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OK, now the turnpike authority is just screwing with us
By adamg on Tue, 12/30/2008 - 9:54pm
Enid O'Donnell reads about the plans to shut the West Newton turnpike ramp, at least temporarily, and wonders what in the world the turnpike authority was thinking. She e-mails:
This is just outrageous - the traffic back up is not because of people entering at Route 16 eastbound, but rather due to all of the people trying to get off on exit 17 Newton Corner to cut over to Charles River Road and Storrow Drive!!! Have they ever tried to navigate the "circle of death" in the morning commute? I enter from Centre Street and attempt to get on the Mass Pike - a straight shot you should think - but with the daily buses stopping on the right, and the right lane turning into a right turn only lane, maneuvering into even one lane to the left is a nightmare!!! A better option if they were really concerned about traffic would be to prevent people from exiting at exit 17 - I don't think they're concerned about traffic at all - just concerned about how much money they are losing by not charging those people who are avoiding the Weston tolls. This is just punishing the citizens of Newton and will create even more backup at Newton Corner.
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Comments
Bus traffic in Newton Corner
The T seems to generate a lot of unnecessary traffic in Newton Corner by having its express buses stop on both the north and south sides of the rotary, making a complete loop. Why not have the eastbound buses stop only on the south side, and the westbound buses stop only on the north side? It's not that long a walk from one side to the other.
Fuck the Turnpike
They pulled that stunt with me before where they closed the Newton Corner exit and made me get off at Allston. If I had known it was closed, I wouldn't have gotten on. Assholes owe me a dollar.
My wife still cannot wrap
My wife still cannot wrap her head around my fanatical devotion to denying MA their toll money. I will always use the back route home (to Somerville) from the airport, and I always use Soldier's Field Rd. to avoid the turnpike extension. (I will even take 9 > 20 > 84 instead of the Pike if I can get away with it, but I usually make the concession for speed.)
It all stems from driving a cab for a few years, and repeatedly spending money on the airport tunnel (angling to hit 93N and get back to Somerville for another job in mere seconds) only to be denied highway access and dumped in the North End, thus a) stealing my $4.50, and b) causing me to *lose*, rather than gain, time until the next fair (more lost money).
There's no excuse to collect a toll knowing full well that the driver is going to get hosed. Warning signs are bad for revenue, I guess. (This is also why I left the MBTA behind a decade ago and never considered looking back.)
The advantage of the Mass Turnpike, however, is
that, first of all, it's way safer, especially in the winter, with all the snow and ice on the ground, because it's just a straightaway, without all those bottlenecked rotaries to contend with.
Secondly, on the Mass Turnpike, they warn drivers way, way in advance of upcoming exits, so there's plenty of time to prepare to get off the highway if and when needed.
Thirdly, Imho, the Mass Turnpike is far better maintained than many, if not most of the big state highways around here (like the Southeast Expressway, for example, and parts of I-93 and Route 128.)
Fourth: The Mass Turnpike is often a much more direct route to one's destination, depending where one's going.
Not letting people off?
If you close exit 17, as the commenter suggests, isn't that going to make problems at the other exits worse, particularly at exit 18, which is already quite backed up?
By not letting people ON the highway at exit 16, it will hopefully allow the traffic already on the road to keep moving. That area through Newton is a well-known bottleneck, and it sounds like the MTA is hoping that by not introducing more cars onto the road through there that it will help to alleviate it.
Open the shoulder between exits 17 and 18?
Would it help to convert the shoulder to a travel lane between West Newton and Newton Corner, either permanently or only during rush hour (as done on 128)?
No shoulder
Unfortunately, there are no shoulders on the Turnpike east of 128 for the most part.
The problem is that all of
The problem is that all of those cars that enter at that point are not just going to disappear. They will simply end up jammed someplace else. The traffic on the Pike eastbound goes back beyond Framingham. Heck why not shut down all of the on ramps back to 495. That would really free up traffic! :D
When I heard this I could not help but thinking of former Quincy Mayor Phelan proposing one year to get rid of most bus service at Quincy Center station, because he seemed to think the number of buses on Hancock Street was the cause of downtown Quincy's traffic woes. *shakes head*
I'll bet anything the people making these decisions never commute that way.