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Full Comm. Ave. re-opening delayed by grout, lack of drought
By adamg on Sun, 08/13/2017 - 1:05pm
MassDOT reports that the complete re-opening of the Commonwealth Avenue bridge near the BU Bridge has been delayed for several days due to grouting taking longer than expected and the need to hold off pouring some concrete because of recent rains.
Weather permitting, trolley service on the MBTA Green Line B-Branch and private vehicle access to the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and Boston University Bridge and local roadways will resume by the middle of the upcoming week.
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Comments
Figures
MassDOT opened I-90 early so that most of the people they care about would assume it was finished well ahead of schedule.
In the state's mind there's no harm in making T riders (particularly those headed to AB) wait a few days. After all, the T is only committed to having 2-3 of the 4 subway lines running at any given point in time.
Reminds me of winter 2015
"Fuck em, they're just college kids. It's not like the entire city depends on their economy, or anything."
You mean like all the other lines?
Pretty sure no one was saying that about the entire Braintree branch going down for weeks, or the High Speed line being abandoned.
It's All About The Route With More Clout, No Doubt
Yeah, the Pike is more important
Regional transit of stuff moving in and out of the Airport and shipping terminals is more vital than one line of the Green line and crosstown commuters.
Sorry (not sorry)
Exactly what gives any
Exactly what gives any indication that returning I-90 to full lane capacity early causes the full reopening of the bridge to be late?
Also, if they truly prioritized interstate highway to the detriment of local road/rail to the extent that some of you seem to think - DOT would've said "no major disruption on our interstate, don't care how long your bridge takes, we're never closing more than 2 out of 4 lanes at any time"
Always about the negative
Meanwhile, they finished the bridge work in Beverly, so weekday commuters on the Newburyport and Rockport lines no longer have to deal with buses.
Exactly proving the point as
Exactly proving the point as to who the state prioritizes. The people hurt by this are people such as myself who are primarily young not so affluent B-line commuters, while those traveling underneath us on the pike from Wellesley and Weston have a straight shot.
Not quite
Less than a week ago the crying was that motorists (on the Pike) get their part of the project done before schedule since the Commonwealth prioritizes road over rail. This shows that rail projects are run the same way.
If you want to bring your line of thinking to its logical conclusion, go to Dudley Square and ask when the service to replace the elevated is coming on line. Or heck, go to Somerville and ask about GLX.
In the end, some jobs get done quickly while others run into problems. These particular projects (the Pike, Comm Ave, and Beverly) have nothing to do with priorities.
Yup, screwing all those poor people on the B Line
So much poverty over in Brookline/Brighton/Allston. At least they didn't shut down the entire line for a year like they did with the High Speed line. Or maybe you should go asking people in Dudley about their transit. Lol at crying over a few days delay due to legit project issues/problems.
About that...
I wonder when the "equal or better" service along the Washington St corridor between Chinatown and Dudley is supposed to be implemented anyhow. It was promised only 30 years ago.
Straight Shot, eh?
About that straight shot - not very straight, and not very shot-like.
If you look at this link from the MBTA's own data (scroll down to the last 30 days), you'll see just how good people on the Fram/Wor CR have it (spoiler: not very good at all).
I realize that the whole system is in utter disarray now, but this notion that "rich people in metrowest get everything" is bunk, unless you consider everything to be the only tolled highway in the state (w/recognition that our brothers and sisters across the harbor and Mystic River also get to pay tolls for those crossings) and the worst on-time performance of all the commuter rail lines.
http://www.mbtabackontrack.com/performance/index.html#/detail/reliabilit...
I don't see any of these
I don't see any of these theorizing make sense. I am not debating if the state prioritize roads and suburbs over city and rail. The state of the T shows their management. But I am debating if being 3 days late is evidence. The project is being done by contractors. I doubt some state official is twirling their handlebar mustache and telling the workers "okay, now the surburbs are happy, let's work 3 extra days slow because fuck the poor".
This makes no sense people, calm down. It's like 3 extra days. Save your rage for GLX or the signals problems that seems to keep happening every other day.
Funny, I don't remember a hurricane coming through
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/07/24/race-fix-commonwealth-ave-b...
I'm still waiting for the new
I'm still waiting for the new 3A drawbridge over the Fore River to be completed. They were just starting to build the temporary bridge in 2001.
Quincy
Was Quincy involved in that delay, too?
(/joking)
Unsure if I can believe them on this...
Was not the whole of the bridge replacement to take place this year? Instead, they've replaced half of the bridge and then suddenly the pike was back open to normal with the update "we're three weeks ahead of schedule". I can't remember exactly, but now the construction page says they will do the other half in 2018.
Stage 4 (2018 Construction Shutdown): July/August 2018
I-90 (Mass Pike) will be reduced to 1 or 2 lanes in both directions for 9½ days. A movable median will keep lanes open while giving the contractor access to the bridge. Traffic is likely to be impacted during peak periods.
http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/HighlightedProjects/CommonwealthA...
The plan has always been to
The plan has always been to do half one summer, half the next.
In fact, it was originally supposed to be 2016 and 2017, but there were supply issues that meant the contractor was unable to mobilize last summer.
Next year's closing may be more disruptive than this year's
This year's phase allowed the BU bridge to remain open for pedestrians, cyclists, buses #47 and CT2, and emergency vehicles, but I think next year's won't allow any of that.
On the flipside
The Green Line should be okay since that side of the bridge was done this year. I mean, at least in theory.
Green Line
isn't that half on one side, half on the other?
Nope
They didn't divide it by width, they divided it by logic. The "half" they did this year included the entirety of the Green Line tracks in both directions (which means the Green Line won't need to crawl at 5 mph over the bridge any more when it begins again.
Not sure, would have to recheck their plans
The ramp from WB Comm Ave onto the BU bridge is actually on the berm (over land) and not on the bridgeworks spanning the Pike. Pedestrians and cyclists (and probably buses) *should* be able to approach the bridge from the east and be able to get up onto the bridge unless the work site will preclude that logistically due to proximity. In other words, there's no physical reason a lane to the BU bridge couldn't be open without being on the bridge...but there may be a logistical one.
You can see where the bridge over the Pike is and isn't pretty well from the satellite view here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3507849,-71.1103703,160m/data=!3m1!1e3
So people apparently consider reopening a bridge
exactly according to schedule more important than doing the work properly.
How soon we forget. Because the last time a contractor skimped quality to meet an arbitrary completion date, it resulted in a woman's death - I-90 connector tunnel ceiling collapse 7-10-2006