links below:

Pics from 4/25/15
Pics from 6/20/15
Pics from 8/1/15
Pics from 9/19/15
Pics from 10/31/15
Pics from 1/9/16
Pics from 3/12/16
Pics from 4/16/16
Pics from 5/15/16
Pics from 6/26/16
Pics from 8/13/16
Pics from 10/5/16
Pics from 11/10/16
Pics from 12/14/16
Pics from 2/2/17

And if you'd like to see the ALL of NEW photos, you can click here

Now for the highlights..

Finished canopies at Eastern Ave Station, as seen from Eastern Ave

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Another view of the finished canopies at Eastern Ave Station, as seen from Eastern Ave

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Looking into the busway from the Bellingham Street Bridge toward Box District Station

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Looking toward the Bellingham Street Bridge from Willow Street

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Looking toward Box District Station near Library Street

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Looking toward Bellingham Street Bridge from near Library Steet.

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Box District Station

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The grading for the shared use path with new signal in background near the Broadway Bridge

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Shared use path from Broadway (no idea what is being built.. power hut?)

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Looking toward Box Distrct Station from the Broadway Bridge

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Looking toward Bellingham Sq Station from the Broadway Bridge

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Looking toward the Broadway Bridge from the Washington Ave Bridge

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Work being done at Bellingham Sq Station

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New traffic signal poles at the Spruce Street Crossing

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Finishing up the canopies at Chelsea Station

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That's all for now. Probably more pics late April, unless big changes happen. And as always, let me know what you think!

 

[JeffDowntown]

Any idea why there are traffic lights on the busway around the Broadway bridge? Is the busway under the bridge too narrow, resulting in one-way traffic that needs to be managed?

 

[cybah]

Any idea why there are traffic lights on the busway around the Broadway bridge? Is the busway under the bridge too narrow, resulting in one-way traffic that needs to be managed?

It's too narrow for 2 full sized lanes. So the traffic light will tell when its clear to enter under the bridge.

The bridge was built in 1988 so it's 'fairly new' and isn't slated to get redone for a long time, so they had this workaround.

 

[JeffDowntown]

It's too narrow for 2 full sized lanes. So the traffic light will tell when its clear to enter under the bridge.

The bridge was built in 1988 so it's 'fairly new' and isn't slated to get redone for a long time, so they had this workaround.

Thanks -- makes sense.

 

[whittle]

This thought just occurred to me, and apologize if this has been brought up before. If the SL6 is priced like the subway (as the other lines using the silver line tunnel are) will there be any issues in allowing the Charliecard to have a free transfer between the SL6 and Blue Line at Airport?

 

[millerm277]

This thought just occurred to me, and apologize if this has been brought up before. If the SL6 is priced like the subway (as the other lines using the silver line tunnel are) will there be any issues in allowing the Charliecard to have a free transfer between the SL6 and Blue Line at Airport?

Don't see why there would be, those kinds of transfers already exist don't they? Ex: SL5 @ Chinatown.

 

[whittle]

Don't see why there would be, those kinds of transfers already exist don't they? Ex: SL5 @ Chinatown.

I believe SL5 has a local bus fare so it gets a transfer to subway like every local bus. But SL1&2 (and presumably SL6) have a subway fare and since all legitimate subway to subway transfers currently don't require you to leave the paid fare zone, there is no discounted/free transfer for subway to subway.

 

[JeffDowntown]

I believe SL5 has a local bus fare so it gets a transfer to subway like every local bus. But SL1&2 (and presumably SL6) have a subway fare and since all legitimate subway to subway transfers currently don't require you to leave the paid fare zone, there is no discounted/free transfer for subway to subway.

You are correct. SL4-5 carry an upcharge transferring to the subway. You get the bus fare credit, but not a subway fare equivalent.

 

[scorpio02150]

Glass was installed about 2 weeks ago at the station at the Market Basket location.

 

[cybah]

You are correct. SL4-5 carry an upcharge transferring to the subway. You get the bus fare credit, but not a subway fare equivalent.

Yeah I'm curious to know this also.

Here's the current pay scale of the SL series of buses.

I'm not sure how they can do that. They *may* be able to adjust the system to allow transfers from SLG to the Blue Line.

If not, it probably will happen with AFC 2.0.

 

[cybah]

Glass was installed about 2 weeks ago at the station at the Market Basket location.

Yup. I noticed that too. The plot is being cleaned up too. Probably getting ready for pavement soon. The only station that does not have concrete canopies yet is Bellingham Square station.... so no glass. But the forms are up for one canopy, soon for the other one.

 

[odurandina]

i'm intrigued by the possible effective use of narrow guage trains (re; Asia). i get you can't cross the Ted Williams tunnel, added to the untenable issue of paying for and locating a new maintenance shop. But, we're not talking about a lot of distance. i think (danger) some type of agile, light, mini-train or DFW-style tram would be highly effective for the Seaport and Chelsea routes.... if only a solution could be found for sending the buses through to Logan without interference with the faster trains.

sigh.

 

[whittle]

I'm not sure how they can do that. They *may* be able to adjust the system to allow transfers from SLG to the Blue Line.

That's been my thought. It depends on what the technical limitations of the current system are, and also potentially in the T's willingness to implement a system that might be open to abuse. If they can limit transfers to specific stations and lines, this won't be an issue; though based on how bus transfers currently work, I doubt this is a possibility. If they can add a new fare class to the system, I can think of few potential work-arounds. The one that sounds best in my head is to put a few Charliecard readers on posts somewhere between the Airport busway and fare gates; the card readers would charge some dummy fare class that costs the same as the subway, gets a free transfer from the subway, and gives a free transfer to the subway.

Though I don't actually know what the CharlieCard's technical limitations are, so this all just spitballing.

 

[jass]

Am I crazy or wasnt a subway-to-subway above ground transfer offered before? Something with Mass Ave and Hynes?

 

[CS]

There is a free transfer from the Mattapan Trolley to the Red Line at Ashmont, I assume the same will be done at Airport.
Would be nice if there was some way to have the Silver Line Airport stop in fare control...

 

[cybah]

So some exciting news!!!

I was finally able to secure a meetup and walk thru with the engineer for this project, which happened yesterday! It was a long time coming, as I had pull a few favors to get this, but I was able get one!

I also was assured I would be able to do this again, and all I needed to do was contact the engineer directly again for a tour (since now I have clearance by the folks at Park Plaza to do so, providing that schedule it and do it with the engineer). So plan on seeing similar updates in the future.

I'm thinking I may do one again in the early fall and again just before it opens next year. I'd LOVE to do one every month, however I would need to do this on a weekday, during business hours, and my schedule just doesn't allow for me to do so currently, so I'll try to do it once a quarter at least. (along with my regular semi-monthly updates of pictures I take on the weekends from public ways)

So pictures will follow next week sometime.. there's a delay due to my schedule the next few days (just no real time to edit photos until Sunday plus I started a new job recently soooo yeah, super busy lately). There's also another reason for a delay, but you'll have to privately message me on social media to find out. (Nothing bad, and out of my control really)

I also will do a write up in detail, as I was able to ask the engineer so many questions about the project. There's actually several changes to the project that I was unaware of, nor are documented anywhere online.

But I can say, it's on target to open Spring 2018. (I know I said 2017, but I was clearly incorrect, and the website now reflects it). The project engineer did correct me and state that they are on schedule and I was just simply wrong. Oops

Anyways so better pictures and a decent update to come in a week or so!

 

[FitchburgLine]

Can't wait! Hopefully the changes don't interfere with the basic plan, since the online design looks solid (although it seems like a pretty long timeline to completion. How hard can paving the ROW be?)

 

[Blackdog]

I eagerly await the update! Sounds like you got some great information us.

 

[cybah]

Can't wait! Hopefully the changes don't interfere with the basic plan, since the online design looks solid (although it seems like a pretty long timeline to completion. How hard can paving the ROW be?)

There's a bit more to that that just throwing down some pavement. There was some drainage/wetlands issues that had to be dealt with. Lots of grading and landscaping, building of canopies for the stations, electrical work, the shared use path and retaining walls. Plus the Washington Ave Bridge itself. So it's not just as simple as that. Look at my flickr album for the 1st set of photos from 2 years vs the recent ones above and you can see a big difference.

As far as the extended timeline.. see below.

I eagerly await the update! Sounds like you got some great information us.

Yes! I am eagerly waiting to post the update. So much to tell. I don't want to say too much and take away from the future update, but I can say that many items that were apart of "Phase II", such as the crossing signals, were moved to "Phase I". (which also may be why the open date was changed to next year, instead of this year)

In short any changes are actually making the SLG busway *better* than it was as originally designed. So all good changes. And some surprise "upgrades" and lots of stuff that was not discussed or apart of the original plans. It's a good thing!

 

[Arlington]

How many hours will Chelsea folks waste in their current sucky bus service while the opening is delayed to incorporate Phase 2 stuff? How many hours of delay with Phase 2 stuff save? Can you say it is enough to pay back Chelsea for its wait?

How much faster could it have been built if the T had been content with ordinary bus shelters?

Concrete shelters don't keep you any dryer or make the trip go any faster than standard shelters, and seem to come at the cost of taking longer and then the T cries poverty for real (but less monumento-politico) mobility projects like signal priority D Street in the Seaport (which would speed trips for ALL of Silver including SLG).