West Cambridge / Alewife Area Infill & Small Developments

I'm curious if Cambridge is planning ahead for the next generational boom of kids that is going to come out of all these North Cambridge apartments and condos? Large developments like these will get someone thinking about (besides transit) schools, fire departments, etc. Brookline got caught behind the eight ball with all the single family homes getting being split into condos and Hancock Village is looking for a ninth elementary.
 
George_Apley said:
Cambridge is consistently terrible at planning.
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George -- Yes and No

  • The first mistake was that they drew only on Cambridge -- there was no consideration of the roads and other infrastructure across the border
  • The second mistake was -- explained by the famous Humphrey about Dukakis quote -- upon meeting the "rising star M. Staneley" the former Vice President said "the difference between you [M. Stanley Dukakis] a process liberal and myself [HHH] a "true liberal -- is that Your Type doesn't care if SXXT comes out of the pipe as long as it is chrome plated"

Those two mistakes condemned the Alewife plan to abject failure:
  • by not including the roads and trails, parks, wetlands outside of Cambridge -- the scope was flawed -- I live in Lexington near to the border with Arlington [in fact we share a street and a woodland between the two towns]
  • by bending over backward to make sure that every possible voice was included [many of which were quoted in the document] the most banal and least possibly disruptive plan was the only one possible -- for example despite quite tall apartments [Soviet Style to be sure] a long standing feature of the landscape -- no possible suggestion of any new towers of comparable size would have a ghost of a chance at acceptance
  • Then throw-in the Cambridge obsession with bikes and hatred of cars -- you abandon any idea of an efficient network of streets which could relieve excessive delays where Rt-2 as highway ends
  • Finally -- there is some sort of obsession with preserving and enhancing the "Light Industrial" -- especially based on old demographics. Let the place develop and the higher value usages will change the industrial mix and the demographics will adjust accordingly -- i.e. Kendall Square [albeit without the super advantage of being at MIT's backdoor
The good news is that Cambridge once considered what to do with what has become Kendall Sq. post the end of NASA Electronics Research Center -- taking input from everyone except those whose decisions actually matter -- Cambridge considered 3 alternatives:
  1. A massive Boston-like City Hall Plaza with a new City Hall -- favored by Cambridge Pols
  2. A huge "modern version" of Pruitt-Igoe housing development -- favored by "activists"
  3. Incremental development [over decades] similar to Tech Square -- proposed by MIT [temporary use soccer fields]
The MIT proposal was finally accepted with some modifications because the powers that be couldn't agree among themselves which of #1 or #2 to settle on

If Alewife is just left alone to develop gradually over the next 20 years -- I think it will come out fine -- particularly if the tallness-phobia is cured and it well come along really well if Cambridge, Arlington, Belmont and the Mass DOT can agree on necessary roads and rail works:
  1. a commuter rail station connected to Alewife at least virtually]
  2. some relief for the narrow end of Rt-2 at and near to the bridge [add 2 lanes between the bridge and the beginning of the state highway] add one lane over the bridge
  3. a crossing over the tracks not just for people and bikes
  4. some way to connect the last two exists off Rt-2 with Cambridge Park Drive
 
dhawkins said:
I'm curious if Cambridge is planning ahead for the next generational boom of kids that is going to come out of all these North Cambridge apartments and condos? Large developments like these will get someone thinking about (besides transit) schools, fire departments, etc. Brookline got caught behind the eight ball with all the single family homes getting being split into condos and Hancock Village is looking for a ninth elementary.
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Dhawkins --- Doubt it very seriously -- the comparison between Brookline and Cambridge regarding schools is not very apropos -- Cambridge for all its intelectualist aspects -- really doesn't have public schools that compete with the best of the suburbs [there are 23 public high schools in Greater Boston rated higher than Cambridge and below the top two Lexington and Brookline
 
2 things are desperately needed in this area:
1. They need to include an additional outlet onto Route 2 West so that every single car isn't forced to join the gridlock on Alewife Brook Parkway. That road is already a complete parking lot for like 3 hours in the afternoon/evening.
2. They need to include pedestrian crossings that don't interfere with the existing rotaries. There are already too many people who keep hitting the walk buttons, stopping the rotaries in their tracks for 30 seconds at a time, and contributing to the absolute gridlock above. More residences and offices will push these roads past the breaking point.
 
whighlander said:
Dhawkins --- Doubt it very seriously -- the comparison between Brookline and Cambridge regarding schools is not very apropos -- Cambridge for all its intelectualist aspects -- really doesn't have public schools that compete with the best of the suburbs [there are 23 public high schools in Greater Boston rated higher than Cambridge and below the top two Lexington and Brookline
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You realize that there are something like 250 public high schools in MA, right? And that MA has the best schools of any state? 24th is pretty good.
 
DZH22 said:
2 things are desperately needed in this area:
1. They need to include an additional outlet onto Route 2 West so that every single car isn't forced to join the gridlock on Alewife Brook Parkway. That road is already a complete parking lot for like 3 hours in the afternoon/evening.
2. They need to include pedestrian crossings that don't interfere with the existing rotaries. There are already too many people who keep hitting the walk buttons, stopping the rotaries in their tracks for 30 seconds at a time, and contributing to the absolute gridlock above. More residences and offices will push these roads past the breaking point.
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I wish #1 was possible but I'm not seeing where there's room. I absolutely agree with #2. Traffic can't be halted every time somebody hits the button during rush hour. It needs to be timed better so that the pedestrians can all cross at once at certain intervals.

I also like the idea of another pedestrian bridge over the tracks that connects the new developments in the old industrial area off of Concord Ave with the Alewife T stop.

Beyond that though, the only traffic relief that would make a difference is extending the Red Line which would cut down on the brutal traffic coming in from the West. I do appreciate the burden that Cambridge has taken on building a lot of much needed multi family housing. I hope they keep that up because the proximity to transit is a huge plus.
 
Rover said:
I wish #1 was possible but I'm not seeing where there's room.
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Commit what seems to be heresy in MA, and do what people do anywhere else you have an absurd highway intersection instead of perpetually tinkering with traffic light timings to try to move an unrealistic number of cars through an overly complicated intersection: Remove some or all of the conflicting movements with flyovers/underpasses or the like.

And if traffic could flow more freely, you'd potentially need less lanes than exist today for a lot of the movements as well, making that redesign less difficult to fit in.

I am certain that you could come up with a way to separate at least some of the existing movements, even without substantially encroaching on the park or the wetlands.
 
Rover said:
Beyond that though, the only traffic relief that would make a difference is extending the Red Line which would cut down on the brutal traffic coming in from the West. I do appreciate the burden that Cambridge has taken on building a lot of much needed multi family housing. I hope they keep that up because the proximity to transit is a huge plus.
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Honestly the best investment to make would be a land-swap with the Korean church so that Cambridgepark Drive can be aligned with Rindge. The Rindge abutters would screech, but it would get A LOT of North Cambridge and Somerville traffic off of the Fresh Pond Parkway (AND Concord Ave AND Walden Street, AND Upton Street) if folks could get from Cambridgepark Drive to Rindge.

millerm277 said:
And if traffic could flow more freely, you'd potentially need less lanes than exist today for a lot of the movements as well, making that redesign less difficult to fit in.
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Less lanes? It's only two lanes in each direction now. Even Route 2 is only three lanes approaching Alewife before one peels off to the station.

Alewife/Fresh Pond Pkwy solution ideas from reasonable to crazy:
  • Retime lights
  • Build pedestrian bridges across Pkwy between Alewife and Concord Ave
  • Restripe or widen the inbound Rt2 overpass of Minuteman Trail to support 2 lanes each on the split to Alewife Brook Pkwy and Fresh Pond Pkwy
  • Land-swap w/ the church to realign Cambridgepark Drive with Rindge
  • Add a Fitchburg Line CR station somewhere in Cambridge Highlands with access from both sides of the ROW
  • Disentangle the super-intersection of Routes 2 & 3/16 with flyovers
  • Disentangle the rotaries at both ends of the Concord Ave overlap with duck-unders
  • Extend the Green Line from Union to Porter to Watertown including two stops: @ Danehy west of the Apple Cinema, and @ the Parkway adjacent to Fresh Pond
  • Extend the Red Line through Arlington and build at least one Park & Ride at Route 2 or Route 128
  • Big Dig the whole damn thing from Alewife to the Eliot Bridge
That was fun.
 
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George_Apley said:
Less lanes? It's only two lanes in each direction now. Even Route 2 is only three lanes approaching Alewife before one peels off to the station.
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My point is that a single lane of unimpeded traffic moves more cars than 2 lanes that spend 2/3rds of their time (or more) sitting at a red light (or stopped by the queues coming off from them) because of a clusterfuck of an intersection, which is the current state of most of the paths through the intersection.

If you hypothetically redid the thing as a full interchange with flyovers that eliminated all the lights, many of your imaginary ramps probably only need to be single lane, not two lanes wide.
 
I think they should also redo the curbs at the cutoff crossing of the Route 2 to Alewife off ramp. Drivers should not be able to turn left to get back to the 16/2 intersection. Lots of folks use it to attempt a skip of the intersection when going north on 16.
 
Two-building development would add 100 affordable units in Alewife
Rendering of a pair of multistory apartment buildings.
Just-A-Start
Just-A-Start, a Cambridge-based community development corporation, plans to build a mixed-use project with around 100 apartments at the foot of the building it owns at 402 Rindge Avenue near the Red Line’s Alewife stop.

Dubbed Rindge Commons, the two-building development is due to include a new education and job-training center as well as community resources. The apartments will be aimed at tenants with low to moderate incomes for the area.

“Rindge Commons represents an exciting opportunity to serve more Cambridge residents through expanded programming,” Carl Nagy-Koechlin, Just-A-Start’s executive director, said a statement to Curbed Boston. “Cambridge is a flourishing city, but many people still struggle to access opportunities for family-sustaining work and housing within their means.”

boston.curbed.com

Two-building development near Cambridge’s Alewife stop would add 100 apartments

Other big development news from the week includes a brouhaha over a failed Mass. Pike project and some milestones off Morrissey Boulevard.
boston.curbed.com boston.curbed.com
 
Oh God no, not more development around here! They need to fix Alewife Brook Parkway and add another outlet onto Route 2 West!!! Forcing cars to turn around at the rotary in order to get back to the highway is BRUTAL. Route 2 West is always totally clear too, at least up through the 95 interchange. It's just that GETTING ONTO Route 2 is a nightmare!!!
 
I'm seeing a neighborhood that is served by the stub of an over-capacity heavy rail, combined with an over-capacity highway stub, with a growing local residential and commercial base, and no transit access from the suburbs. There is a commuter rail going right through the middle of the neighborhood without a stop.

@F-Line to Dudley (or any other Train infrastructure person), what considerations are there for a commuter rail station here? Is there something operationally holding it back? I'm seeing Boston Landing was only $20 Million.
www.bostonmagazine.com

New Boston Landing Commuter Rail Stop Opens in Brighton

Rail service returns to Allston-Brighton.
www.bostonmagazine.com www.bostonmagazine.com
EDIT: Sorry "Regional Urban Rail" stop...]
 
This is along Mooney St (right?) on the Blanchard/Concord Ave side of the tracks. This is a slightly better place for development because the grid is a little more redundant along Concord and Blanchard.

Let 's be clear, though, this is AN overpass, it is not THE overpass that Cambridge has long sought.

The long sought overpass is shown in a concept below. It goes much closer to the Red Line (within about 300ft +/- from here) and the current rail maintenance building (and near where you'd want RUR to have a station:
overpass.jpg


Meanwhile, This developer 1000' west (out on Mooney street) proposes an amenity that would nicely serve people commuting by Red Line, but ONLY IF their home/connection in the core, as it is about as straight a shot toward Alewife as you can affordably build here.

DZH22 said:
Oh God no, not more development around here! They need to fix Alewife Brook Parkway and add another outlet onto Route 2 West!!! Forcing cars to turn around at the rotary in order to get back to the highway is BRUTAL. Route 2 West is always totally clear too, at least up through the 95 interchange. It's just that GETTING ONTO Route 2 is a nightmare!!!
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No amount of new capacity are going to "fix" ABP precisely because (as you point out) Rt 2 has so very much slack capacity...Rt2 has more than enough to deliver enough new users to Alewife to fully (re)congest any new ABP capacity you could imagine.

(It would actually work the other way: if you want traffic in Alewife to ease up, imagine how many fewer people would drive if Rt 2 were 1 lane in each direction)

Put another way: the main reason that ABP is so bad is because Rt2 is so empty--making the crushing miseries of APB "worth it" for the pleasure of going to/from Rt 2
 
Arlington said:
No amount of new capacity are going to "fix" ABP precisely because (as you point out) Rt 2 has so very much slack capacity...Rt2 has more than enough to deliver enough new users to Alewife to fully (re)congest any new ABP capacity you could imagine.

(It would actually work the other way: if you want traffic in Alewife to ease up, imagine how many fewer people would drive if Rt 2 were 1 lane in each direction)

Put another way: the main reason that ABP is so bad is because Rt2 is so empty--making the crushing miseries of APB "worth it" for the pleasure of going to/from Rt 2
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I'm mainly talking about the evening commute. Everybody is forced onto ABP and it turns the road into a parking lot for the better part of 4 hours. There needs to be more outlets to get people off that road and onto the highway faster. Developments such as the Vox and the ones where the bowling alley used to be do not help because they force all car commuters onto route 2 East to also clog up ABP. There should be a way for all those new residents to get onto 2 West without getting onto ABP first, and without clogging up the dedicated road from Alewife to 2 West.
 
So.......we shouldn't be building residential next to subway stations according to some posters? :confused:
 
Arlington said:
No amount of new capacity are going to "fix" ABP precisely because (as you point out) Rt 2 has so very much slack capacity...Rt2 has more than enough to deliver enough new users to Alewife to fully (re)congest any new ABP capacity you could imagine.

(It would actually work the other way: if you want traffic in Alewife to ease up, imagine how many fewer people would drive if Rt 2 were 1 lane in each direction)

Put another way: the main reason that ABP is so bad is because Rt2 is so empty--making the crushing miseries of APB "worth it" for the pleasure of going to/from Rt 2
Click to expand...

I agree with your first and third points, but I don't understand the second. How else are people going to get to work from the northwest if not driving on Route 2 at least to Alewife if not further? We absolutely could and should narrow Route 2 east of 128, but that's not going to solve the traffic problem at Alewife because the extra width is not inducing demand. Driving is literally the only real option for people who don't live close to the Fitchburg Line or the Lowell Line.
 
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