South Bank Bridge Project | West End

[goldenretrievers]

South Bank Bridge Project

Some interesting images in the link above, though not sure how to link from a PDF.

http://www.greenwold.com/portfolio/south-bank-bridge/

 

[Charlie_mta]

Here it is from the report:

 

[Arlington]

PDF hard from a handheld. What is the proposed budget and schedule?

 

[FK4]

Goddam this would be a good one. They don’t really need to do the one across the Charles if they just built this. And let’s not kid ourselves, a bicycle bridge across the Charles in this area is decades away.

 

[Charlie_mta]

They need to place the piers for the proposed bridge to allow for future tracks fanning out to additional platforms at North Station.

 

[RandomWalk]

Is the proposal to rebuild the two additional draw spans still extant?

 

[HenryAlan]

Goddam this would be a good one. They don’t really need to do the one across the Charles if they just built this. And let’s not kid ourselves, a bicycle bridge across the Charles in this area is decades away.

Yes, this would absolutely fix one of the biggest connectivity issues in Boston's bike network. There is nothing more frustrating than coming up on North Station's tracks only to realize you're at a dead end, with no real good way to get around it. The similar bridge on the other side of the river that winds its way through the 93 spaghetti is truly magnificent. For this one, I'd settle for simply functional.

 

[Shepard]

I don't ever bike or even much walk this area. So, am I right in thinking that this would let someone bike from Science Park to the North End without having to go down to Causeway?

Looks like it also provides great connectivity via the locks to Charlestown. That's pretty cool.

 

[ceo]

Not quite; they'd also have to build a bridge across the river. This is, I believe, planned for when they replace the railroad drawbridges.

 

[FK4]

I don't ever bike or even much walk this area. So, am I right in thinking that this would let someone bike from Science Park to the North End without having to go down to Causeway?

Looks like it also provides great connectivity via the locks to Charlestown. That's pretty cool.

Not quite; they'd also have to build a bridge across the river. This is, I believe, planned for when they replace the railroad drawbridges.

The south bank bridge would allow this connection. The whole point is that it bypasses Causeway. However, you’d still have to bike the OBrien for a bit before getting to Nashua St... so having the bridge across the Charles would be ideal since it would allow a bike bypass of what I find to be a very intimidating stretch of road. At any rate, skipping the north station mess on a bike would be a bigger win, so hopefully this happens.

Edit - I wonder - why is the plan for a bike bridge alongside the rail bridge? It’s probably the nicest option, but could a bicycle causeway be built alongside the west side of the GL viaduct, or the east side of science park? I think a drawbridge would have to exist for any option, but I wonder what the cheapest option actually would be...