Worst Completed Infrastructure Nominations

George_Apley

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All members are encouraged to nominate a Boston area infrastructure project completed in 2020 that they believe is deserving of special recognition for its negative impact on the urban environment.

Infrastructure includes public transit, roads & bridges, port & airport facilities, utilities, and parks & public accomodations.
 
I can't find a picture quickly, and this isn't a reflection on the concept of the path, but:

The Northern Strand serpentine bike path from hell.
 
Feel free to file this as too tangential, as it's bureaucratic and software infrastructure as opposed to steel and concrete infrastructure, but indirectly it has a profound effect on the urban environment:
Massachusetts' vaccine rollout.

In 2020, states like New York built out clunky but mostly usable websites for scheduling vaccine appointments. Millions have used it to receive their first dose and schedule their second. MA lacks any such centralized place to sign up for shots.

Charlie Baker's decision to stick to a very strict phasing has likely also led to MA trailing most other Northeast states.

MA started vaccinating at nursing homes on 12/28. ME, VT, CT, NH, started vaccinating nursing homes the week prior.

In NYC, I've been volunteering at pop up distribution sites that are working well enough that we had to shut down on Thursday because we had administered our current supply and aren't receiving more until tomorrow (i.e. the bottleneck is happening earlier on in the chain, the distribution step has excess capacity). There are about 20 of these sites in NYC that have been open since early Jan. MA's second mass vaccination site, Fenway, isn't scheduled to open until Feb 1. NY's overall vaccination rate is only slightly better than MA's right now, but I think that trend will continue and widen in the near term, as more supply is made available and until MA's vaccine distribution infra catches up.
 
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It's not completed, but under construction. South Coast Rail. I'm the absolute biggest rail fan, but I worry this Phase 1 is money spent for a horrible travel time to South Station plus negatively impacting the existing Old Colony Services.
 
It's not completed, but under construction. South Coast Rail. I'm the absolute biggest rail fan, but I worry this Phase 1 is money spent for a horrible travel time to South Station plus negatively impacting the existing Old Colony Services.

I second this nomination, explicitly as "South Coast Rail Phase 1." Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River service via Stoughton ("Phase 2") makes sense, but if the ridership on Phase 1 is as bad as I fear it will be, I expect phase 2 will never happen. The Phase 2 NIMBYs will have a field day. That's not only bad for the existing Old Colony service, but also for any plans to extend commuter rail to Buzzards Bay.
 
I second this nomination, explicitly as "South Coast Rail Phase 1." Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River service via Stoughton ("Phase 2") makes sense, but if the ridership on Phase 1 is as bad as I fear it will be, I expect phase 2 will never happen. The Phase 2 NIMBYs will have a field day. That's not only bad for the existing Old Colony service, but also for any plans to extend commuter rail to Buzzards Bay.

I can't like this quote any more! Greenbush was such a great idea, but they moved stations away from existing Village centers and encased them in HUGE parking lots. Single track, crappy schedules, and very few walkable station centers...........added up to a greatly hobbled design. Then, transportation planners are surprised the expected crowds never appeared. Parking lots are being sold off and the MBTA suspended all weekend service. I think they would have liked to suspend Greenbush service if they could. I fear the same mistakes are being made with South Coast Rail.
 

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