The Seaport Canal

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BronsonShore

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Because canals are cool as shit:

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The original Fan Pier proposal back in the late 1980's had a series of canals with a tall Hyatt Regency hotel. I had a hard time trying to find it online, but I'll see if I can dig it up.
 
Plen-T-Pak said:
Tell us more about your chosen route.
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Honestly? I mostly played a game of connect-the-empty-lots, with the notable exceptions of the WB Mason distribution center, which surely won't survive the eventual urbanization of this neighborhood anyway, and the Gilette facility, which is as good as gone as it is. These lots -- which are plain evidence of how poorly this land is being used -- make this neighborhood the only spot in the city where something like this would be remotely feasible.
 
Is this thing supposed to have 5+ movable bridges at the major cross streets? High-concept and all, I can't see how it could ever possibly be useful if you've got to open multiple pretty freaking low bridges to get a craft larger than a rowboat through there. I mean, Ft. Point Channel is a longstanding boating dead zone in large part because the now-fixed movables were too much of a P.I.T.A. to maneuver.
 
BronsonShore said:
Honestly? I mostly played a game of connect-the-empty-lots, with the notable exceptions of the WB Mason distribution center, which surely won't survive the eventual urbanization of this neighborhood anyway, and the Gilette facility, which is as good as gone as it is. These lots -- which are plain evidence of how poorly this land is being used -- make this neighborhood the only spot in the city where something like this would be remotely feasible.
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In the "woulda, shoulda, coulda" alternative reality, Boston, Cambridge and Somerville really should have kept some of the marshland intact that was filled-in in the 1800s, and constructed some canals to go along with those, throughout the area between Cambridge/Somerville and Charlestown, as well as the South Boston waterfront and Widett Circle area. But even just 30 years ago, I'm disappointed the South Boston waterfront and Cambridge Crossing developments didn't retrofit and restore some marshlands/canals into their planning and layout process. A painful lack of vision and foresight at play there.
 
When I play connect-the-parcels here, it is usually for a surface light rail line and pedestrianway.

The problem with actual water is that it becomes an actual channel for superstorm inundation...I'd want to make sure it isn't an end run around the Fort Point Channel flood barrier.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Is this thing supposed to have 5+ movable bridges at the major cross streets? High-concept and all, I can't see how it could ever possibly be useful if you've got to open multiple pretty freaking low bridges to get a craft larger than a rowboat through there. I mean, Ft. Point Channel is a longstanding boating dead zone in large part because the now-fixed movables were too much of a P.I.T.A. to maneuver.
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It's not supposed to be navigable for merchant ships -- it's supposed to be an amazing urban place. Picture Utrecht's Catharjinesingel Canal, or Seoul's Chongae:

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Arlington said:
When I play connect-the-parcels here, it is usually for a surface light rail line and pedestrianway.

The problem with actual water is that it becomes an actual channel for superstorm inundation...I'd want to make sure it isn't an end run around the Fort Point Channel flood barrier.
Click to expand...

I'm nothing even close to a civil engineer, but my understanding is that it's possible that a properly managed canal can actually help to mitigate flood risk. I know this is what they're looking into doing in Corpus Christi, at least.
 
Arlington said:
When I play connect-the-parcels here, it is usually for a surface light rail line and pedestrianway.

The problem with actual water is that it becomes an actual channel for superstorm inundation...I'd want to make sure it isn't an end run around the Fort Point Channel flood barrier.
Click to expand...

That’s a good point. Places I’m familiar with that have successful canals or small-river parks (Utrecht and Seoul are good examples) are all much further inland than the proposed canal in the OP. This location is definitely a different beast than the ones shown with pictures above and will have serious tidal effects.

The real spots in Boston similar to those places now is the Muddy River or Alewife Brook. Has the city ever considered unearthing Stony Brook?
 
BronsonShore said:
I'm nothing even close to a civil engineer, but my understanding is that it's possible that a properly managed canal can actually help to mitigate flood risk. I know this is what they're looking into doing in Corpus Christi, at least.
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Nor I, but intuitively it seems like it would provide more circulation which would help give dead-end canals like Fort Point an occasional flush. I often wondered if the reason why Wollaston is the absolute worst beach is because the marshes and causeway out to Squantum allow shit to collect due to lack of circulation, because it's lovely on the far side of Squantum. Anyway, bit of a digression but that second photo shows pathways into the water and my first thought was "gross". But it would be amazing if you could swim in the channel, provided there are some submerged platforms or pool-like enclosures.
 
So is there an actual reason we would need to actually connect to either Fort Point or Reserved Channels? An engineered, shallower aesthetic only thing might be more feasible. I was recently out in Omaha, and they have the brand new Gene Lahey Mall and Riverwalk. If I'm thinking of a recent American example of a mostly new-build urban water-based center piece, that'd be it - it literally opened July 2022. That is 100% engineered and, afaik, mechanically fed via a wading waterfall thing - despite being on the Missouri River, it has absolutely no connection to it. In fact, it connects on it's eastern end to Conagra Lake - whose name should tell you exactly how natural it is. (Yes, as in Conagra Foods as in Chef Boyardee - there's a statue and everything. They apparently razed a historic district out there in the 90s and put a manmade lake, park and office campus on it.)

Either way, it's actually a really nice place to spend time, and it's really not something youd expect from a place like Omaha. There's even a projector lightshow, and really impressive playground element. If Omaha can do it, I have to imagine with enough commitment to maintaining it, you could make it happen in Boston. Granted, the land here may be considered too valuable, and we don't exactly have a great history of maintaining water features up here. Plus... It was insanely expensive. It spans 3-4 city blocks? I heard numbers of ~400m, with private philanthropy accounting for abut 350m of that.

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