TRAFFIC ADVISORY
CIRCUS ANIMALS WILL SLOW TRAFFIC
ON SEVERAL DCR ROADWAYS

Expect delays Monday evening

WHAT: Elephants, zebras, and horses from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will walk along several Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) roadways to the TD Banknorth Garden where they will perform with the circus during the week. As they are led to the Garden, Massachusetts State Police and Cambridge and Boston police officers will provide a rolling roadblock behind them, which will slow traffic for the duration of their walk.

WHEN: Monday October 6, 2008
Beginning at 8 p.m.

WHERE: The animals will begin walking from the train yard near Vassar Street in Cambridge. They will head south on Massachusetts Avenue, turn left on Memorial Drive eastbound, continue straight on Land Boulevard, turn right on Msgr. O'Brien Highway, cross the Charles River Dam onto Martha Road in Boston, and turn left on Nashua Street to the Garden.

Steve S discovered the hard way that the state Department of Conservation and Recreation has figured out it can put up "No Parking" signs on Park Drive near Beacon Street and then start towing away reams of cars:

... I talked to the woman at the tow lot. she says the sign is brand new and they towed something like 20 cars on one day this weekend, probably Saturday. While we were there, the tow operator came over the nextel... "Towing two cars at the corner of Park and Beacon"... two more suckers. ...

Everybody agrees it's wrong that those brand-spanking new fields along the Charles River are padlocked most of the time, yet nobody can agree why, let alone simply send out a guy with a bolt cutter to end the problem.

On June 28th, DCR kicked off it's new Park Passport, a stamp book with stamp stations placed in 76 parks across the state (15 parks in the Boston area, including John Paul II, Castle Island, and the Southwest Corridor). Each park has a different stamp, so you have to go to all of the parks if you want to collect all of the stamps. When you complete any one of the 5 regions, you can use the completed passport at the regional office (starting August 15) to receive a t-shirt with the stamp pictures on it for that region.

For the same reason trucks have been banned from everybody's favorite rusted-out hulk of a bridge. Ron Newman asks; Joe Pesaturo at the T answers: It's 10 m.p.h. for Red Line trains until the Department of Conservation and Recreation tells the T otherwise.

A brand-new press release from the DCR:

DCR CLOSES INSIDE LANES OF LONGFELLOW BRIDGE TO ALL TRAFFIC

Agency also bans large trucks from the bridge

Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) officials today announced that effective Saturday morning, June 28, the inside lanes in both directions on the Longfellow Bridge will be closed to all traffic.

Also, all large trucks will be prohibited from the Longfellow, and will be detoured to other bridges across the Charles River. Cars, buses, and light trucks will continue traveling on the outside lanes of the bridge.

I just got this press release from the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR):

DCR CLOSES LONGFELLOW BRIDGE SIDEWALK
Bridge to be closed to spectators on the Fourth of July

The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) today closed the sidewalk on the west side of the Longfellow Bridge until further notice, after an inspection late Thursday night discovered a support beam in need of immediate repair. Pedestrians will be detoured to the opposite sidewalk, which remains open.

The inspection was conducted by DCR engineers after a consultant’s report determined that load distributions on the sidewalks should continue to be evaluated. The DCR inspection revealed that the upstream sidewalk (the side carrying Cambridge-to-Boston vehicular traffic) needed to be closed to all pedestrians due to serious deterioration of a steel support structure under the sidewalk.

Longfellow Bridge is falling down, falling down? Sorta, but not really, state says. Which, as Michael Pahre recalls, is what the state said about the BU Bridge upriver:

Few people would likely disagree that the DCR (and its predecessor agencies) has a poor record in maintaining their infrastructure, although some blame could easily be pointed at the State Legislature and/or Governor for failure to allocate sufficient funding. But the DCR should do a better job at recognizing and reporting the condition of the infrastructure under their control, rather that making public misstatements or engaging in peculiar reporting practices. The public statements of DCR officials about the current condition of their bridges is straining their credibility.