By adamg on Tue., 5/12/2015 - 9:11 am 
Go figure: Crews painted all these new don't-block-this-box boxes around Forest Hills in anticipation of the overpass shutdown and motorists promptly figured screw this, we're going to block these boxes just like we always do, as Chris shows us this morning.
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Well
By Waquiot
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 10:43am
If you were at the last meeting, you would have seen the plans for that.
This does bug me a bit, too. I occasionally like to run from Roslindale to the Back Bay. Admittedly they need to tear the overpass down, which means the area underneath will be impassable, but it does seem little things like this have been overlooked, which was my fear from the get go.
That walk is really scary now
By Franklin
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 12:56pm
That walk is really scary now -- people are still crossing where there is no crosswalk anymore and since the cars don't know what they're doing there either, it could really be a bad situation. I talked to a cop standing around at South St & the new entrance to the Arborway the other day to figure out the way I was supposed to walk to get from Forest Hills to the bike path toward Green St station, and asked him how it was going. He said "Terrible," and pointed to a woman trying to cross where the old crosswalk used to be. Of course he did nothing to try to correct anything (as another group of people crossed the same spot -- in the middle of 5 lanes of traffic!).
The signage is also awful right now -- almost no indication that there is no way to get to the bike path from Forest Hills via the direct route people took for a zillion years. You are now supposed to exist Forest Hills station where the buses leave the upper busway for Roslindale, cross the street there, and then walk down the Arboretum side of the street, under the bridge, over the new Arborway entrance, and THEN cross South Street -- a huge U shape that's totally counterintuitive. Same if you are trying to walk to Forest Hills from the bike path.
They need to put a huge sign up at the 39 bus exit side of Forest Hills that says YOU CAN'T GET TO THE BIKE PATH FROM HERE ANYMORE. Turn around and exit from the main upper busway area instead, in front of all the taxis.
Wow - I didn't even know that had changed
By hubhoosier
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 4:43pm
So glad I read this before I was on my bike trying to figure it out on my own!
Why is there no crosswalk on
By anon
Fri, 05/15/2015 - 5:40pm
Why is there no crosswalk on the east side of South/(the western) Washington under the overpass?
I do hope they fix that soon.
By Padhraic
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 12:27pm
It's not a very fun guessing game. Can I go now or will that light turn green while I'm halfway across leaving me trapped with only a barrel to hide behind.
I live roughly halfway
By Greg L.
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 1:50pm
I live roughly halfway between Forest Hills and Green Street and have always commuted to/from FH. Starting last week I've switched to walking to Green St simply to avoid that intersection. I'm not surprised people dart across New Washington as the new routing requires crossing the street multiple times and waiting for multiple light cycles.
bingo!
By anon
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 11:04am
This is what so many people wanted... now you're getting what you asked for! Pro-bridge people predicted this and the anti-bridge people said it wouldn't happen. Time to get some cops down there and start directing traffic. I feel bad for the neighbors.
You do realize ...
By adamg
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 12:33pm
The bridge was coming down one way or another, right? The only question was whether a contractor would spend two years putting in surface roads or building a replacement bridge. Either way, the traffic this week would be the same.
Be serious, Adam
By erik g
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 12:47pm
We all know that if the replacement overpass had been built, it would have materialized, fully-formed, from the æther before the current bridge was torn down. It would have gloriously spanned from Arboretum to rotary, twinkling brightly in the twilight sky and causing Forest Hills to smell faintly of fresh-baked bread. Frederick Law Olmsted himself would have shed a tear at its gentle majesty.
It's all right there in the BFH literature.
Rehab half the bridge while
By anon
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 2:17pm
Rehab half the bridge while maintaining traffic on the other half? They're doing it for the Longfellow.
No
By adamg
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 2:39pm
Unless the state engineers are lying through their teeth, which, not being a Bridging Forest Hills member, I don't believe, the bridge would have to be completely taken down to be replaced, because it is in such bad shape. In any case, your solution would still mean replicating what we have this week: One lane of traffic on the bridge and one on the ground.
Well, it does seem like they
By anon
Thu, 05/14/2015 - 3:26pm
Well, it does seem like they find a way to rehab bridges when they want to. But in this case the conclusion from before they even began the analysis was that rerouting traffic to the surface was somehow better for the neighborhood, and suddenly the bridge couldn't be saved.
Structural Design Differences
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 3:18pm
This isn't one that can be rebuilt by halves, given the design. The bridges rebuilt by halves, like the ones over the Charles have a completely different design.
I believe the Casey has some issues with the design of the piers themselves, too. You can't partially rebuild a bridge if you have to replace the substructure. The Longfellow was built in an age where uncertainty about material strength and design features resulted in heavily overbuilt and redundant structures. In that case, the bridge was already built in sections with separate structural elements. The Casey does not have that feature - you can't work on the piers by halves.
Structures built during the era when the Casey was built turned out to be "overconfident", as the designers did have a good understanding of materials and structural design, but those things that they didn't account for (like corrosion) when they minimized the amount of steel used are becoming serious problems. Bridges that have either collapsed (Minneapolis; Washington State) or been shut down of late are of this same vintage.
Not quite a design issue
By Waquiot
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 4:01pm
From what I've read (and no, I did not note the citation at the time and am too lazy to track it down) part of the problem is with the materials used in construction. At the time, there were issues with steel due to issues with the steel industry and supplies due to the defense efforts (the Korean War and/or the Cold War overall.) The concrete and brinks can be dealt with, but the steel is essentially holding the thing up.
My gut, not bring a structural engineer, is that if they had better materials, we would not be having this discussion today. Or maybe we still would be, but the tenor would be different as proponents would be demanding the dismantling of a perfectly fine bridge as oppose to the deteriorating structure we are dealing with now.
(puts on dusty materials engineer hat)
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 4:30pm
The problem isn't so much the quality of the steel, but the quantity.
Due to all the post-war building going on, and some supply difficulties, the price for steel was very high. At the same time, engineers were increasingly able to test materials and calculate complicated structural loadings, and thus design for minimal amounts of steel to do the job, with some margin for safety.
The problem is, these minimal structures weren't designed to account for certain conditions which arose during their lifespan (or their use beyond their expected lifespan). These include a wide variety of conditions: corrosion due to road salt and time (the infiltration of salt into concrete wasn't well understood at the time), large increases in the loadings of trucks, loads from additional layers of pavement and concrete, downsizing of government such that inspections became less frequent, and simple degradation over time (cyclic stress and its interactions with corrosion).
The Casey is not alone in this situation. One reason the price of steel was so high when it was built was that so many structures were being built at the same time. This is why so many retrofits and rebuilds are underway now.
So ... there isn't anything wrong with the steel itself that hasn't been the result of years of use. What is wrong is that the expectations of inspection and replacement, and the loads on the structure, are beyond the original expectations. (It is possible that this overpass was built with a lower grade of steel than specified due to the shortages, however).
I stand corrected
By Waquiot
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 7:33pm
I knew the postwar steel shortage was the reason, but as Paul Harvey would say, now I know the rest of the story.
This is what so many people
By Scratchie
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 1:33pm
Shut up, you fucking moron.
Enjoy sitting in traffic,
By anon
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 3:36pm
Enjoy sitting in traffic, scratchie! Pssst... time to start biking.
Dear anon
By Michael Kerpan
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 4:13pm
Scratchie moved to North Carolina a good while back, but enjoys taunting us remaining Bostonians due to his abiding love for our city and its residents. ;-(
Trains
By anon
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 11:49am
I occasionally see the box blocked at railroad crossings. I can't even fathom the stupidity...
tried these lines in Longwood...
By Ha Ha
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 12:31pm
They tried putting "dont block the box" signs and markers in the Longwood area a year or two ago. The cops enforced it for a few weeks, but shortly after its no longer enforced. Therefore, its ignored and the intersections are jammed again. Its one of those things, people dont notice it because its never enforced in Massachuetts. In NYC, no one dares, they will get a ticket in a second.
Until they decide to enforce it, it will be ignored.
Forward this to BPD Community Service
By Neighbor2
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 2:49pm
Someone who lives near Forrest Hills should forward this blog post to their local Precinct Captain and Community Service Police Officer. And City Councilor, too.
It may not do anything, and I'm sure they're busy with murder and domestic violence and stuff, but maybe it could spur a little enforcement.
Week 2. I don't see things improving
By Waquiot
Mon, 05/18/2015 - 11:10pm
I ended up walking both from Roslindale Square to Forest Hills and vice versa today. The afternoon walk was planned exercise, and the morning walk was me thinking I could beat the bus (which I didn't).
The traffic seemed good in the AM, and mind you I am talking 8:20 on a school day. There was even a woman who looked like a traffic engineer (dressed business casual with a fluorescent bib holding a clipboard at an intersection.)
The afternoon, on the other hand, was a mess. The traffic inbound was backed up from the station to Cibao Market, or Claxton Street if you will. Walking outbound, I did notice the lack of traffic heading in my direction, and no buses passed me until I hit the square. Also, there were 2 traffic cops at Ukraine Way theoretically making sure there was no gridlock, but they were only working halfheartedly.
These are the things us cynics were worried about. My faith in this project, tiny to start, is growing less each week.
Impact on buses at Forest Hills seems pretty dire
By Michael Kerpan
Tue, 05/19/2015 - 9:33am
Last night everything going down Washington was running at least 20 minutes late -- and Washington was backed up (going North) almost until Puritan Ice Cream, while traffic going South was solid all the way to Ukraine in the left lane (while the right lane was virtually empty). Buses trying to exit and enter the station were having a very hard time.
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