Unbuilt roads around metro Boston

DowntownDave said:
How about this proposed reconfiguration of the I93-I95 interchange in Canton? I have only found half decade old documents about this:

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This should have been built 30 years ago. The fact that the state never did anything to upgrade that interchange is awful. You have 95, a major highway, going down to a single lane and then into a cloverleaf interchange which makes a mess of things. This, along with several other key interchanges (93/95 in Woburn and 24 in Randolph are prime examples) need to be rebuilt and upgraded.

This was supposed to be the final phase of the roadwork around University Ave in Westwood. MassDOT is currently working on rebuilding and widening the Dedham Street overpass of 95 along with that stretch of Dedham Street from University Ave to the business park (where Trillium and the Salvation Army are located), which will include a new off-ramp on the northbound side. That project has been under construction for about 2 years now and still has 3 and a half years left.
 
There was a plan published for the Woburn interchanges ages ago too, but nothing has ever happened for whatever reason:
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ceo said:
That was the original plan, but that would have disturbed the peaceful rural tranquility of East Arlington, you see.
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The State should proffer to buy what's called the Mugar Parcel in east Arlington (the triangular thicket of trees between Rt 2, Thorndike & the back of Dorothy Rd) and make the buffer permanent and expand the Thorndike fields, in exchange for building the Alewife-to-2-Outbound ramp. To ease the burden, they should sell the 5 by-right R1 lots on Dorothy Rd (and maybe create 4 more in the non-flood-zone uplands by Rt 2)

ALT_Mugar_ResourcePlan-1024x791.jpg
 
DowntownDave said:
There was a plan published for the Woburn interchanges ages ago too, but nothing has ever happened for whatever reason:
WW9Kf7L.png
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IIRC it had something to do with not wanting the flyovers. But I'm sure that was just normal pushback and the state just didn't want to commit the funds.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
IIRC it had something to do with not wanting the flyovers. But I'm sure that was just normal pushback and the state just didn't want to commit the funds.
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Van -- its all part of the Massachusetts Bureaucracy approach to anything [Note the details do depend on the scale involved*1,2] -- however the general process is as follows:
  • Identify problem
  • RFP for Study
  • Selection of Study-er
  • Court Challenge to RFP
  • Report on study recommending further study*3
  • Develop plan based on Report
  • Proposed Solutions
  • Public Input to Solutions
  • Court Challenges
  • years pass
  • System Reboots and process begins again or emergency hits and emergecy veresion of process begins
  • more years pass
  • contracts are issued
  • more years pass
  • "substantial completion is declared
  • then shortly later lights or ceiling slabs start falling due to ......

Obviously to do the process justice there are numerous opportunities to derail the process through legal delaying tactics, changes in administrations, and much more complexity is actually involved resulting in several multi-dimensional re-entrant flows of data, influence and money

Occasionally, after decades things do happen -- sometimes bizarrely -- e.g. few people realize that the Big Dig was a compromise between a plan to depress [but not tunnel] the Central Artery by Gov Dukakis and a plan to build the 3rd Harbor Tunnel by Gov King -- voila there was a plan to merge the two and bury the highway [without actually increasing the travel lanes and never providing any new interchanges to the existing I-90 segments made necessary by the extension through the Seaport through the Ted Williams Tunnel past Logan to Rt-1 *4

Or consider the current proposal for expansion of the the International Terminal Complex at Logan -- building 7 new gates -- it includes 3 Gates which years ago went through the approval process but never got built and then the Great Recession hit and 4 completely new gates

*1 -- buying a new Keurig Machine for the office
*2 building the Big Dig
*3 Mass is so full of consultants -- even if you don't win the follow-on to your study you'll get someone else's follow-on -- so always recommend further study to expand the universe of consulting opportunities
*4
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/the-big-dig-project-background
Central Artery/Tunnel Project Milestones
  • 1982 Work begins on Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report (FEIS/R).
  • 1985 Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report (FEIS/R) filed; approved early the next year.
  • 1986 Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff begins work as management consultant.
  • 1987 Congress approves funding and scope of project.
    Building acquisition and business relocation process begins (no private homes taken).
  • 1988 Final design process under way.
    Exploratory archaeology digs begin.
  • 1989 Preliminary/final design and environmental review continue.
  • 1990 Congress allocates $755 million to project.
  • 1991 Federal Highway Administration issues Record of Decision, the construction go-ahead.
    Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Report (FSEIS/R) approved.
    Construction contracts advertised and awarded.
    Construction begins on Ted Williams Tunnel and South Boston Haul Road.
  • 1992 More than $1 billion in design and construction contracts under way.
    Dredging and blasting for the Ted Williams Tunnel ongoing.
    Downtown utility relocation to clear path for Central Artery tunnel construction begins.
    Archaeologists find 17th and 18th century artifacts at a North End dig.
  • 1993 South Boston Haul Road opens.
    All 12 tube sections for Ted Williams Tunnel placed and connected on harbor floor.
  • 1994 Charles River Crossing revised design and related FSEIS/R approved.
    New set of loop ramps open in Charlestown.
  • 1995 Ted Williams Tunnel opens to commercial traffic.
  • 1996 Downtown slurry work under way for I-93 tunnels.
  • 1997 Utility work 80 percent complete.
  • 1998 Enter peak construction years.
    Construction begins on the Charles River Crossing.
  • 1999 Construction 50 percent complete.
    New Broadway Bridge opens.
    Leverett Circle Connector Bridge opens.
  • 2000 Close to 5,000 workers employed on the Big Dig.
  • 2001 Construction 70 percent complete.
  • 2002 Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge completed.
  • 2003 I-90 Connector from South Boston to Rt. 1A in East Boston opens in January.
    I-93 Northbound opens in March.
    I-93 Southbound opens in December.
  • 2004 Dismantling of the elevated Central Artery (I-93).
    Opening of tunnel from Storrow Drive to Leverett Circle Connector, providing access to I-93 North and Tobin Bridge.
  • 2005 Full opening of I-93 South.
    Opening of Dewey Square Tunnel, including new entrance and exit ramps.
    Opening of the two cantilevered lanes on Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge.
    Opening of permanent ramps and roadways at I-90/I-93 Interchange and in other areas.
  • 2006 Reached majority completion of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project in January.
    Spectacle Island Park opens to the public.
  • 2007 Restoration of Boston city streets.
    Continued construction of the Rose Kennedy Greenway and other parks.
    Construction on development parcels continues after Central Artery/Tunnel Project completes.
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whighlander said:
*3 Mass is so full of consultants -- even if you don't win the follow-on to your study you'll get someone else's follow-on -- so always recommend further study to expand the universe of consulting opportunities
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As a consultant in Mass I can promise you we aren't looking to spin our wheels. We want our work used.
 
I don't see how they can rebuild, or enhance a key interchange without the use of flyover ramps. There are numerous interchanges in the metro area that could benefit from them and also modest widening in and around the interchanges to make things flow more smoothly and eliminate some bottlenecks.
 
In Woburn the neighbors didn’t want the ramps to towering over the single family neighborhoods.
 
The original plan had a super tall interchange:

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The one above was intended to shrink the height of the ramps down to something more manageable. I've found a couple of other alternatives that were supposedly under study:

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EDIT: The Internet Archive has still a copy of the 2007 Final Report.
 
The original plan looks like the massive stack interchanges you see in Houston and Los Angeles. The alternative HS-03 looks like the best of the bunch - too bad it's not done or under construction.
 
That Woburn interchange has to be one of the worst in the state, considering its importance/traffic volume.
 
How old is that "original plan"? It involves bulldozing several dozen houses, a strip mall and several businesses.
 
Canton and Braintree were supposed to be advancing into draft design by now, but there's nuthin' but crickets.

Thank Mr. Speakah for the bupkis on Woburn. When he took a machete to Deval Patrick's big transpo bill a half-dozen years ago Woburn interchange was one of the builds punted off the high-priority shortlist to fit the package into the vastly smaller funding pie left behind. Nothing whatsoever is scheduled for further design work there.
 
It's ridiculous to think that you buy a house next to one of the busiest highway interchanges in the state and then complain about construction/improvements to it.
Hopefully with all our shiny new weed and gambling money we can put some of these projects back on track
 
DrFreewind said:
It's ridiculous to think that you buy a house next to one of the busiest highway interchanges in the state and then complain about construction/improvements to it.
Hopefully with all our shiny new weed and gambling money we can put some of these projects back on track
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I agree - it's the same as people who buy a house under the flight path of Logan and then complain.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
The *only* new highway Boston could use would be an expressway upgrade of the turnpike section of Route 1A from the expressway's end point past Bennington St. to at least MA 145 in Revere...if not all the way to the MA 60 rotary or MA 107. And that mainly is for neighborhood quality-of-life reasons because there's so much truck and tanker traffic on that road very poorly separated from neighborhood streets.
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Seriously, check out this stretch of 1A in the Oak Island area. Those abutting residents definitely deserve better buffering/separation from a road that traffic (quite reasonably) traverses at 50 MPH.

However: are there a myriad of environmental issues that would prevent any construction? The state did a substantial wetlands restoration of the marsh there some years ago, for starters. The whole damn corridor you describe is a sensitive environmental area, being part of [or very near] tidal wetlands--one that was presumably badly degraded by decades of a mixture of light and heavy industry (and don't forget the petro tanks by Suffolk Downs). Who knows what nasties are now buried deep in the strata, waiting to be stirred up? And, sea level rise, 100-yr. floodplains, 500-yr. floodplains, etc. etc.

Not trying to be alarmist by any stretch, F-Line; I'm just hypothesizing that Rte 1A from just past Logan Airport to the GE bridge at the Revere/Lynn line probably has an exceptional set of environmental factors to contend with, in terms of doing--and reviewing--an environmental impact statement prior to a rebuild...
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
The *only* new highway Boston could use would be an expressway upgrade of the turnpike section of Route 1A from the expressway's end point past Bennington St. to at least MA 145 in Revere...... But 1A is the one and only one that in Metro Boston that would do better off being built up more instead of reined in.
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F-Line
you alluded to Expresswaying Rt-2 from Alewife to I-495 -- probably not going to happen because of the property values along the ROW

However -- a very much easier to do and with a major benefit is the provision of a full lane from Rt-2 West to Rt-2A along I-95 / Rt-128 in Lexington

The lack of just about of as 1/4 mile to the existing exit from I-95/Rt-128 N to 2A at the Service Plaza backs up both Rt-2 as people have to share the R hand lane with heavy existing traffic and then screws up I-95/Rt-128 @2A and Service Plaza

You can almost make the connection via breakdown lane except for a small segment where the highway crosses a small bridge over Lincoln St / Lexington Rd where there is no full width breakdown lane

https://goo.gl/maps/MQ1NujjUYwX19WB1A

The other way is more problematical because of proximity to the Cambridge Reservoir @ Lexington Rd/Lincoln St and less of an issue most times because of the Traffic Lights on Rt-2A before the ramp to I-95 / Rt-128 S meters the traffic
 
whighlander said:
F-Line
you alluded to Expresswaying Rt-2 from Alewife to I-495 -- probably not going to happen because of the property values along the ROW

However -- a very much easier to do and with a major benefit is the provision of a full lane from Rt-2 West to Rt-2A along I-95 / Rt-128 in Lexington

The lack of just about of as 1/4 mile to the existing exit from I-95/Rt-128 N to 2A at the Service Plaza backs up both Rt-2 as people have to share the R hand lane with heavy existing traffic and then screws up I-95/Rt-128 @2A and Service Plaza

You can almost make the connection via breakdown lane except for a small segment where the highway crosses a small bridge over Lincoln St / Lexington Rd where there is no full width breakdown lane

https://goo.gl/maps/MQ1NujjUYwX19WB1A

The other way is more problematical because of proximity to the Cambridge Reservoir @ Lexington Rd/Lincoln St and less of an issue most times because of the Traffic Lights on Rt-2A before the ramp to I-95 / Rt-128 S meters the traffic
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It's not as much work as it looks because the Crosby's Corner reconstruction added 2.3 miles of new expressway-quality grade separation, You only have a 1.8 mile gap to close to have a contiguous expressway from Alewife to MA 126 in Concord. Lincoln only needs Bedford Rd. grade separation into an interchange and tidy-up of the curb cuts within 2000 ft. of Lexington Rd. in each direction. It is on MassDOT's mind to tend to the Lincoln stretch, so that's likely to happen when funding comes available.

Eventually the long-delayed Concord rotary grade separation is going to get funded, putting total separation of 2A and Elm St. for another 2 miles of separation between MA 62 and the School St./Wetherbee St. curb cuts on the MA 111 concurrency. That leaves 1.5 miles and 3 curb cuts to dispose of on the 111 concurrency before West Concord-west is contiguous with the expressway to 495, and 2.2 miles from MA 62 to MA 126 before the expressway is contiguous to the east to 128 and Cambridge.

It really isn't very much work. And we're not talking a 6-lane Interstate...just the same minimalist 4-lane, 55 MPH speed limit, jersey-barriered job as the Crosby's Corner upgrade or the Acton-Littleton stretch between 111 and 495. Given how small the remaining gaps are, I think once the biggest project--the Rotary separation--and the Lincoln gap-closer are done the momentum is going to be on to gradually pick off the remaining 126-to-62 and 111 concurrency gaps. It'll happen in part because there is NOT much ritzy real estate direct-abutting the road, and zero required land-taking because the ROW already has a wide buffer on all signs. Forest, farmland, wetlands, prison, car auction lot, couple medical office building clusters set 250 ft. back from the road, and the Acton landfill. I'm sure there'll be NIMBY's, which is why "pick the remaining segments off in chunks and don't put a clock to it" is the operative plan...but there's only so much for people to scream about here. If 62, 2A, and 126 all flow better in/out of downtown Concord because they aren't ensnared in stoplight queues with the big highway, it'll be muted opposition at best.
 
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