The Boston Courant reports state transportation officials are working on plans to stick both sides of Storrow Drive under a Longfellow Bridge arch, which would let Mass. Eye and Ear Infirmary expand one of its buildings and dig a new parking garage under the current Infirmary parking lot in exchange for giving up the parking lot for the new road alignment and new parkland (Ed. note: Link goes to a JPG image of the article, because the Courant remains one of the few newspapers in America to resist the Web).
The Courant reports the re-alignment - which would include "a lane reduction" and garage construction is at least two years away, but will not start until after the current Longfellow Bridge work is done. And before the permanent re-alignment of the entire road to what is now the inbound side can begin, the state will first have to build a temporary new road section along the outbound side, in part to let Mass. Eye and Ear build the garage.
State Rep. Jay Livingstone (D-Back Bay, Beacon Hill) filed the bill that will pave the way for the work, which would include a 240,000-square foot, 15-story expansion at the Infirmary and a new 1,040-space underground garage under what is now the hospital's Storrow-enclosed parking lot on land leased from the state.
Livingstone says that beyond helping out the hospital, the work would mean a straighter Storrow Drive, which he says would make the road safer. The land now occupied by the parkway's outbound lanes would become part of the Esplanade.
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Comments
This is a great idea to free
By DTP
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 10:28am
This is a great idea to free up more parkland, but an absolutely terribly disastrous idea to reduce Storrow from 6 to 4 lanes. That is a really, really, really bad idea.
Disagree
By SoBoYuppie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 10:31am
This is a fabulous idea.
Anything that will lessen the incentive for people to drive and use other modes of transportation is a good thing!
Cars ruin cities.
induced demand works...
By b from Ros
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 10:42am
Not a fan of adding parking but always thought storrow could use a narrowing.
Based on personal observations (fromstaring at the road from foot bridges), the three lanes tends to cause hyper competitive driving. This leads to a lot of dangerous traffic situations.
Less lanes could calm this and probably increase traffic speeds and safety.
Reduce your salary and increase your work output
By Markk02474
Sat, 10/25/2014 - 12:19am
If employers reduced the salaries of people like you, it would make you calmer, safer, and increase your speed. Yeah, what you wrote makes no sense either.
Reducing lanes on a highway
By anon
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 10:48am
many people rely on without improving alternative transportation options for those people is always a bad idea. And for what, so a private orginization can benefit with a new building and parking garage?
Another example of bad public policy.
There is this alternate route
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:18am
It is called the Mass Turnpike.
It is located a short distance away from Storrow, and is an interstate.
And has no exits downtown
By Kaz
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:23am
Get to Exeter and Newbury...from Medford. Don't use Storrow. Go.
Easy
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:45am
Use surface roads - much faster anyway. It takes less than 40 minutes to bike over there as it is by cutting through Somerville and Cambridge.
Mystic Ave. to McGrath/O'Brien to Memorial Drive. Or cut through the street grid - Cedar St. to Somerville Ave. to Park to Beacon, etc.
Also, Memorial Drive. Better choice most of the time than Storrow.
Roads that are good bike roads are often the better roads for cars if you can get over the idea that you are somehow entitled to high speeds.
Heaven Forfend that a Masshole have to actually read a map and plot a course!
Storrow is the alternative to the Mass Pike
By downtown-anon
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:30pm
Storrow is flooded with cars coming and going from Longwood and Fenway Park. Memorial really isn't a good alternative (I've tried many times) to Storrow - slower and more lights and crosswalks. Just as the bike path on the Boston side is better than the bike path on the Cambridge side.
90,000 cars a day use Storrow and there is nothing else that can handle the volume.
I know there are proposals to put lights on Storrow. Neighbors on surrounding streets will go nuts with the extra traffic.
Additionally the Charles River Conservancy is pushing for a lane reduction on the east end of Memorial.
Clearly if you could get cars from Longwood and Fenway on to the pike reducing the size of Storrow would be a lot easier.
Question
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:23pm
Where is this 90,000 number coming from?
Actually they are incorrect, its 131k cars daily.
By cybah
Sat, 10/25/2014 - 6:32am
I wasn't going to reply because I thought the thread was dead.. but last night I was looking up some history about Storrow and came across this article from NPR from 2009.
90,000 car isn't correct. According to this NPR story Storrow Drive...
So its even MORE than 90k
http://www.wbur.org/2009/07/17/esplanade-future
Thanks for the update
By downtown-anon
Sat, 10/25/2014 - 9:42am
About half the volume of the pike I guess.
http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/Highlighted...
Except
By Waquiot
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:31pm
Now Memorial Drive is chocked full of cars that used to be on Storrow. As would Beacon Street and Comm Ave. Of course, I don't know how people would now be getting out of the Back Bay, since Boylston Street is for some reason insane before the theoretical demise of Storrow.
I use Storrow to avoid driving through the Back Bay proper, and I won't even start on how it's basically the best way to the New Balance area of Brighton from Roslindale (yes, I could go via Cleveland Circle and Brighton Center, but that would entail having to go through Cleveland Circle and Brighton Center, which should be avoided at all costs while driving during the day.) It's a great bypass, and a mighty pretty one too boot.
Now, were ramps added to the Pike, I'd be willing to chip in $.50 a go, maybe a buck to go that way, but Storrow serves a purpose, and despite the naysayers doesn't detract from the Esplanade.
From Rozzie?
By anon
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:51pm
Please explain how you get from Rozzie to Brighton via Storrow.
Sure
By Waquiot
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 2:48pm
blah, blah (my anonymity) Washington Street to Forest Hills, then along the Emerald Necklace, following the Muddy River to its source, which is at Storrow, which after the BU Bridge becomes Soldiers' Field. Beyond the Harvard athletic fields I get a bit confused, but keep left. At the end of Artisani Park, exit right, then hook left and right to Birmingham Parkway. Cross the Turnpike, then you've got the Stockyard, GBH, New Balance (my destination) and various sundry other locations.
Mind you, if I were going to St. E's, I would probably go via Brookline, as there are easy ways to avoid Cleveland Circle and the parts of Allston/Brighton that are best avoided by car.
If a road is full of cars
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:54pm
Why is yours any different?
I would take that as a hint that driving isn't going to be the best way - unless the point of using your own car is to stay dry, stay warm or cool, and/or have your own habitat bubble for the duration. There is no guarantee that it will be fast, nor should their be.
I used to commute from the Medical Area to/from Medford. For some of that time, I had to use my car because I was hauling lab equipment all over the 128 area. The best way is not always the way with the highest speed limits, but the way with the least distance and highest average speed. Even if that means that you are going 20mph over a shorter distances for a higher percentage of the time.
Of course, the best way for me was to bike much of the year - 45-55 minutes door to door.
I wouldn't
By SoBoYuppie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:47am
I would park at Wellington, get off at North Station and take a Hubway bike down Storrow Drive...wait, i have to take the bike down the esplanade because storrow is filled with cars.
Another reason to shutdown Storrow to only bikes and pedestrians! It would make commutes better for Medford and other residents living north of the city.
Don't bike? take the green line from north station. or from the money you would save by not driving and parking...u could do an Uber from north station.
man, so many options.
a car is a car is a car
By cybah
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:43pm
You're full of contradictions today. So its OK not to drive, but its OK to use Uber? *confused look*
A car is a car is a car, no matter who is driving. Still uses gas. Still emits green house gasses. Still is added onto city streets.
Advocate for LESS cars on the road, and yes that includes taxis and Uber.
In a perfect world..
By SoBoYuppie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 2:14pm
yes, no uber and taxis....but it takes baby steps.
using my solution should get many able-bodied people out of their cars and on bikes / public trans.
there is the elderly and disabled that my solution would not work for...they could taxi or uber. they are small %... so not as bad.
Your vision of a perfect world
By RhoninFire
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 4:29pm
Your vision of a perfect world seems to aim get a lot of able-bodied people to take something that is a not a car by vinegar rather than by honey. And ignore the possibility that a lot of people want to drive willingly unless it is made too hard to do so.
Don't bike? take the green
By Scratchie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 1:40pm
Great ideas. This very blog is a testament to the reliability of the T, and what a bike-friendly city Boston is.
So.,..
By SoBoYuppie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 2:16pm
these are things the city needs to work on.
when demand for these services gets out of control...they'll be forced to address the T reliability and bike safety.
Uh huh...
By Kaz
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 2:46pm
And clearly the logical place to start is to close the second biggest east-west connector in the entire city.
Yep. It is.
By SoBoYuppie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 2:56pm
An influx of ppl on the T would stink at first..and for a couple weeks, maybe months. but it forces the MBTA to get its isht together.
Gotta break some eggs to make an omelette.
it forces the MBTA to get its
By Scratchie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 3:47pm
Ha ha ha ha. Yeah, sure. That'll definitely happen.
The T
By KBHer
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 4:08pm
has leaned itself considerably since 2000 and the "forward funding" half-baked ideas. The T doesn't need to get its shit together so much as a critical mass of people to be mature and recognize that funding the T is in their interest, and then dedicate a better funding mechanism than 20% of the damn sales tax.
That's borderline absurdly
By RhoninFire
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 2:53pm
That's borderline absurdly-optimistic. It assumes the primary reason they aren't addressed is city is responsive and reflective, but just not enough pressure has been added. You very well can be underestimating how much can people adapt to suckier normals and how much a city can ignore such pressures.
There's nothing borderline
By Biggie_Robs
Sat, 10/25/2014 - 11:32am
There's nothing borderline about it!
(as a new transplant from SF)
By smirkette
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 9:05pm
The T is better than MUNI (and a lot of other cities that are not NYC) by a factor of at least 100. That said, it's not perfect when it breaks, it's awful. I live on teh Red Line, so I'm not completely naive.
Swirls, follow the Budweiser
By kvn
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 8:08pm
Swirls, follow the Budweiser trucks from Medford , they do it everyday !
How exactly is the Mass Pike
By DTP
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:33am
How exactly is the Mass Pike useful for people going from 93 or the Tobin to, say, Fenway?
I've said this countless times on here, but the Pike and Storrow serve completely different traffic with completely different origins and destinations. That's like telling people who ride the B C or E branches of the green line that they really should all just take the D, it's kinda nearby at one point.
And the Pike doesn't exactly have capacity to spare.
Get the feds to kick in for a couple of exits
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:46am
Then get rid of Storrow Drive.
Storrrow drive should never have been built, and it is a giant money hole and whining point.
exits off the pike
By cybah
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:26pm
It's just not technically possible to do so. Too many buildings abut the pike to add more exits. It would be too much land taking and/or NIMBYism would totally kill it.
Storrow Drive was meant to be. It was designed to take thru traffic off of Beacon and Comm Ave and put it somewhere else that wasn't a residential neighborhood (remember Storrow pre-dates the Pike). After the pike was built, Storrow became local traffic, and the Pike is meant for thru traffic. Getting rid of Storrow would push the traffic back onto local streets, and I'm sure the residents of Comm/Beacon would have a lot to say about that...
And I use the Tobin Bridge, and even though from my door its a tad further to the Pike (via East Boston/1A), I always use the Tobin. Why? Because it's just far faster to get to points in Cambridge (MicroCenter), BackBay, and Allston. The Pike adds time to my trip.
I couldn't imagine the
By gotdatwmd
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:34pm
I couldn't imagine the clusterfuck that would be added to the Pru exit of the pike without Storrow. Copley Square would be ruined with all the traffic.
Pike exits are technically possible
By downtown-anon
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 1:07pm
Althought the east bound ones would required a lot of changes. There is a proposal for a west bound enterance at Fenway. However you are correct it would be very costly in land and getting agreement from neighbors.
This is the best I could find on the idea of new west bound entrance to pike.
http://patch.com/massachusetts/fenwaykenmore/trans...
Well, Storrow Drive
By anon
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 1:07pm
WAS built, and a large number of people DO USE it. So quit your whining about getting rid of it, and this fallacy that even more parkland is more important than maintaining a vital commuter artery.
Commuter Artery?
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 1:28pm
Spending on transit should be a much higher priority of that's what it is all about.
Unless you want to pay a $5 a ride toll to maintain Storrow, I'd say we have far better and more efficient places to put our collective money than down a nasty sinkhole for the sake of a few people.
90,000 cars (many of which do
By DTP
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 1:56pm
90,000 cars (many of which do have more than one person in them, so really over 100,000 people) is not a "few".
In fact, that's about half the ridership of the red and orange lines, and almost twice the ridership of the blue line. So if maintaining a road that serves more than 100,000 people a day is "for the sake of a few people" and thus shouldn't be a priority, I presume you think we should stop paying for the blue line too, since it serves virtually no one (by your logic, at 60,000 daily riders)?
right
By cybah
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 1:57pm
And the MBTA is not a sinkhole? Please, you live in another world.
Swirls, I'm 150% in support of more public transit, but even I know the MBTA is a sinkhole of an agency.
Because it works so well in
By anon
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 2:20pm
Because it works so well in Texas. Pay taxes for roads and if you can afford it, pay a toll to get around that pesky traffic. Oh, if public transit doesn't work because it doesn't fit your hospital hours, you got to pay to get to work on time or your ride can you the backed up surface roads.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/in-texas-toll-roads...
Induced demand: Less Roads = Less travel time?
By b from Ros
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:30pm
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2014-09-...
Road narrowing led to decreased travel times while maintaining vehicle volumes (page 11).
Yes, all those people
By anon
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:18am
Yes, all those people commuting into Boston to work to earn a living are absolutely RUINING the city of Boston. Horrible, evil working people!
commuting into Boston to work??
By SoBoYuppie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 2:33pm
well, there are the thousands of meathead sox/bruins/pats/celtics fans that come into the city and lower the quality of life. then there is the Faneuil bar hoppers from the burbs...
just to name a couple.
I disagree.
By ChrisInEastie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:57am
Cars do not ruin cities, I absolutely hate that argument. Piss poor urban planning, sub par transit systems, and people who do not know how to balance using transit and driving ruin cities.
As much as I hate paying for parking, take the garages and lots and meters around the area out of the equation, and the economy takes a hit. Jobs lost as attendants, valets, etc., not to mention the losses businesses would take if nobody drove in. And if I decided to jump on the 3 trains and a bus to get to East Cambridge from East Boston with my hockey gear, the smell and amount of space being taken up would ruin a lot more people's nights than me jumping in the car and driving 10 mins through the Sumner.
And if you really do feel so strongly about cars, you probably shouldn't support this since they're building a 1,000+ space garage as part of the project. More spaces for cars to park, less space for them to move, BRILLIANT!
Thanks Chris
By cybah
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:15pm
I wholeheartedly agree with you.
and <3 this
LOVE This. And I agree. How can you support this project when it will BRING MORE CARS INTO THE CITY? The Op invalidated is whole argument by supporting a parking garage.
agreed, sort of...
By b from Ros
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 12:28pm
Poor urban design is often a result of our misalocation of resources in favor of cars. usually caused by those who worship the "gods of free parking and traffic flow".
i do agree that parking causes traffic. And bad parking policy exacerbates it. However, road diets also impact traffic flow.
Edit - example: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2014-09-... (page 11)
Whatever happens, it will be interesting to see its outcome.
Still not a fan of the parking lot... :/
there is the problem
By SoBoYuppie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 3:15pm
you shouldn't have to jump on 3 trains and a bus! Fix the "piss poor urban planning problem".
we put a man on the moon, we can certainly figure it out.
One option that doesn't require a whole lot of new infrastructure is smart buses that can figure out demand, adjust routes and schedules in real time, (no.i do not work for bridj).
I'd love to.
By ChrisInEastie
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 3:53pm
And believe me I would. Especially since I can essentially see East Cambridge from my house.
But until the MBTA can do something about it, that is the problem, and my car solves it.
Russia
By cybah
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 4:29pm
Can you see Russia though?
(sorry, I couldn't resist)
In Soviet Russia
By KBHer
Fri, 10/24/2014 - 5:59pm
house sees you.
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