Upcoming GLX bridge closures

[bikergeek]

The Davis Square area will be subject to some bridge closures and traffic re-routings as a result of the construction of the Green Line Extension.

More info.

Comments

[squirrelitude]

I suspect it is more the *landlords* who will be benefiting without the pain. The people who are actually living there still have many of their usual routes blocked by the construction.

[bikergeek]

I suspect, but can't really prove, that much of the dollar value that the GLX will add to real estate in the area is already "baked in" (i.e. reflected in current property prices). Real estate agents have been hyping the "Coming real soon now!" GLX to prospective buyers since it was on the drawing boards.

[squirrelitude]

Ah yeah, I have wondered about that now and then.

Here's an interesting piece related to all this: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/mar/19/how-public-transport-actually-turns-a-profit-in-hong-kong

« “Once we build the railway, the value of land rises and we capture the increase in value,” says Jacob Kam, managing director and soon-to-be chief executive, of Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation.

This “rail plus property” model allows Hong Kong’s public transport company to be self-financing – unlike most of its counterparts around the world, many of which are loss-making and need to be subsidised by government. »

I don't know enough about this topic to have any idea how applicable it is to Massachusetts, but it did turn on a light bulb for me: The MBTA is creating real estate value using public funds (right?), and wealthy, private speculators are taking it for their own profit.