Grounding McGrath Highway meeting Thurs 5.31

[somervillesnow.livejournal.com]

Apologies not Davis Square, but important to Somerville's future in general.  It looks like we need a large turnout Thursday 5.31 to tell the state/MASS DOT to convert the elevated portions of McGrath Highway to an at grade boulevard.  Currently they want to spend $10 million in repairs to extend it's life.  This is absurd, as no one wants this ugly piece of concrete in our city.  The money should be spent to deelevate it, rather than wasted.  If it is spent to extend it's life, you can bet it will not be deelevated for a *long* time.  

See STEP website for meeting details and more insight on the issue: http://www.somervillestep.org/2012/05/mccarthy_overpa.html

Comments

[ron_newman]

The state should not spend ANY money to repair this. Let it gradually decay, inspect it every six months or so, and when it fails inspection, demolish it.

[somervillesnow.livejournal.com]

I agree! At least in spirit. The folks at STEP have a much better command of the issues than I, I believe some netting would be required in the meantime in case of falling concrete. Otherwise MASSDot are going to say it is an emergency we have to blow $10 million now on repairs.

I feel they should just tear it down now, like this year or next. I'm no engineer, but isn't an at grade road something society has been doing for a few hundred years now?

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

That area is sooooo blighted, at least in appearance. They should make it below grade (tunnel) and have bike paths and pedestrian walkways on top :) If only we had infinite resources.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

What about when you're the one waiting underneath it for the bus and it collapses on you since the state didn't even put precautionary maintenance into it?

Let massdot know about your vision for the future, but don't think that this infrastructure can just be left alone until then.

[ceo]

Problem with demolishing it immediately is is that a grade-level roadway will take some serious design to make it a safe route for bicyclists and pedestrians. Be nice to have that plan in hand before tearing the thing down.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

You can download the three proposals for the roadway: Boulevard, Limited Access, or Rotary, here: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/groundingmcgrath/Documents.aspx

[entrope.livejournal.com]

I think (?) there is one, from what I can gather. I believe it's already been studied. Want to go tomorrow night? If I don't have a work thing, I'll be there.

[ceo]

I'd love to, but it's Benjamin's school's end-of-year picnic that night.

And as I've been learning with the Green Line extension, there's a significant difference between "proposal" and "construction-ready design".

[rmd.livejournal.com]

If they make it a grade-level roadway, that's going to be a lot of pedestrians walking across a heavily used roadway.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

A grade-level road doesn't prevent pedestrian over- or under-passes.

[ron_newman]

But it doesn't need them, either. People walk across Highland Ave, Broadway, Somerville Ave, and Mass. Ave. all the time without overpasses or underpasses.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but McGrath is significantly wider, busier, has more inlets/outlets...take your pick, really, than any of the roads you mentioned. Having a dedicated pedestrian space would be about the only way to make that area safely navigable without putting in a traffic-paralyzing all-walk crossing.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

The cost of putting in a handful of pedestrian overpasses is trivial compared to the cost of a vehicle overpass. Pedestrian underpasses would be more expensive than overpasses, but still low cost compared to the flyway.

---

Highland and Somerville Ave are poor comparisons. They are not major arteries into Boston, and with a few exceptions (e.g. Somerville in Union Square) for the supermajority of their lengths' they are one-lane-each-direction. Highland is primarily residential with some mixed use and Somerville has sections of residential with primarily mixed use.
Broadway is also not a major artery, mostly mixed use, and while it is mostly 2-lanes-each-direction from Winter Hill to points east, those are the worst parts to cross.
Mass Ave is an artery, but let's be honest: any argument about Boston traffic that relies on Mass Ave's behavior is inherently flawed.
For the relevant portions, all of those roads have (posted or legally de-facto) speed limits of 30 MPH or lower.

McGrath (and Rt 28 in general) is a limited access road, a major artery into Boston, has very few businesses with direct access to the road (rather than via a side-lane or side street), and speed limits over 35 MPH. If you're looking for comparisons, look more to the Jamaicaway or Memorial Drive. (Where, as far as I know, there are few if any pedestrian overpasses or underpasses, but having them would be reasonable and safer.)

[ron_newman]

One of the purposes of Grounding McGrath, as I see it, is to turn it back into a local commercial street like Broadway is now. It should no longer be a high-speed limited-access highway. Much of it was built over what used to be Medford Street, and perhaps bringing back that name will help emphasize its purpose.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

The grounded parts of 28/McGrath are already a limited access highway, from the 28/38/93 interchange to the intersection with Highland, and from the twin cities plaza into Boston. (28 is limited access all the way from the Fellsway; 38 is posted as a 35MPH, if I recall correctly, from Medford Center, which makes it defined as a limited access road as well. Although the nature of the road does significantly change at that interchange.)

Making the section between Highland ave and twin cities plaza a local, mixed-use road is not a realistic endeavor without adding additional capacity to I93, ma99, and/or US1, and (probably) the Green Line extension. Turning an artery into something else is far from as simple as taking out the overpass. A ground-level, limited access road like the rest of 28 is feasible, but not a local mixed-use.

[ron_newman]

I think we're in partial agreement, though you are using 'limited access' in a way that I don't think is generally accepted. My model for this part of 28 is to look at what already exists further north, on Fellsway in Medford and Malden north of Route 16. It has four lanes (plus some intermittent left-turn lanes), but it is tree-lined and attractive, and pedestrians can cross it anywhere with no need for bridges or tunnels.

[ceo]

Or well-designed signalized pedestrian crossings.

[ron_newman]

I see no problem with that. In fact, it's a good thing. Ride further up Route 28 into Medford and Malden, where it's called the Fellsway, and you can walk across it at any intersection.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

And for those without bikes? Those who live in that area? People will cross where they feel the need to cross, and for an intersection as heavily used as that one is, many, many people will need to cross right there. The point is to make it safe for them to do so.

[ron_newman]

I agree with that, but the parkway design further up Route 28 (north of Route 16) shows that it can be done without overpasses or underpasses.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Maybe we'll get another video with a chicken crossing the road (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgFoo7i3CA) showing how to use the walk signal for that intersection, too.

[somervillesnow.livejournal.com]

traffic calming and more pedestrian measures would be part of the design.

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's going to do a lot of good for air pollution. (Not.)

[emannths.livejournal.com]

Even with the flyover, there's not actually a way for pedestrians to cross the highway at the end of Somerville Ave. There's a crosswalk that gets you under the highway, but there's no crosswalk that connects to the east side of the highway. The only pedestrian crossing that will be affected is the one at Washington St.

[ron_newman]

Right now there's a painted crosswalk (in two parts) all the way from 'Glass Stop' to the Poplar Street intersection and bus stop on the other side.

[emannths.livejournal.com]

I guess it must have been repainted recently? It's not on Google's satellite view: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1+Somerville+Ave,+Somerville,+MA&hl=en&ll=42.377182,-71.088507&spn=0.002098,0.002598&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=47.349227,93.076172&oq=1+&hnear=1+Somerville+Ave,+Somerville,+Middlesex,+Massachusetts&t=k°=270&z=19

[ron_newman]

Yep - I think added within the past 6 months, along with warning signs for car traffic. I can't remember if there are any blinking lights on the signs.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the proposals? They (th good ones) make my urban-heart go pitter-pat with hope.

http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/groundingmcgrath/Documents.aspx

[rmd.livejournal.com]

grar. the machine/browser i'm using here is barfing on the actual docs. harrumf. have to look at this from a different machine.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

In addition to the info on the STEP website, Livable Streets has pdf that highlights the salient points of the McCarthy Overpass issue:
http://www.livablestreets.info/files/McGrath_CI_handout.pdf

Also, if you need to refresh your memory of this area, Livable Streets has a short video, which features a few words from some ped/cyclists on the street by the overpass:
http://vimeo.com/37448189

(The McCarthy overpass issue is similar to that of the Casey overpass in JP, which was recently slated for demolition by MassDOT at the wish of the community:
http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-08/yourtown/31136484_1_advisory-group-design-process-state-officials)

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Which of these intersections would you rather walk across?

McGrath and Broadway, at grade: http://goo.gl/maps/tDwk
McGrath and Washington, overpass with narrow at-grade roadways: http://goo.gl/maps/rkjd

We can rule out things like http://goo.gl/maps/8wqn , since no urban grade separation that nice is ever going to be built again.

[ron_newman]

Or, perhaps, McGrath and Broadway reduced in size a bit, so it looks more like Route 16 and Broadway (near Johnnie's Foodmaster) ? That's a pretty reasonable intersection to cross on foot, despite its busyness.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

They just rebuilt McGrath and Broadway within the last few years. I suspect they'd use a similar design for an at-grade replacement of McGrath and Washington -- more lanes to compensate for time lost waiting for a red light.

I'll have to check the traffic counts, but I suspect Broadway at Route 16 carries a lot less traffic than either Washington or McGrath.

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

My bet is whatever happens it is going to be worse for traffic causing more air pollution and not all that great for pedestrians anyway. It's a shame things like the Mass Ave / Comm Ave interchange or Route 9 through Newton / Wellesley are out of the question.

[ron_newman]

Route 9 in Newton/Wellesley is definitely not what Somerville needs. You can go long stretches on that road without any ability to cross it. Right now you can't even walk across it from the Chestnut Hill Mall to the Atrium Mall (one big reason the Atrium is failing).

Broadway in Somerville is the proper scale for what McGrath should be. So is the Fellsway in Malden.

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

Point taken about route 9.

But, I still say either of those two other models is going to cause more traffic congestion and pollution.

[gingicat]

I really hope that they build overpass walkways.

[ron_newman]

I really hope they rebuild this intersection in a way that nobody would find overpass walkways necessary or desirable. It should look more like, say, the intersection of Fellsway and Route 60 in Medford.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

How did the meeting go?

[ron_newman]

I went to this. Pretty much the entire assembled crowd (over 100 people) wants Mass. DOT to cancel the repair project entirely, post the bridge with a reduced weight limit, and proceed to demolition as soon as possible. I hope they listened.

[somervillesnow.livejournal.com]

MASSDDOT: We want to and are committed to take it down but that will be a minimum of an 8 year process dues to all the government review processes it has to go through at various agencies. So we need to make these emergency repairs now, which will take 24 months, cost 11 million + and are designed to extend the life 10-15 years.

Testimony:
*The structural integrity of the bridge cannot be restored without much more significant cost of replacing columns (something that is part of the plan)
*It is safer to take it down now.
*The environmental review process can be avoided for various technical reasons that Ellin Reisner spoke of after having read the law
*The cost per metric of safety rec'd is extremely high and ineffective (sorry I can't really summarize the engineer's testimony)
*The cost is very likely to spiral as disturbing concrete in one area will disturb the concrete adjacent
*Just take it down now and create a temporary road until the permanent one can be designed
*Post a lower weight limit so some repairs can be avoided
*For the love of god, we don't want this injustice monstosity, take it down now! was communicated vigorously by the packed standing room only room, both in testimony and spontaneous crowd yells and chants.

The comments appeared to fall on deaf ears, they kept ignoring the compelling testimony and parroting the same speaking point in a non answer. The people were nice, but they were just there to repeat their boss' decision. My only hope is that they actually heard some of the technical testimony and will go back to their bosses, that someone in Somerville has the ear of someone with power in state government, or that the Globe or Herald will do an expose on this giant waste of taxpayer money.

Also not their fault (thought as Ellin testified they could get around some of it), but I'm frustrated that we have a society where it takes 8 years to build an at grade road due to government bureaucracy.

On the encouraging side, the testimony and the presence of the large number of citizens was very effective in communicating our feelings and Livable Streets did an excellent job of organizing some of that. I recall the 2004 green line meeting where we similarly protested the delays-we didn't get an answer at that meeting, but soon after we got some commitment and changed minds in the Romney administration. Hopefully the same will happen here.

[ron_newman]

Somerville Patch covered the meeting. This article agrees with my own observations at the meeting.