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Making Blue Hill Avenue better

The Dorchester Reporter brings us up to date on city planning to improve traffic, public transit and safety along the street (no, bringing back a trolley is not on the table).

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Rep. Holmes pointedly raised prior surveying efforts from a decade ago.

“My first hope is that we don’t go and take a survey and recreate the wheel,” he said. One of his earliest pushes was advocating for a dedicated bus lane on Blue Hill Avenue, which he took up again at the meeting. A bike lane is not his priority, he made clear, if it comes at the expense of bus riders and drivers who make up the majority of commuters on the route.

{whispers} dedicated bus lanes are also used by cyclists without issue....

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by anything coming from this guy. He is about a decade behind the times if not two. I have personally been to 2-3 community meetings where he has attended and spoke and I can say with confidence that I am NOT impressed with this guy. If you look him up it seems like he has 2-3 other jobs/board positions,etc. Not sure how much time he is putting into bettering his district or speaking to folks who live there. He is a politician for sale just collecting a paycheck and repping special interests. Most of the folks he claims to represent as his constituents are the of the pearl-clutching bible thumbing variety that make up a VERY LOUD minority of people in his district. Voting this guy out as soon as possible should be at the top of Mattapan residents' political priorities.

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Rep. Holmes

“My first hope is that we don’t go and take a survey and recreate the wheel,” he said. One of his earliest pushes was advocating for a dedicated bus lane on Blue Hill Avenue, which he took up again at the meeting. A bike lane is not his priority, he made clear, if it comes at the expense of bus riders and drivers who make up the majority of commuters on the route."

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Pretty sure all of them act as bike lanes without that being a problem for buses...

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More municipal parking lots like you see in JP, Mattapan sq., and South Boston shopping districts. Put an end to all the double parking bs. It's absurd.

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They don't stop double parking. I saw a car parked in a bike lane for several minutes on Centre street in JP yesterday. There are multiple free lots within walking distance. As I JP resident I think the lots should be turned into something much more useful like affordable housing or a park. Or at least charge for parking. Drivers get enough welfare as is. People > Cars

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Blue Hill Ave is the epitome of a "traffic sewer": a wide expanse of asphalt paved in the 1950s for cars, cars and more cars. The 28 bus ducks in and out of parking spaces as cars pass it, only to sit a the next traffic light behind those cars. The obvious solution is to build a bus rapid transit line, in fact, BHA, is one of very few streets in Boston which is wide enough for such a facility to easily be implemented (along with wider sidewalks, safe cycling facilities, and, yes, parking spaces).

The costs of a good BRT system are not minimal, but if built correctly, a future upgrade to a rail line can be implemented without rebuilding the entire line. For instance, a BRT line would require a full rebuild of BHA, which would mean digging into the current foundation of the roadway to rebuild drainage systems and put in a new roadway surface. This would allow the T to put in electrical conduits for eventual light rail vehicles which could be run to the eventual locations of trolley poles, even if the poles weren't installed. In fact, because the envelope of trains is slightly narrower than buses, the poles could be installed in the median of the busway if it were ever converted to light rail, although it may make sense to keep much of BHA active for buses and trains which would share transit-priority lanes. The stations, ticketing machines and shelters could all be built to accommodate buses or trains, and it would even be possible to install tracks in the busway, even if there weren't any trains on them, for eventual conversion.

The reason the corridor particularly makes sense for light rail is what happens north of BHA itself. While there is a pinchpoint on Warren Ave and just north of Dudley, beyond that trains would be able to run in their own lanes through the South End. More importantly, instead of Silver Line buses sitting in traffic and navigating the narrow lanes of Downtown Boston, trains could duck in to the existing, closed Pleasant Street portal and use the outside tracks at Boylston Street to enter the subway system. This would give Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan a one-seat ride to downtown. Furthermore, thanks to the 1898-era design of the subway, there is actually spare capacity in the subway for this service. By turning an additional line on the loop at Park Street (as the B line does today), trains from the south would have new slots to access Government Center, North Station, Lechmere and beyond (GLX).

A full-fledged BRT does not seem to be on the table in this iteration, but if it is ever built, it should include as much infrastructure for light rail, so that if there was ever the ability to run Green Line trains to Dudley and Mattapan, the final conversion would be relatively quick and inexpensive.

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unfortunately you're making the mistake of thinking the mbta, city, or state plan further ahead than the next election. spending money now to save thousands down the road and improve the lives of citizens? well, those people aren't voting NOW, so fuck 'em.

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The system is in crisis, they can't keep the trains running during rush hour, and you want to spend money on a new line. Good God.

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Better to spend the money on drivers then? Which means more deaths, pollution, noise and the same gridlocked traffic. That's the answer!

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Your latest long comment begs the question. Do members of Transit Matters speak with one another? Do you know about the 28X BRT fiasco? Do you ever review past failed initiatives and figure out why they failed?

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Rename it "Bright Blue Hill Ave". Problem solved.

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Missed headline: Singing the blues over Blue Hill Ave.

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Build a modern concrete elevated train structure and add a branch to the Orange Line.

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