Downeaster should be extended to South Station

[jis]

Don't know what the technical issues would be for a trench from behind MIT north to the last road crossing, - grade, soil, possible interference with the Red Line - but such a project would run into the multiple of 100s of million range and would likely get stuck in 10 years of engineering and EIS studies before anything could happen. Also any project involving a lot of digging may not be well received in a city gunshy after the Big Dig nor with those who have other ideas for the line - bike trail, etc.

MBTA is discussing upgrading speeds over the Grand Junction to 30 mph. So that is "high speed" in Cambridge? The "high speed rail" threshold keeps getting lowered! :blink:

MBTA can discuss all it wants and fill the pockets of their favorite consultants while at it. But my fearless prediction is that as long as it involves a grade crossing across Mass Avenue in the middle of Cambridge, it is most likely a non starter for daytime revenue service.

Red Line will be a problem, but that is under Main Street and perhaps a grade crossing there may be acceptable. The distance between Mass Ave. and Main Street is insufficient though for a duckunder at Mass Ave to come back to surface by Main Street AFAIR.

Mass Ave is definitely the busiest of the roads in question if the Grand Junction gets upgraded. Apparently it's in MIT's master plan to construct a road underpass at that location (i.e. leaving the railroad grade untouched) to alleviate traffic issues.

Yeah that would work better. Of course they culd also just elevate the whole thing across Cambridge. That would be more along the lines of how things are done in Asia.

 

[afigg]

Mass Ave is definitely the busiest of the roads in question if the Grand Junction gets upgraded. Apparently it's in MIT's master plan to construct a road underpass at that location (i.e. leaving the railroad grade untouched) to alleviate traffic issues.

Yeah that would work better. Of course they culd also just elevate the whole thing across Cambridge. That would be more along the lines of how things are done in Asia.

Elevate the Grand Junction or Mass Ave? Elevating the Grand Junction would be a problem because there are several buildings that have been built over the tracks. "Ok, so the new owners (MBTA) have changed their minds and now plan to have the train go through the 2nd and 3rd floor of your building to stay clear of road traffic. Any problems with that?" Oh, that would go over well with the locals. :blink:

Main Street also has a lot of traffic, not just Mass Ave. I was at the MIT campus and in Cambridge back in June for my niece's graduation from MIT, so I saw the area recently. Will be interesting to see the initial report from the MassDOT study and the public comments. How the politics of the proposal to upgrade and run commuter trains on the Grand Junction plays out, no idea.

 

[jis]

Mass Ave is definitely the busiest of the roads in question if the Grand Junction gets upgraded. Apparently it's in MIT's master plan to construct a road underpass at that location (i.e. leaving the railroad grade untouched) to alleviate traffic issues.

Yeah that would work better. Of course they culd also just elevate the whole thing across Cambridge. That would be more along the lines of how things are done in Asia.

Elevate the Grand Junction or Mass Ave? Elevating the Grand Junction would be a problem because there are several buildings that have been built over the tracks. "Ok, so the new owners (MBTA) have changed their minds and now plan to have the train go through the 2nd and 3rd floor of your building to stay clear of road traffic. Any problems with that?" Oh, that would go over well with the locals. :blink:

Yeah that would not work too well. So I guess Mass Ave ducking under the tracks would possibly work the best. I suppose Main Street has no freedom to duck under so it will have to be an overpass, which will be messy.

The two other major roads involved are Broadway and Cambridge Street I guess.

 

[alanh]

The Big Dig did not add any roads to Boston at all! The only thing it did was to put I-93 (which ran through the center of the city on bridges above ground) underground. "Out of sight - out of mind!" (The above ground portion is now dismantled.)

True, there's not really any new capacity, though the better ramp designs makes it flow a little bit smoother. The existing elevated freeway was falling apart (there were several emergency repairs required before it was finally retired). The issue was either rebuilding it in some fashion, or totally removing it and dumping all the cars on local streets.
It's also true that converting the whole thing into a tunnel, rather than just replacing the elevated portion, caused the huge price.