State to tear down Forest Hills overpass, replace it with reconfigured surface roads

What does WCI have to do with Whose Foods? And in case you hadn't noticed, JP has been gentrifying for quite a while, even with the big, crumbling bridge in its midst.

I don't get it. What possible difference does the at-grade solution(as opposed to the bridge) make in what the Forest Hills neighborhood is becoming? If anything, this will help existing businesses (lots more traffic going past every day), and getting rid of the massive bridge leaves room for new development.

I guess you could make the argument that the new landscape is going to be less ugly, which might push real estate prices up a bit, but it's not like this is going to be transformative for the whole neighborhood.

McGrath is probably the next up. But first the state wants to spend 14 million to "fix it" until they tear it down in 5 years. (rolls eyes).

Definitely needs to go. Though I could see the argument for McGrath getting priority. That neighborhood in Somerville really gets shit on by cars.

Glad they decided to tear down Casey. I just wish they weren't planning to widen the road in its place. From what I remember, the extra lanes form a bulb around the intersection. So the incoming capacity will be 4 lanes, and the outgoing capacity will be 4 lanes, but there will be 6 lanes waiting at the light.

Perhaps it will work out; or perhaps motorists will start complaining about the crunch where it narrows back to 4 lanes, and begin pushing for widening of a longer stretch of Arborway. Then we may look back to this decision to go with 6 lanes as a mistake.

Anything that would help reconnect the Emerald Necklace, starting with that sad mess at Charlesgate would be wonderful. One of the saddest places in Boston--I can't believe that in all my years in Boston I've never seen an actual body floating in those murky pools.

Have you tried other ways to get where you are going? I have frequently found that the narrower, lower traffic streets that I prefer as cycling routes serve very well as alternate routes for driving. Sure, you can't drive them very fast ... but 20 mph on a neighborhood street is faster than 0mph on a congested arterial that you think that you *should* be able to do 40mph on ...

If we end up with something decidedly less urban, that is a failed result. And many elements of the plan point in that direction -- the six lanes, the large plaza, for example. But I do like what's happening with the bike lanes. Ultimately, the bridge is in many ways the only urban element that is there right now. But it is not an example of good urbanism. What is really needed is some buildings. That may be starting to happen(eg the Arobretum Place cited above).

I have absolutely no concern, though, that it will be another Melnea Cass. It is immediately superior to that for a few reasons:

• Abuts a real rapid transit station
• Rests at the nexus of three well used parks
• Provides more utility for local users

I couldn't make up my mind about this, but now that a decision is made, I'm prepared to live with it and hope for the best.

Right now, there are a number of bike routes in the area that don't quite come together (from Roslindale, JP, Southwest Corridor, and Franklin Park). The painted lanes on Washington St. disappear at Ukraine Way, and don't pick up again until after South St. crosses New Washington. The section without lanes is also a section with endemic back-ups, which makes it difficult for bikes to navigate the area. Likewise, a cyclist wishing to go from South St. or Washington St. bike lanes on to the Lalemont Path (SW Corridor) needs to merge and cross several lanes of traffic on New Washington.

The proposed design fixes all of this by adding dedicated paths from the points where the current lanes end. And even better, these paths feed directly into the SW Corridor.