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Times reporter journeys to River Street at the Hyde Park/Mattapan line
By adamg on Wed, 04/18/2012 - 1:48pm
Takes a look at the new bridge installed over the weekend across the Fairmount Line, instead of piecemeal over the eons, like, oh, that bridge on American Legion Highway over Morton Street.
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Comments
to be fair
It's a lot easier to do this when:
- one of the two transportation corridors you are blocking for the day is not actually in use (ie doing the work on the weekend when the Fairmont line doesn't run),
- there are workable, if slightly inconvenient, detours through which remaining traffic can be directed (ie there aren't really any practical alternatives for people trying to use either Morton or ALH), and
- you can get the pre-fab'ed structure all the way to the construction site without blocking major thoroughfares or having to take down utility lines or trees.
There's always a way
If they'd asked me if I could put up with a total closure of American Legion Highway and Morton Street for one weekend, as opposed to the current permanent construction zone, I'd say yes, yes, yes!
If the bridge fell down, people would still figure out a way to get from Roslindale to Dorchester somehow. They could do it for a weekend.
The current project is ridiculous. I can't tell you how many times I've driven through the site and seen absolutely no work going on. The only benefit is, they haven't been able to put in yet another traffic light, which I'm sure is on the way when the bridge is done.
So easy to complain. Hard to offer legitimate specifics.
Morton/203 and ALH are major intracity highways with no easy detours. And there is just no way to get the large prefab'ed bridge elements to that site without destroying the existing roadbed (typically each weigh about as much as 10 fully loaded tractor trailers stacked on top of one another) and tearing down utility lines and many established trees (ie lots more time and more $$$).
Fwiw, I've passed through that construction site about a half dozen times in the last month and it hasn't slowed me down appreciably yet. Granted, I'm not doing it during rush hours. But are you sure you just aren't bitching to sound like an ahtentic Bahston cynic?
Seriously, it shouldn't be this hard
For one weekend: American Legion Highway traffic uses Walk Hill St. and Harvard St. Morton St. traffic uses Circuit Drive and Blue Hill Ave. As for moving the bridge components, American Legion Highway and Morton St. are some of the straightest and widest streets in Boston, I'd be surprised if they weren't easier to deal with than River St.
But my major question is why is it taking 3 years to complete this project?
If they do put a traffic light there, it will be more annoying than it is now, so maybe they should take their time after all.