Somerville infrastructure going to hell

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

"State inspectors are looking for loose concrete on an overpass on the McGrath Highway in Somerville, after debris fell from the bridge earlier today.

Adam Hurtubise, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said inspectors will remove any loose material to prevent another fall.

He said an engineer hired by the agency was performing a routine inspection of the bridge when he heard the debris shatter. Hurtubise couldn't say exactly when the fall occured.

A chunk of concrete about half the size of a cinder block fell from the bridge, Hurtubise said. It was last inspected about a year ago. "


http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2010/01/debris_falls_from_mcgrath_high.html


PS. Interesting SN thread regarding this: http://www.thesomervillenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=3000

Comments

[ron_newman]

See also the Somerville News story.

Eventually I'd like to see this demolished rather than repaired.

[somervilleguy.livejournal.com]

It is ugly as hell but it does serve a purpose since traffic coming from Highland/Broadway can cross over Washington st with ease.

[ron_newman]

But I wonder if a rotary (like at Powderhouse) could work just as well for that intersection.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

You think the Powderhouse rotary works well?

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

Well it's certainly very exciting.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

XD

[avacon.livejournal.com]

Especially when people take left turns into it! (Yes, I've seen this...)

[ron_newman]

Yes, it seems to move traffic efficiently, never is backed up much, and has many crosswalks for pedestrians.

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

And it raises heart rates significantly, so it's good for health too!

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I would like powderhouse more if it were a proper rotary; no stop signs and no traffic lights except for pedestrian triggered ones.

(Ooh, what if we had a rotary for cars and an overpass for bicycles and pedestrians? That would be fun!)

[ron_newman]

The signals at Powderhouse are in fact triggered only by pedestrians.

[smammy]

But there are stop signs rather than yield signs on each entrance.

Rotary, Roundabout, Circle

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

I recently discovered they're all different things... Wikipedia tells all.

Anyway, a roundabout is the only one of the three worth having, where every entrance is a yield, no lights etc.. It's so much more efficient than four way stops it's not even funny, though the efficiency starts to break down on busy roads. Still, I think Powderhouse would work well.

Powderhouse is fully within the definition of rotary, IIRC.

Circles are some weird abomination.

</pedant>

[ratushebarl.livejournal.com]

OTOH it fucks the Washington traffic severely, as well as all the other God knows how many roads that debouch into the area. I biked through this intersection most summer days for the last two years, as well as walking and driving there some hundreds of times, and holy cow it sucks in every way. None of the traffic patterns, the light sequences or the crosswalks make any sense at all. I think overall it's meant for a sort of bisected rotary, but whatever it's trying to do, you can't actually do that.

I don't suppose it has to be that way, I'm sure an overpass can be there and work, but let's not pretend this one is it.

[somervilleguy.livejournal.com]

Thats all true but it's really not the overpass the fucks everything up. It's the planning or lack of it below the overpass. All the turns and switch backs are there and frankly there is no need for most of them.

[ratushebarl.livejournal.com]

I'll buy that for a quarter.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Don't spend money on infrastructure and this is what you get.

Bear in mind, it may be a MA owned road rather than a Somerville owned one.

[ron_newman]

Definitely a state road -- formerly part of the Metropolitan District Commission, then Department of Conservation and Recreation, and now MassHighway.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Which, I believe, is the only way such an ugly piece of infrastructure was ever allowed to be put there in the first place.

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't some part of the Green Line extension plan explore the possibility of removing this overpass?

[ron_newman]

Many people who favor the Green Line extension also favor removing the overpass, but I don't think there is any necessary physical connection between the two projects.

[pjmorgan.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I can't speak as well on the topic as others in I hear at the various meetings, but basically this overpass is ugly as sin and should be torn down and Mgrath-Obrien converted into a ground level boulevard, slowing traffic down, humanizing these intersections, and removing the terrible barrier that isolates easternmost Somerville from the Union Square area. I'm not concerned about making things easy quick and easy for cars-creating car friendly roadshe creates its own demand. We have more cars driving through Somerville on 28 because of this terrible thing. Hopefully once design for green line is completed, there will be ability to focus some rallying behind efforts to get this thing taken down. In the meantime we have to make sure they don't design it to preclude the change.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Recommendations to remove the overpass and create a boulevard have
surfaced in discussions about land use planning around the Green Line Extension stations (the overpass will be close to the Brickbottom-Washington Street station). As pjmorgan says, it's a barrier outside Union Sq that is both isolating and hazardous for non-car modes of getting around. The incident of the overpass debris this week was timely; many of us recommended removal of the overpass in our comments last week on MassDOT's Green Line plan called the Draft EIR.

The City's comments mention removal of the overpass: "Station design needs to acknowledge other transportation projects - Although we recognize that planning and engineering has to acknowledge current constraints, accommodation needs to be made for changes to the existing landscape. The City is currently working with the Commonwealth to lower McGrath Highway and create a boulevard. If possible, the Green Line Extension should accommodate this beneficial change."
http://www.somervillestep.org/files/DEIR_SomervilleOSPCD_010810.pdf


STEP also recommended it in its comments, and has done so at every opportunity in the past couple of years when news of the deterioration of the overpass became public: "Track, station, and Green Line corridor area designs must provide full roadway and community access to Brickbottom, Inner Belt, and Lechmere Station through reconstruction of Route 28 as a neighborhood and local business friendly boulevard. Improved connectivity to both sides of Route 28 is crucial."
http://www.somervillestep.org/2009/11/steps_speaking.html

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

It absolutely is, although Ron beat me to saying it.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Republicans for tax cuts!

I dread thinking that...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Brown may have a chance at winning... I sure hope it's a nice day on Tuesday.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think a nice drive over the mcgrath on a pleasant and low-traffic day provides a very interesting type of scenery, a view of a very different urban landscape from a lot of the rest of the area. I love to include it in pleasure drives out to memorial and storrow.

Hopefully whatever remedial action occurs has positive results.