South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

I saw a crew of about 20 Suffolk Construction engineers having a summit out deep on the platforms during morning rush hour about a month ago, FWIW...
 
HelloBostonHi said:
Don't forget this building as approved includes a completely unnecessary 1,083 car parking garage directly above New England's busiest train station.
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Serious question though. If people from Northern New England want to take the train to NYC, Philly, DC, etc. what would be best?
 
type001 said:
Serious question though. If people from Northern New England want to take the train to NYC, Philly, DC, etc. what would be best?
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Take a bus to South Station. Concord Coach Lines provides absolutely amazing service from Maine and New Hampshire. Not as familiar with bus service for Vermont, but if they really want to take the train to NYC and points below, there is the Vermonter Amtrak service.
 
For Vermont where I grew up the obvious choice was the Vermonter. The Ethan Allen Express makes sense for people in Rutland and that is about it. There aren't any other options that make sense because heading to Boston on a bus and then getting the Northeast Regional or Acela isn't any faster than the Vermonter or Ethan Allen Express.
 
Depending on how many people you have it's probably cheaper to take a bus/train into Boston too than drive and pay what I'm sure will be an exorbitant daily rate for parking in the center of the city. Boston needs to advertise more park and ride esque service, commuter rail and Intercity buses all work but driving in to the city you never see them advertised in the same way you do in British cities.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
Don't forget this building as approved includes a completely unnecessary 1,083 car parking garage directly above New England's busiest train station.
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HB -- Why does everyone feel it incumbent to dump on any mention of a parking garage as part of a major development.
On the scale of this multi-million sq fr. project which will house people as well as provide much space for employment and enhanced bus transportation -- 1000 spaces is not too much.

There are and will continue to be for some considerable time approximately 500,000 people who commute to Boston daily -- some via private automobile. There are also people who have to drive to Boston for various perfectly good reasons -- some of these will need parking.
 
whighlander said:
There are and will continue to be for some considerable time approximately 500,000 people who commute to Boston daily -- some via private automobile. There are also people who have to drive to Boston for various perfectly good reasons -- some of these will need parking.
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And it is my personal belief that those people should park outside the city and ride a form of HOV in, bus/train etc. There are limited reasons one NEEDS to bring in a vehicle into downtown Boston and I believe the current parking supply more than covers those situations. Parking in central core downtown in uneccessary.

Also for this parking deck in particular I take massive issue with the fact the entrance/exit is onto Atlantic Ave, cutting directly across ab immensely pedestrian dense sidewalk. They should have stuck with the one entry by the bus terminal offramp.
 
Until the infrastructure can actually work reliably and get people into the city that's not feasible. Forcing everyone to take garbage infrastructure will literally kill the city as businesses stop being able to function.
 
meddlepal said:
Until the infrastructure can actually work reliably and get people into the city that's not feasible. Forcing everyone to take garbage infrastructure will literally kill the city as businesses stop being able to function.
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Chicken and egg -- it also creates the political will to fix said infrastructure.
 
Just wondering. Wouldn't funneling every single driver into commuter rail stations result in causing traffic in the streets surrounding those commuter rail stations?
 
KentXie said:
Just wondering. Wouldn't funneling every single driver into commuter rail stations result in causing traffic in the streets surrounding those commuter rail stations?
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This is why it's so important for communities to approve larger/denser residential buildings within walking distance of these stations. Every one of these developments that gets chopped down leads to that demand instead being fulfilled in a less desirable location. It's also why I'm still screaming bloody hell at the major chop-down of the North Station residential component.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
And it is my personal belief that those people should park outside the city and ride a form of HOV in, bus/train etc. There are limited reasons one NEEDS to bring in a vehicle into downtown Boston and I believe the current parking supply more than covers those situations. Parking in central core downtown in uneccessary.

Also for this parking deck in particular I take massive issue with the fact the entrance/exit is onto Atlantic Ave, cutting directly across ab immensely pedestrian dense sidewalk. They should have stuck with the one entry by the bus terminal offramp.
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HeBos -- You obviously are not familiar with any of Greater Boston outside of what you can reach by walking to/from a downtown T station

The reality is that the Greater of Greater Boston [i.e. Boston CSA]*1 extends in some directions:
  1. up to 100 miles from the State House
    1. North East up toward Portland Maine
    2. South and West into Rhode Island and even Connecticut
    3. North past Manchester in NH
  2. as well as a solid 50 plus miles directly back toward Springfield via Worcester
The vast majority of the approximately 8 Million people in the Boston CSA do not have access to any reasonable form of transportation except a personal vehicle to take them to Boston -- without a whole lot of inconvenience or expense

Despite your fondest wishes -- you just can not expect someone coming to Boston from the hinterlands with say their elderly relative or mobility impaired spouse, etc., to park way out somewhere and take the T let alone the Commuter Rail -- they just are not going to do that -- they need to be able to park a short distance from the final destination possibly carrying a wheel chair, a walker, and or oxygen tank in the trunk

At the Museum of Science where I volunteer we get visitors with these kinds of support services all of the time -- we even provide assisted mobility when needed by a visitor who arrives to the MOS and needs a electric wheeled chair to navigate the exhibit halls

Thus even if you drastically reduced the hundreds of thousands of commuters who drive to a small number -- there will always be others visiting Boston's cultural, educational or medical complexes who will drive and need parking

*1
Combined Statistical Area -- with a population of 8,285,407 more than MA & NH combined
 
if i'm reading the language correctly the item on the agenda
was for BPDA to approve Hynes' new financing partnership.
it was passed.
 
whighlander said:
Despite your fondest wishes -- you just can not expect someone coming to Boston from the hinterlands with say their elderly relative or mobility impaired spouse, etc., to park way out somewhere and take the T let alone the Commuter Rail -- they just are not going to do that -- they need to be able to park a short distance from the final destination possibly carrying a wheel chair, a walker, and or oxygen tank in the trunk

At the Museum of Science where I volunteer we get visitors with these kinds of support services all of the time -- we even provide assisted mobility when needed by a visitor who arrives to the MOS and needs a electric wheeled chair to navigate the exhibit halls

Thus even if you drastically reduced the hundreds of thousands of commuters who drive to a small number -- there will always be others visiting Boston's cultural, educational or medical complexes who will drive and need parking
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And I absolutely appreciate that reality. The area around this development has approximately 30,000 off street parking spaces per square mile, more than enough I'd argue to handle every single one of those users, and more.
 

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HelloBostonHi said:
And I absolutely appreciate that reality. The area around this development has approximately 30,000 off street parking spaces per square mile, more than enough I'd argue to handle every single one of those users, and more.
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HelloBos -- you are missing the point -- you can not substitute a parking space in a garage 2000 feet away from the destination for one located just on the spot -- that is why valet parking is so popular if you can afford it
 
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