Green Line Shutdown Lechmere to North Station, April 30 to December

[tober.livejournal.com]

I realize that Lechmere is a bit far from Davis to be directly relevant here however there are two buses from Lechmere that serve Davis and although those buses as such are unaffected, I thought this was significant enough that it would be appropriate to post here.

According to signs posted at Lechmere this morning, the green line will be shut down between Lechmere and North Station starting on April 30 and continuing until "December." A shuttle bus will operate between Lechmere and North Station, presumably stopping near Science Park. This shutdown is to support construction (elevator installation) at Science Park.

[cross-posted to b0st0n]

Comments

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

thanks for the post -- i do sometimes take the bus from davis to lechmere with the idea that i will then catch the t to north station, so at least i am glad for the heads-up! i'll look for shuttle busses.

[wickedtrue.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is good to know! I guess I will be using the Red and Orange line to get to the Green for the foreseeable future.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

This is a bummer (but I did know about the construction). We go to the Museum of Science a lot, so it does affect us. Oh well, parking is discounted for members.

Note to self: Installation of an elevator takes 7 months, presuming that "December" means December of 2011.

[ckd]

This is the MBTA we're talking about; I wouldn't make that assumption. December 2020, maybe. (At which point Lechmere will close for the first stage of the Green Line extension, of course.)

How long did the Kenmore/Arlington/Copley work take again?

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

hah, yeah I remember as a freshman in college the MBTA had just started their big ren of South Station. That sure was a speedy project.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I find that the walk from Lechmere is about the same as the walk from Science Park, although that's not helpful if you're not taking a bus.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Well, Museum of Science isn't very far from Lechmere, so it might be a good opportunity to get more walking in. Save that parking fee for a treat!

Alternately....

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

When the weather is nice, I like to take the Red Line to Charles/MGH and then walk along the river. That's a little longer than from Lechemere, but not actually by much.

Re: Alternately....

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! I've done that before. It's quite a nice walk and I forgot all about it.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

I think we can assume 2011. The installation of replacement elevators at Porter Sq. station is going to take a year. (At least they did not have to shut down the station, as it's not new construction.)

[smammy]

Any engineers care to comment? It could very well take seven months to install elevators.

[tober.livejournal.com]

I don't think seven months is particularly unreasonable although closing Lechmere may be. Science Park as it currently exists was never designed to accommodate elevators and I'm sure that there are certain challenges to fitting one that would not be present in new construction planned with elevators. Further, the station will also be made generally ADA-compliant and that is likely to require a reasonable amount of work beyond the elevators themselves.

The thing that really annoys me is that, despite that there will be little disruption to the tracks during this construction (and I would bet that some storage and overnight maintenance of cars will still take place at Lechmere throughout the construction and at least a single track will generally remain usable between North Station and Lechmere), they have opted to close the line completely between Lechmere and North Station rather than operating trains between Lechmere and North Station but with no stop at Science Park (and probably an additional shuttle bus running between North Station and Science Park). I suspect that this construction does require some disruption of the tracks and maybe the T will also opt to perform some other track work in this region (the track from Lechmere to Science Park is generally not in the greatest of shape although the track between Science Park and North Station is of recent installation). What it boils down to, I believe, is that the T is unwilling to pay the premium for having work performed during late nights and weekends. If money were no object, Science Park could continue to fully operate at least during weekdays for at least most of the construction period. If they were to close Science Park but keep trains running between Lechmere and North Station, I would guess that would add 10-20% at most to the project cost and it sure seems to me that would have been a reasonable compromise.

[siderea]

What it boils down to, I believe, is that the T is unwilling to pay the premium for having work performed during late nights and weekends.

No guessing required. Davey has made it clear what he's thinking, wrt a similar but vastly more disruptive project.

[thesoxgap]

I'm hoping that bridge construction will be over by the 30th (I live in Union Square, and Lechmere is often my best bet for T stations that have reasonable bus schedules)

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

7 months doesn't sound so bad when the T is proposing to close Government Center for *2 years* to install elevators, raised platforms, and a fancy glass cube.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

To be fair, Government Center is really beaten to shit: it sees way more foot traffic and train traffic than Science Park.

Also, this is what happens when the budget of a municipal service for an area that provides tax revenue to the entire state is held hostage by legislators who don't represent that area.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

While GC certainly has a desperate need for elevator access, I don't think there's anything wrong with its condition.

The project has a $62 million budget. Do you have any evidence that the T wanted to do it faster for more money but was given less money than they asked for?

If you buy a washing machine in Pittsfield, a large percentage of the sales tax goes directly to the MBTA.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and a percentage of my state income taxes goes to Pittsfield. What's your point?

If they're so bothered by it, I'll happily advocate for a system where the state tax revenue collected by a county is only spent in that county. That would solve all the problems quite handily!

In short, if I'm paying for roads, schools, etc. which I don't use and will never use, I don't want to hear any whining about somebody else paying for rails I do use. That seems a reasonable request.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

You didn't address my main point: that I doubt the long timeframe for the GC project is due to a lack of funding.

My secondary point is that the T gets plenty of money from the rest of the state.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

That's not actually true.

The MBTA is only funding from monies collected from towns within its service area:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mbta_district.svg

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

The MBTA has two main subsidy sources: assessments from the towns in the MBTA district ($143M in 2008), and a portion of the statewide sales tax ($756M).

When sales tax was 5%, the T got 20% of that 5% (or 1% of the sale amount).

Now that sales tax is 6.25%, I think the T still gets the 1%, and the additional 1.25% is split between the T and highway spending.

[cn-i-crash-here.livejournal.com]

This announcement elicits my traumatic memories of the Government Center-Lechmere shuttle circa 2004. The GM at the time (Mulhern, I think) promised the shuttle frequencies would be the same as the trains it was replacing. But it ran at about half the frequency -- and that with the smaller capacity of a bus. Always ass-packed; total nightmare.