Sullivan Square Superstation/Transport Hub

[BostonUrbEx]

Continuing the discussion from the Wynn Casino thread.

Here's an excerpt from the Everett Transit Action Plan:

Sullivan Square offers better access to destinations in Cambridge and Somerville than Wellington.
− Sullivan Square and Wellington, which are major transfer points for Everett transit riders, offer connecting services to different destinations.
− Sullivan Square riders can transfer to buses serving Cambridge and Somerville.
− Wellington bus routes mostly serve Medford with limited access to Davis Square.
− While there is frequent service to Sullivan Square along Broadway, only one route on Main Street and no routes on south Ferry Street serve Sullivan Square.
− Riders living near Main Street and south Ferry Street thus have less access to bus routes serving Sullivan Square, and therefore have more difficulty travelling to Cambridge and Somerville.

http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/17/docs/Everett/EveretteEnglish_Feb16.pdf

 

[winstonoboogie]

Continuing the discussion from the Wynn Casino thread.

Here's an excerpt from the Everett Transit Action Plan:



http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/17/docs/Everett/EveretteEnglish_Feb16.pdf

The 2008 Urban Ring draft EIR thought Sullivan Sq. would be a good spot for a new commuter rail station
https://books.google.com/books?id=V...WClB4KHSU3D5E4ChDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
stating:
Sullivan Square
Construct a new commuter rail station at Sullivan Square in Boston serving both, the Newburyport/Rockport and Haverhill Commuter Rail Lines. These commuter rail lines currently converge approximately 1,000 feet north of the existing Orange Line Station at Sullivan Square, but there is currently no commuter rail station at Sullivan Square for either line. The new Sullivan Square commuter rail station will be an important transfer point between these commuter rail lines and Urban Ring BRT1 route serving established locations such as Kendall Square, and emerging locations such as New Lechmere/North Point and Assembly Square. The new station will also provide connections with the existing Orange Line and the large number of local bus routes that serve Sullivan Square.

Major elements of the new Sullivan Square commuter rail station include:
0 Extend the Haverhill Line southward through Sullivan Square along a portion of the Orange Line
test track alignment;
0 Provide high-level center platform and a side platform on east side of ROW to serve all three
commuter rail tracks;
0 New track and switch configuration to provide increased operations capacity and flexibility; and
0 Connect platforms to a modified Sullivan Square mezzanine area for direct connections with
proposed Urban Ring BRT as well as existing Orange Line and local buses.
(end of quote)

Based on available funds, look for construction to start in 2072

 

[nick]

F-Line spelled out in another thread why a Sullivan commuter rail station isn't feasible with the I-93 viaduct overhead.

If that's the issue, let's nuke the existing viaduct and descend I-93 north of Community College into a tunnel underneath Sullivan. Have it pop up north of Fellsway and better connect Assembly Square into Somerville with new local streets. Rebuild Sullivan as a superstation with CR, OL, SL, and local buses. Finance it with a massive TIF district encompassing Assembly and all of the industrial properties north and south of Sullivan and west of Charlestown.

In my dreams.

 

[tysmith95]

We can't even put trolly tracks down for less than 3 billion. A project the magnitude of putting i93 underground through Somerville would cost 40 billion!

 

[winstonoboogie]

F-Line spelled out in another thread why a Sullivan commuter rail station isn't feasible with the I-93 viaduct overhead.

.

In my dreams.

The Urban Ring study didn't think that was an issue as it stated:
"Major elements of the new Sullivan Square commuter rail station include:
0 Extend the Haverhill Line southward through Sullivan Square along a portion of the Orange Line test track alignment;
0 Provide high-level center platform and a side platform on east side of ROW to serve all three commuter rail tracks;"

 

[BostonUrbEx]

I firmly think it is doable, I just don't know that it'd be very pretty. I'd love to at least see a legitimate study.

Also, no need to bury I-93. Worst case just redesign the supports from Maffa Way to Roland St -- they'll have a wide step straddling over the right-of-way and keeping clear of the right-of-way as best they can. That is still a decent undertaking, but I-93 remains open while they build new supports and then remove the old ones. It gets more complex as a good deal of that the two halves of I-93 are at different elevations.

 

[fattony]

I don't know that these things are mutually exclusive, but I would infinitely prefer to see resources and real estate in Sullivan allocated to making it a livable, walkable, mixed-use district rather than a superstation. It is a close-in neighborhood and is already transit-connected to many other relatively affordable areas. Let's thoroughly urbanize it instead of making it a waypoint for suburban commuters.

 

[winstonoboogie]

I firmly think it is doable, I just don't know that it'd be very pretty. I'd love to at least see a legitimate study.

Also, no need to bury I-93. Worst case just redesign the supports from Maffa Way to Roland St -- they'll have a wide step straddling over the right-of-way and keeping clear of the right-of-way as best they can. That is still a decent undertaking, but I-93 remains open while they build new supports and then remove the old ones. It gets more complex as a good deal of that the two halves of I-93 are at different elevations.

When the trestle to North Station burned in January 1984, an emergency station was built at Sullivan Sq. and it was the terminal of the Eastern Route until April 1985. They built a low level platform with stairs down to it along the Orange Line test track right-of-way. Because they were running some leased ex-GO Transit cars that only had low-level boarding, the couldn't build a high-level platform. It actually worked quite well, I had occasion to ride it in that time period on multiple occasions.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

I don't know that these things are mutually exclusive, but I would infinitely prefer to see resources and real estate in Sullivan allocated to making it a livable, walkable, mixed-use district rather than a superstation. It is a close-in neighborhood and is already transit-connected to many other relatively affordable areas. Let's thoroughly urbanize it instead of making it a waypoint for suburban commuters.

They aren't mutually exclusive, so I don't know why we can't do one but not the other. Making a mega-transit node does not preclude (and would actually encourage) an urban area around it. It doesn't make sense to me that having Orange Line, buses, possibly commuter rail, and possibly Silver Line/Urban Ring/Green Line would in any way negate the ability to have a thriving Sullivan Sq.

 

[fattony]

They aren't mutually exclusive, so I don't know why we can't do one but not the other. Making a mega-transit node does not preclude (and would actually encourage) an urban area around it. It doesn't make sense to me that having Orange Line, buses, possibly commuter rail, and possibly Silver Line/Urban Ring/Green Line would in any way negate the ability to have a thriving Sullivan Sq.

I guess I'm thinking that there is a lot of transit infrastructure already there which has precluded the place becoming livable, not made it more livable. It certainly has a lot of transit users moving through the area, but not *to* the area. Adding more transit increases access to the area, but it doesn't need more access. It needs more "there" there. I guess the commuter rail is already below grade so maybe if a commuter rail station there were part of a larger air-rights development it could help avoid creating more dead space.

 

[winstonoboogie]

I guess I'm thinking that there is a lot of transit infrastructure already there which has precluded the place becoming livable, not made it more livable. It certainly has a lot of transit users moving through the area, but not *to* the area. Adding more transit increases access to the area, but it doesn't need more access. It needs more "there" there. I guess the commuter rail is already below grade so maybe if a commuter rail station there were part of a larger air-rights development it could help avoid creating more dead space.

I think this study has already been linked to in some past discussion, but here it is again just in case it hasn't:
http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/getattachment/60148791-0d78-4fe7-8a63-454bdf2f03f0

 

[tangent]

I guess I'm thinking that there is a lot of transit infrastructure already there which has precluded the place becoming livable, not made it more livable. It certainly has a lot of transit users moving through the area, but not *to* the area. Adding more transit increases access to the area, but it doesn't need more access. It needs more "there" there. I guess the commuter rail is already below grade so maybe if a commuter rail station there were part of a larger air-rights development it could help avoid creating more dead space.

I think the biggest solvable issue is the surface park lots (93 and the rail lines aren't going to be removed). Lots of examples of buildings with inviting ground level retail and parking garages above. No reason that a transit hub can't improve the streetscape and livability of Sullivan Square. Just has to be planned that way.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

I guess I'm thinking that there is a lot of transit infrastructure already there which has precluded the place becoming livable, not made it more livable. It certainly has a lot of transit users moving through the area, but not *to* the area. Adding more transit increases access to the area, but it doesn't need more access. It needs more "there" there. I guess the commuter rail is already below grade so maybe if a commuter rail station there were part of a larger air-rights development it could help avoid creating more dead space.

I really don't see how you're drawing the conclusion that you are.

The rail infrastructure is below an elevated highway, so one way or another this is a thin, unusable strip of land. The issue is the tangle of surface roads and the rotary, which have sorely needed to be redesigned, but those redesigns keep sputtering out and the work never happens. If you fix the wasteland around the transit node, you can have decent development. Reducing or holding-back transit at the transit node is ass-backwards and will not make development any more enticing.

 

[TheRifleman]

We can't even put trolly tracks down for less than 3 billion. A project the magnitude of putting i93 underground through Somerville would cost 40 billion!

This is a good idea---besides the cost of the project

 

[tangent]

I really don't see how you're drawing the conclusion that you are.

The rail infrastructure is below an elevated highway, so one way or another this is a thin, unusable strip of land. The issue is the tangle of surface roads and the rotary, which have sorely needed to be redesigned, but those redesigns keep sputtering out and the work never happens. If you fix the wasteland around the transit node, you can have decent development. Reducing or holding-back transit at the transit node is ass-backwards and will not make development any more enticing.

I agree with most of your points. One thing though gets a bit chicken and egg in my mind.... "The issue is the tangle of surface roads and the rotary, which have sorely needed to be redesigned, but those redesigns keep sputtering out and the work never happens."

While I agree that the surface roads could use a redesign. Maybe more realistically you could just go with the approximate street grid that is there now and redevelop the 4 or 5 lots as they are configured now without worrying about a redesign of the surface roads.

Or just go ahead and realign or merge Maffa Way/Main St/Mystic Ave without linking it to a redesign of the rotary/underpass. Then you are talking about something that a developer could actually afford to pay for as part of the redevelopment.

Whichever way the redesign of Sullivan Sq rotary/underpass happens the approximate footprint of redevelopment is about the same.

 

[ceo]

I've always thought Sullivan needed a headhouse entrance on the East Somerville side. As it is, getting there from the dense urban neighborhood it's right next to involves a really roundabout and not particularly pedestrian-friendly route.

 

[Scalziand]

Yes, Sullivan dearly needs a Perkins street entrance.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Cambridge St overhead bridge at the center of the image.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

A document containing Phase II Urban Ring (BRT phase) info, the very last few pages of which show details on Sullivan Sq: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/theurbanring/downloads/Plan_Profile_Drawings.pdf

NOTES/ASSUMPTIONS:

• Design constrained by Reading Jct
• Orange Line test track to be used as a third Commuter Rail track
• Maximum Design Velocity for through trains is 30 MPH. Commuter Rail #20 turnouts to be replaced by #15 turnouts in order to fit physically, which results in operational speed restrictions. Governing factor is #15 connections for proposed crossovers. During preliminary engineering #20 crossovers shall be analyzed with detailed survey data.
• The MBTA will allow and establish a multi-modal Commuter Rail / Orange Line station platform at Sullivan Square. A substantial effort on passenger signage and customer service agents at the combined platform may be required.
• Existing I-93 and Sullivan Square infrastructure will need to be redesigned and replaced. All proposed modifications should be outlined and detailed after survey and detailed base mapping is established in preliminary design phase.
• The proposed new track on the easterly side of Sullivan Square Station can only accommodate moves to the Eastern Route. During the Preliminary Design Phase an operational study should be completed to determine if an additional crossover is required between the proposed track and the existing Western Route Maine Line.
• Conclusion: The addition of a third track at Sullivan Square appears feasible at the conceptual design level and should be taken Preliminary Engineering Design.

One thing to note is that the maximum speed of 30 MPH is only for trains taking a diverging route (using a crossover to change tracks) through either FX (south of the station) or Reading Jct (north of the station). Also, in addition to replacing two crossovers, they also plan to add a new crossover at Reading Jct immediately after the MBTA Charlestown facility switch. They could easily fit a 45 MPH crossover in here if they either change the direction of the crossover from facing point to trailing point, or if they just removed the rarely-used MBTA switch. There's certainly room to work that out. They're already planning to move the signals (not needed IMO) for that part of the junction, so anything can be done.

 

[Charlie_mta]

I went through the entire set of plans in the link, and must say the busway alignments are rife with tight radii and sharp turns. The operating speed looks like it will be crawling along, not rapid transit.

How about taking a cue from the early 1900's, and build a rapid transit rail line for the urban ring. I know, I know; megabucks and NIMBY's, but come on, this wiggly busway proposal is a really half-assed proposal for a large, dense urban core.