Hey, there! Log in / Register
Citizen complaint of the day: Who's responsible for the execrable traffic in the Innovation District?
By adamg on Sat, 02/08/2014 - 4:56pm
A citizen stuck in traffic complains:
Please do something about the traffic out of the Seaport. It's taken almost 30 minutes to drive from the WTC to Vertex. Insane. It is literally crawling. But mostly dead stopped. Do not ask any other companies to move here until this is solved. Thank you.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Who's responsible? That's easy.
If you are stuck in a traffic jam, you are part of the cause.
Blame yourself.
Not so fast
A fair share of the blame also goes to politicians who planned out a huge expansion of office and commercial space and didn't bother to consider the need for transit beyond the Silver Lie shuttle.
It is a pain in the ass to get there from North Station, for starters. It is difficlut to cycle in because Boston doesn't seem to think it needs to provide routes for cyclists arriving in Boston via the major bridges and provides few accommodations for commuters from the north who aren't on the Red Line.
You can't just blame motorists - you need to look at the reasons why people feel compelled to drive - and those reasons aren't what you seem to think they are. They start and end with the utterly shitty transit to the area from anybody who doesn't come in through South Station.
Silver Lies?
I've heard of white lies. I'm guessing Silver Lies are the ones where the MBTA says the next train will be by in 10 minutes when they know damn' well they are going to start busing people?
Mostly agree on the rest - but the politicians didn't plan out any expansion - they just built it.
This is one of the first examples of my Menino departure theory where he saw trouble on the horizon for things he screwed up and says - crap - I'll just resign so the next guy can take the blame. Still early - but this probably isn't easily fixed and in a year or two Mayor Walsh will be taking the heat.
I figure the glut of apartments and a collapsing rental market is 12-18 months away (may be good for renters - but very bad for landlords, property values and future development) and a budget crisis 24-36 months.
Certainly
That's why I only assigned "partial" blame. I am very unhappy with the BRA, Menino, and the rest of the scoundrels behind the "planning" in the Seaport area.
However, it is also true that being part of a traffic jam is also being part of the cause of the traffic jam, wherever you are, whatever the reason.
And then there's the tone of the complaint: demanding that everyone should drop what they're doing and fix the traffic jam. Nevermind all the other important things which cities do for their residents; a traffic jam takes priority over all!
So what about all the times
So what about all the times we're stuck in a traffic jam on an MBTA bus, like I was yesterday on the Pike? Am I still part of the problem then?
I cause fewer traffic jams
I cause fewer traffic jams than unsynchronized lights.
Especially when I'm on a bus, but even on the rare occasions when I drive.
Silver Line is pretty frequent
I've never waited more than 5 minutes for it.
Silver line is very slow
I find it useful to get to the airport, but if you come in through North Station you have to switch to green, switch to red, then switch to silver, and take 15 minutes to get to the courthouse.
Ditto for the express buses to Haymarket.
That adds a lot to a short commute. One reason why Dave and I carpool with friends when the weather sucks, share the parking costs, but reap the benefits of using the HOV lane and get to work in 30 minutes or less.
Why people feel compelled to drive
Um, because you can get where you're going upon immediate demand at maximum speed?
That is the theory
The reality is that driving makes it possible to get where you are going and not get hot/cold/wet/dirty/etc. That's all.
That other stuff you mention is a nice theory of travel, but doesn't work in cities. In a city, there simply isn't room for driving to equal immediacy and speed - at least, not in times and places where lots of other people want to use their cars.
The problem is that too many people expect that being in a car gives them special rights to maximal speed and immediate gratification, despite the amount of space required for their personal transport. Hence this complaint.
There's all kinds of times
There's all kinds of times and places in the Boston area where driving is faster than transit.
In fact, transit is probably only ever faster if you're within a few minutes' walk of a single rail line on both ends.
It would be nice if you could zip all over the city by train or bus with minimal waiting for them to show up, but the reality is usually different.
Wrong thread
Yeah but this thread is about traffic slowed to a crawl. So by definition, driving is not faster.
I've been stuck in traffic in that area when there's something big going on at the convention center (last time it was the auto show, of course) and it really is MUCH faster to walk. But you can't just abandon the car when you discover it. (FYI--I was heading to something else and had a car full of people and stuff that made the T impractical.)
Personally, I walk from South Station if the weather's not too bad.
It takes a really horrific
It takes a really horrific jam to make the door-to-door time longer for driving versus transit.
Or uhhh....
Or looking for a place to park, and then walking from said parking place.
Half the time I drove, I spent more time finding a place to park than it took me to get there in the first place. I was late to meetings more often when I drove then on the T.
3 reasons
1. lack of alternate routes
2. poor light timing
3. lack of public transit
I got caught in it myself last night, and it is usually pretty bad. The above three contribute but there is a fourth factor: people drive cars down town.
Traffic on I-93 a big cause of this - it gets jammed up, it jams up all the ways to get onto it, and that jams up Atlantic Ave. and Seaport Ave and Congress St. and Summer St. in turn. Pretty simple. It has been worse since the tunnel closed, but the tunnel closed around the time that cycling and other alternates became unreliable due to the weather.
Parking prices went up 40% and traffic increased markedly after the Legislature failed to yet again adequately fund transit and commuter rail prices skyrocketed.
Figure out more weather-reliable ways to get people into and out of the area, and off of I-93, and things will get better.
Light Rail
The area needs a light rail loop that connects to South Station. Buses just don't cut it, even when the light rail is mostly subject to the same traffic. There is plenty of room for such once you are in the Seaport area... how to squish in a connection to a real subway line however is the issue. Or maybe a monorail.
Disagree
What's special about a streetcar that gets stuck in traffic? The Silver Line has many problems, but being grade separated isn't one of them. The problems come when it has to emerge out into the streets again.
Someday I hope they do upgrade the Transitway with a light rail line, but I would definitely not recommend installing tracks in mixed traffic. That's pointless.
A big problem with the Silver Line-Waterfront is that it only hooks up to the Red Line, thus making it terribly inconvenient for anyone else. Phase III was supposed to rectify this by connecting to Orange and Green at Chinatown/Boylston, but it turns out that digging a bus tunnel under Essex Street is a completely insane proposition costing billions of dollars.
They probably should have thought of that when making plans.
The Silver Line travels more slowly in its own tunnel...
...than it does in mixed traffic. Being grade separated actually is part of the problem. The thing was poorly designed and constructed. And that's being generous.
To make matters worse, each bus can only handle a fraction of the passenger load of a Green Line trolley, much less a whole train.
I think that has more to do
I think that has more to do with the T's poor design for a bus tunnel than the separate way itself. The buses have to proceed at slow speed in the tunnel to avoid collisions due to operator error, a problem that completely goes away* when/if the Silver Line is ultimately converted to light rail. Also, the pavement is falling apart from constant use, and needs fixing/reinforcement.
*Well, I guess I can't discount the T's ability to completely fuck up efficient light rail. The Green Line is damning evidence...
Pavement was bumpy from day one
I road the Silver Line soon after it opened. Being a new roadbed I expected a smooth ride. Reality is that it was bumpy than a topside bus ride. Still don't understand why that is.
Terrible construction / terrible management
Apparently the T couldn't be bothered to get a 30 day warranty on the damn thing.
Did Cambridge hire the same
Did Cambridge hire the same contractor to repave the Cambridge Street underpass in Harvard Square? The new concrete roadway is bumpy as a washboard, and it's already developing cracks.
Boat connections
I think the area is ripe for frequent ferry connections.
Noth station to south boston Waterfront
East Boston to south boston Waterfront
Charlestown to south boston Waterfront
Hmm
Can you get from North Station to the waterfront without going through the locks?
light rail was what we were supposed to get
But what we got instead was Bus Rapid Transit, hence the name "Silver Lie". At least they built the infrastructure in such a way that it can be converted to light rail in the future. (Or so I remember reading.)
The MBTA wanted to restore
The MBTA wanted to restore light rail service to Dudley via the closed Boylston Street underpass and the old route under the Washington Street El which ceased operation in the 1960s. At the same time the original plan for the Seaport, Convention Center, and Ted Williams Tunnel involved a Bus Rapid Transit route called the Piers Transitway.
The feds offered funding for a large BRT project and the MBTA combined the two projects into one to get the funding.
So we got a the Piers Transitway built on the cheap because half the money had to go the Dudley branch and the Dudley end of business got shafted out of a Green Line extension because of a money going to the Piers side of things.
A clear case of ruining two projects in half measure by combining them in an attempt to weasel federal funds rather than attempting to one or the other well.
The Piers Transitway is a lot
The Piers Transitway is a lot of things, but cheap isn't one of them.
Might get better once the work on the Callahan Tunnel is done
A lot of traffic that normally wouldn't be going through the Seaport and the Ted is probably contributing to the current snarl. The Callahan was originally set to reopen in mid-March; haven't seen an update that suggests it will be any later than that.
I'm not going to hold my breath.
Already-bad vehicular situations have been made a great deal worse by this, and the Big Dig, and I don't see it improving anytime soon.
Big Dig?
No, that made traffic a lot better than what it replaced.
Big Dig certainly did improve traffic
I don't think people who say otherwise actually drove the the elevated expressway much. It's the difference between local and express bus, especially going northbound. The X-way had so many on and off-ramps with the resulting merges the thing was a parking lot.
New config is much better.
I agree
It actually does work better. It wasn't uncommon for the old elevated artery to be jammed solid from 6am-8pm. The new tunnel and bridge are still jammed up at peak hours but the times when it's jammed solid don't last anywhere near as long.
Xpressway had tanker trucks
that now can't use the Big Dig tunnels - oil, gasoline, and LNG tanker trucks must use surface streets. For them, it added miles, extra CO2 and time wasted. Neighborhoods the trucks go through also lost.
Otherwise, yes, it beats the old distressway.
It's also due to the idiots
who think by exiting the Ted Williams at the Southie ramp and then coming back down the Southie on-ramp will save them time when it doesn't.
half the traffic in this area
half the traffic in this area is police with nothing to do. way too many state troopers and massport police driving around in circles sucking up gas and tax dollars. boston police are in the area too, but most times just to show face for the constuction details. i would think long and hard before locating an office to this area. the financial district already has everything the seaport won't have for at least 10 more years - if ever.
All the traffic from the
All the traffic from the closed Callahan tunnel is re-routed through seaport now.
Duh.
Not
Southbound I-93 traffic from well north of the city has posted detours via rt 16.
Traffic closer in is primarily directed to the HOV access to the Ted Williams (HOV restriction temporarily lifted) or South Boston Bypass Road (temporarily opened to all traffic).
Neither of those detours
Neither of those detours helps anyone coming from downtown, Back Bay, or Kendall Square. They all basically have to take local roads through the Seaport.
Silver Line bus route is only partial solution
I ride the Silver Line to the Seaport District in the morning regularly. I simply am glad it is a short ride. For the return trip in the evening the number 4 bus toward Haymarket is a far better option for heading toward Haymarket and connecting to the Orange and Green Lines during the window that the 4 runs in that direction. The Silver Line however is a tragedy during the afternoon rush hour if you are boarding from WTC and especially the Courthouse. I have waited for 5 buses to pass before a bus had sufficient room. That is partly due to so many people riding the buses and partly due to bad scheduling and lousy drivers refusing to let people onto their bus.
During non-rush hours windows the Silver Line is okay. But then the T's weaknesses are most evident during rush hour. Makes for a dismal logic.
The rail line from Back Bay to the Convention Center may help some but that is still a few years ahead. Meanwhile Vertex has opened (another 1,000 + people flowing into the area). More hotels and office buildings are under construction and more to come.
Planning transportation for the area is great opportunity to create a showcase of transportation options. I hope that the talent and foresight that is needed is available and is supported. There are times when I wonder whether the T management looks for different and better ways or for the most part just wants to stick with what is comfortable - and crumbling.
The cramped interior design
The cramped interior design of Silver Line buses doesn't help. All it takes is a few standees, or one person with a suitcase, to block the aisle.
I suspect a route with good old-fashioned high-floor RTS buses, with their wide aisles, can carry more passengers per hour than those Silver Line contraptions, even though the latter are 1.5 times as long.
Report the drivers to the T.
I'm a bus driver myself. I often drive overburdended North Shore routes, when we are full we send a message to dispatch from our Transitmasters stating that the bus is full and we are drop off only until we have enough room on the bus for more people. We cannot let people on after a certain amount, it isn't safe for the passengers. But if there IS space, then the driver is violating the rules and you can report them for not boarding when there is space. Note the number and the route and send an email. Internal discipline leaves a lot to be desired, but send enough emails and people WILL notice.
Speaking for myself, I have a
Speaking for myself, I have a very pleasant commute on the Red Line from Ashmont connecting to the Silver Line from South Station to the WTC. The whole ride lasts about a half-hour door to door, and it has been, on the whole, fairly reliable. I can't really complain about the Silver Line, as its getting the job done for me. From my point of view, the problem will be mitigated when more people either choose to live in those swanky new condos they're building just a couple blocks away on West First and Second Streets, or live closer to T stations like those transit-oriented developments near Wellington Circle in Medford or Broadway in Southie, or yes, even Ashmont in Dorchester, instead of waiting in traffic for hours to get home to Stoneham or Reading.
All the housing in Stoneham
All the housing in Stoneham and Dedham isn't going away, even if they build a few fancy apartment buildings next to T stations (which itself will inevitably have parking as well).
That goes without saying...my
That goes without saying...my point is that when there are more affordable options to live downtown, within a short walk or train/bus ride to a place of work, people will be less likely to move to the suburbs and pay the privilege of spending an hour or more trapped in their car while commuting into and out of town.
Doesn't work from Wellington
Unless you have a bike or like making 2 connections in very crowded stations.
That's the problem: if you aren't headed into South Station, getting into the Innundation District is a monumental PITA.
Your choice - either sit and
Your choice - either sit and stew in your car, or make two connections. Why is that such a big deal? I know what I would rather deal with.
NEWSFLASH
We are broke. Dead broke. The city, state and entire country. We are downing in massive debt. The MBTA and state don't have the moola to properly fund maintenance let alone add capacity, even with record high ridership. A goodly chunk of their $ goes towards gold plated retiree pensions and healthcare plans, top heavy management, and servicing debt.
I personally believe the state wants the MBTA to default so they can write off debt.
The transportation problems
The transportation problems in the Seaport can not be blamed on a lack of spending. Just take a look at this underground spaghetti: http://goo.gl/maps/4fdd9
The innovation district? you
The innovation district? you mean the seaport?
Silver Line
Perhaps the MBTA could use some common sense and run the Airport Silver Line buses express to the Airport. I know this idea is borderline Rocket Science, but am I the only one perplexed by the Airport Silver Line that picks up the airport passengers and then stops for the commuters? Why are we mixing these two? Bottom line is that it is often faster to walk from South Station to the Seaport District. This Silver Line just ain't gonna cut it, especially when Goodwin Procter and other major companies move in...