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Could Big Dig ramps be covered in something like Manhattan's High Line Park?
By adamg on Wed, 10/01/2014 - 9:58am
NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on a MassDOT/BRA meeting to consider how to cover the ramps leading to the tunnel under the Greenway.
Among the most interesting options presented for Parcels 12 and 6 were elevated pedestrian walkways that cover the ramps and provide above ground (~15' high) observation areas. The ramp covers and high decks could be designed to be similar to sections of the popular High Line park in Manhattan.
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Comments
Awesome
This is a great idea, here's hoping they find the money for it.
How about
instead of WASTING money on UNNECESSARY asethetic (i.e. subjective) improvements, we spend the money on something that will actually benefit people using our transportation system.
How dare
How dare those of us who live here actually enjoy our existence?
If we can just lay down another few feet of concrete, we will finally sate our automobile overlords. May their rubbery hands and steel tailpipes bless us all.
Tell you what
When less than 1% of the state's bridges are deemed "structurally deficient", and when the MBTA's subway system can operate for six months straight without any disabled trains, signal problems, or broken switches or track, then we can talk about diverting taxpayer funds to "pretty up" highway ramps.
Until then, learn to deal with the current appearance. After all, it's not like looking at bare ramps is going to kill or injure people.
And if having "pretty" ramps is so important, why don't you and your "asethetics and MY "quality of life" are the only things that matter" friends raise the money to do the work yourselves. Oh right - because fleecing the taxpayers for unnecessary and wasteful work is so much easier.
I think my friends who
I think my friends who believe in [scare quote] quality of life [/scare quote] ARE raising money to do it. We call them taxes spent on projects we find necessary and useful.
I think a park and making the area around a highway a nicer place to live/work/be is a pretty good use of money.
Why do you think the things YOU want to spend money on aren't "diversions" of taxpayer money and a "waste?"
Don't know about you
but I believe that most rational people would feel that having a transit system that operates on a frequent, reliable, and safe basis, and having roads and bridges that aren't falling apart is far more "necessary and useful" for the functioning of our society than making asethetic improvements to highway ramps is.
We have finite resources and a system with many serious problems. Said resources should be spent fixing those problems instead of on cosmetic improvements that provide no benefit to the users of the transportation system. After all, it's not like drivers are going to say "Yuck, I'm not going to use that ramp - it's too ugly."
You do realize the decking
You do realize the decking over the ramps isn't for the highway users, right?
They want to integrate the ramp covers into the Greenway, which not ONLY makes it more attractive, but depending on what they do, improves access/mobility for non-motorized transport and in all cases creates more space for the public to use.
All of us are pedestrians. This improves (all of) our situation situation while ALSO covering over an onramp.
Look at the article or check out your favorite mapping site; the space is currently only useful to highway drivers. They are decking over it so that the rest of us can make use of this land.
Also, for what it's worth, making areas downtown more pleasant also can encourage more people to live and work downtown. Those of us who live in the urban bits of town are not crazy for wanting both reliable transportation (really public transportation) AND mitigation of the ugliness and disruption to the area that comes from the infrastructure devoted to getting suburbanites into the city quickly.
North Ender here. Personally,
North Ender here. Personally, I'd prefer my commute to Harvard Square via the T not take almost as long as it would if I walked than I would a cover over the ramps.
Dude , get with the times,
Dude , get with the times, the money tree has no more leaves. There are a lot of nice things that could and should be done , but alas , lack of money . Our society needs a re-alignment , fiscally. That highway , in some shape and form , was probably there before most people in your crew were alive. That was a major metamorphosis , tearing down that green lead paint steel structure. Surely you must know all about that story , fiscally speaking. Plus the beat goes on , with the management of the Greenway !
I bet you don't live in
I bet you don't live in Boston and/or particularly near the ramps. If so, keep your opinion to yourself.
Proponents of this project
Proponents of this project seem to be assuming that the state would be capable of building a well-designed, structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing structure for a reasonable amount of money. Might as well wish for a unicorn.
Good idea -- could have been done earlier, though
I wish they had just left one block of elevated I-93 standing, with a stairway leading up to it, for use as an observation platform. It could have had signs explaining that a highway used to be here, with before and after photos.
I would leave the parcel by Rowes Wharf alone. The winding path between the ramps has a good sense of enclosure and works quite well.
No more elevated structures
We just took down and old, elevated, rusting metal structure because we all hated it. What can we put in its place?
How about an elevated garden?
That's just crazy.
Build a north south monorail
Build a north south monorail link and be done with it!
Hi Line park in Manhattan?
Hi Line park in Manhattan?
Isn't that the one where they repurposed an abandoned EL somewhere towards Chelsea or the lower west side?
...or am I thinking of something else?
It was an abandoned freight
It was an abandoned freight line
Theres streetview on it now
http://goo.gl/maps/pn5LZ
Nice !
Nice !
Yup
Thats the one.
Its actually pretty cool. Its a very New York solution to a problem.
Totally unsuitable for the greenway.
Primarily because it
Primarily because it repurposed an existing structure rather than building a new one from scratch.
correct
I've looked at these plans and while I 'understand' the 'high' park thing concept they want to achieve here, but it's no Hi Line. The high line re-used an abandoned elevated rail line and turned it into a park, not build something new.
This woulda worked if like a section of the old Central Artery was left, and/or didn't tear down the old elevated Green Line around North Station and re-used those. But to build new.. meh.
Let's use these parcels for what they were meant for like....buildings! (wasn't parcel 6 supposed to be a supermarket?)
I think you may be reading
I think you may be reading too far into this, from the article it seems like this may just be design inspiration (e.g., cafes, sitting areas, observation points) as the deck may be above ground level in some points so it's not just a continuation of the park on either side. Much of this is pretty innovative for a "park," so it's helpful to name a place that's implemented something like this in the past.
I've only seen what you've seen, but I'm just skeptical that they're suggesting what you think they're suggesting.
A New York Solution to the Problem
undertaken in the most New York of ways - "borrowed" from somewhere else (and, in this case, not improved upon, although I think that the High Line is great).
If we want to look to New York for inspiration
I would recommend looking at New York's version of the Irish Famine Memorial.
Im not suggesting we need another famine memorial (even though the school street one is just pathetic), but what they did with it is just amazing. They replicated a small Irish farm, raised above a city block. It is beautiful. Totally unexpected.
Google it.
Just did.
Very cool memorial
It would be nice if Boston has a museum dedicated to the struggles and success of the Irish in Boston... and all of America.
I recommend the abandoned old Police Station on D Street (across from the fire station).
- The Original SoBo Yuppie
The High Line park is weird.
The High Line park is weird. I didn't really get it.
How about something like this? http://goo.gl/maps/9JDPi
The entrance to this Amsterdam supermarket's underground garage is covered by a grassy slope, which is a really pleasant place to sit.
Building
So why aren't we putting buildings on these spots???
It might detract from the six lanes of traffic.
.
Too expensive?
I think buildings were the original plan for the blocks with the ramps. But it's really expensive to build over highway ramps, and my recollection is that the tunnel structure underneath was (purposely?) not designed to support buildings of any significant height, which could offset the structural support costs.
So nothing got built on these sites.
All the organizations who wanted to build there decided not to
New Center for the Arts, YMCA, Boston History Museum, Mass. Horticultural Society -- all were awarded parcels to build on, and one by one they decided it was too expensive and withdrew their proposals.
We were promised that those
We were promised that those institutions were going to be there, I walked by big signs saying "Big Dig, worth the wait" with the various cultural centers promised. The state is obligated to fund these, especially since they have 1 billion to hand over to expand the convention center, spend some of that on things promised, or don't expect any of us to believe the state next time they want to do a big project. Why were the tunnels and ramps paid for now matter how pricey it got, with no tolls on 93, while the museums were cancelled? Now that Menino is gone perhaps Walsh, who doesn't seem to have the same disdain for culture that menino did, can revive the originally promised proposals.