Wellington Circle -- Rt 16 / Rt 28

BostonUrbEx

BostonUrbEx

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Cool ideas but I think the circles are way too big. The most efficient and safest roundabouts are small in diameter and cause entering traffic to turn nearly 90 degrees when entering. If you could fit a few of those into the intersection(s), I think it would work quite well.
 
I like the footprint on one, but I can imagine a stop light right out of a circle being a nightmare.
 
I like #3 the double circle.

Signals are only needed for pedestrian crossings which are few and far between here. Stick a couple of big pieces of public art in the circles. Two related sculptures looking at each other or some kind of arch that is anchored in each circle.
 
The double rotary is interesting, but I have to think it wouldn't be the safest option. People going through one rotary to get to the second, and waiting to get onto the second, backing up traffic behind them, into the first rotary. Kinda defeat the entire purpose of rotaries.
 
I'm not familiar with the intersection, does it not work as is?
 
Anyone know why the original circle configuration was abandoned? It would seem preferable to the current mess with traffic lights. With a circle, no traffic ever needs to actually stop, just slow down and merge.
 
I been around the area a lot and it's a mess. I'm not sure the circles are effect with the number of cars that come to it. Can a rotary take traffic of a two 6-lane highways plus a street? It seems the big deal is not it is just an intersection of two highways and a street, but lots of traffic changing directions with a lot still going straight. Hence the huge footprint for cars to make turns.

Maybe an underpass and maybe an overpass for 16 and 28 with a rotary around for traffic that wants to switch highways (and the one street feeding into the rotary) would be best.
 
davem said:
I'm not familiar with the intersection, does it not work as is?
Click to expand...

In a word? No.

Everything, EVERYTHING about Route 16 from at least I-93 to Chelsea (probably more) is a horrific, dysfunctional nightmare. We'd (a word which here means literally everybody - pedestrians, transit users, bicycle riders, even drivers, there is exactly nobody who benefits from things staying the way they are now) be better off if the entire corridor was atomized and rebuilt from scratch. I'm dead serious. That corridor doesn't need to be "fixed" - it needs to be destroyed and replaced. Full stop.

To BostonUrbEx's four proposals - two is far and away the best. Just make the circle a little bigger so that it captures all traffic, and we're golden. This is normally the part where I complain that roundabouts suck for pedestrians, but I'll gladly make an exception for Wellington Circle since it's bad for pedestrians already and meets the narrow range of criteria where building a roundabout is the right thing to do.

One and three are both awful and defeat the entire point of resorting to a roundabout - Middlesex Avenue can be cut back and forced into a T interchange with 28 without implementing a circle, and then you can just use a conventional signalized interchange for 16/28. No roundabouts required. Hell, keep the remains of Middlesex between its new terminus and 16 around as a pedestrian plaza or pathway connector and that's probably the best possible solution for pedestrians.

Four might as well be the "do nothing" option, as it results (or at least appears to result) in no appreciable change.
 
I would agree, the stretch from 93 to this interchange could use some work. Better street lighting, better signage (especially as you head under the expressway), and repave and clean up the area.

I was hoping as part of the Assembly development there would be upgrades to the infrastructure in this area.
 
Why not just copy the underpass/rotary above format from down the road?
 
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