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

[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".