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One of the Seaport's last public parking lots could be replaced by life-sciences labs and a STEM training center
By adamg on Wed, 10/20/2021 - 11:42am
A developer has proposed replacing an open-air parking lot and Silver Line Way at the end of Congress Street at Starboard Way with a two-wing, 13-story life-sciences lab building and a two-story building aimed at providing STEM training for people from more distant parts of Boston.
Part of the Seaport Circle project would sit atop what is now Silver Line Way, next to the former John Hancock building that is itself being transformed into life-sciences lab space, and would include construction of an expanded replacement for the current Silver Line bus stop, according to the letter of intent filed with the BPDA by the Lincoln Property Co., based downtown, and its partners.
In all, the developers plan some 665,000 square feet of space on roughly 2.5 acres of land, which includes the one-acre parking lot. The new buildings would have a total of 100 parking spaces.
The two-story education building would be run as a non-profit and would be aimed at providing STEM education for high-school and other students from "Boston's underserved and diverse neighborhoods."
The "Parcel H" land is owned by Massport, which selected Lincoln in January for a long-term lease in part because of its strong commitment to hiring minority-owned businesses for the construction, including its development partners, architects, subcontractors and property managers.
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Comments
How about a condition of
How about a condition of approval is fixing the D Street/Silver Line traffic light to stop wasting everyone's time, especially bus passengers?
This bus sailed 20 years ago, but it's soooo frustrating how close the Silver Line is to the I-90 underpass. Who's the ignoramus who decided to build tons of infrastructure that permanently makes the bus loop around on local streets to get to the tunnel? Even if the State Police allowed using the on-ramp that was intended for buses (whatever happened with that plan?), it's still a waste of time crossing D and looping through Silver Line Way.
And then Massport built the Seaport "Transportation Center" in between them, where "transportation" means "thousands of parking spaces".
There are so many issues that
There are so many issues that make a trip on the Silver Line an exercise in aggravation. The ramp and the D St. signal, definitely. Then there's the tunnel not having been repaved in 15 years, making for a very bumpy ride. And the SL1 stopping twice along the same platform at South Station. Plus the driver needing to personally stroll back at Silver Line Way to the end of the bus to fix the trolley poles. I feel like fixing all of these things would be relatively minor in scope but improve the Silver Line a lot.
(As for the ramp plan, good question: it was tested in 2019 and wildly successful, but I haven't been on a SL bus anytime recently that actually used the ramp)
The ride through the tunnel was bumpy when it opened.
It's not a matter of repaving, just a crummy construction job.
The design of the Silver Line is so incredibly dumb that it could have only come from the braintrust at the T.
Plus you left out the fact that inbound buses stop twice at World Trade Center. If you've got a pass and don't mind walking 60 seconds, you can usually save 5 minutes by alighting at street level and boarding a different inbound bus in the station.
My personal favorite
Is when a packed Silver Line bus (or two!) has to stop and wait for a couple minutes at the traffic light on D Street for the light to change because no one thought about prioritizing mass transit over personal cars there. A common-sense change that would cost very little, improve service for everyone, and yet AFAIK the MBTA still hasn't taken action despite the fact that people have been pointing it out since it opened and signal priority is one of the main features of most BRT setups!
RIP Mudlots.
RIP Mudlots.