News on Green Line to Somerville

Here's the article.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... uit_looms/

GP40MC1118 wrote:$375 Million probably for starters:
.

4) Washington Street Somerville. There were/are plans to rebuild or
replace this bridge to address flooding and height concerns.

5) While the ROW is certainly wide enough for the T to Somerville Jct
(Lowell St Bridge area), beyond that to W.Medford would require
clearence work for five overhead bridges and a new one over Harvard
St, Mystic Valley Parkway and the Mystic River.

.

Dave

IIRC, back in the early 80's, most of the clearances on this line were improved( bridges raised, roadbed undercut, etc...) to make up for the loss of the Freight Cut Off, so overhead clearance shouldn't be a major concern. The two crossings at grade, however, are a concern ,but then again, the Mattapan Line has them, so whats the beef???

Xplorer2000 wrote: The two crossings at grade, however, are a concern ,but then again, the Mattapan Line has them, so whats the beef???

There is probably more traffic on those two grade crossings than the ones in Mattapan. Also, what is a Freight Cut Off?

the freight cut-off was a single track line that connected the old yards 7 and 8 with the Fitchburg mainline. It went away with the Red Line, since it connected in the same place as the old Lexington line did.

I think prior to the 1950's, there was a direct connection (thru the old Dewey and Almy chemical plant in N. Cambridge) from the old Lexington line to the freight cut-off line. The direct connection from the Lexington branch to the freight cutoff line was abandoned by the time I was a kid in North Cambridge in the late 1950's.

The Lexington line always tied directly to the Fitchburg Division line, a route for single unit Buddliner commuter trains to Lexington until the 70's, I think. I remember seeing the single Buddliner car on the old Lexington line thru the grassy plains of Alewife back in the 60's.

GP40MC1118 wrote:$375 Million probably for starters:

1)New bridge over the Fitchburg Route commuter rail line/CSX Grand Jct
Branch/BET leads where the former freight bridge was located.

When was this bridge demolished and why?

3) Mitigation for the NIMBY Brickbottom Artists Building located at #1.
Maybe we could give them a station.

What makes you call them NIMBYs?

4) Washington Street Somerville. There were/are plans to rebuild or
replace this bridge to address flooding and height concerns.

Good to hear. I have a picture I took here in the Big Rain of 1998 of a car sitting under the bridge in water maybe six inches from covering its roof. A fix is long overdue.

Pete wrote:When was this bridge demolished and why?

During the DNC, when trains weren't running through there anyway. I suspect because it was old and decrepit, and unused. If the extension goes out the Fitchburg route to Union Square, that bridge would have to come down anyway.

"Nimby" is my polite moniker for the residents of Brickbottom. First off,
the building is an old warehouse (A&P) that used to have its own siding.
It was sold and turned into this "artists colony". After a while they started complaining about rail movements by their building, DESPITE that fact
they were/are surrounding on three sides by railroad tracks/yards that have been there over 100 years. On the fourth side they are certainly exposed to the noise generated by McGrath Highway.

Incredibly, they tried to claim it was a residential district and nearly
every switching move that came up to or by their building that paused
for more than a minute sent them running to the phone to whine. Even
Guilford was called anytime a reefer was spotted (running) anywhere
near the building.

So just wait if the Green Line ever comes by their building...Heck, its
an established residential district!!!!!!!!!

Dave

That's pretty funny. The area around the Brickbottom is about as far from residential as you can get in the Boston area.

GP40MC1118 wrote:"Nimby" is my polite moniker for the residents of Brickbottom. First off,
the building is an old warehouse (A&P) that used to have its own siding.
It was sold and turned into this "artists colony". After a while they started complaining about rail movements by their building, DESPITE that fact
they were/are surrounding on three sides by railroad tracks/yards that have been there over 100 years. On the fourth side they are certainly exposed to the noise generated by McGrath Highway.

Incredibly, they tried to claim it was a residential district and nearly
every switching move that came up to or by their building that paused
for more than a minute sent them running to the phone to whine. Even
Guilford was called anytime a reefer was spotted (running) anywhere
near the building.

So just wait if the Green Line ever comes by their building...Heck, its
an established residential district!!!!!!!!!

Dave

Regardless, I don't think it's realistic to say there's opposition to the Green Line extension centered there.

Pete wrote:Regardless, I don't think it's realistic to say there's opposition to the Green Line extension centered there.

Compared to what? The opposition might be nothing compared to other places but opposition is opposition and even minor opposition grows.

Brickbottom will enthusiastically support a Green Line extension, especially if a local station is built near them. Such a station could encourage development of what is now a pretty empty, de-industrialized area.

People in Somerville are quite united in wanting the Green Line, though somewhat divided on where it should go (Union Square, West Medford, or both).

efin98 wrote:

Pete wrote:Regardless, I don't think it's realistic to say there's opposition to the Green Line extension centered there.

Compared to what? The opposition might be nothing compared to other places but opposition is opposition and even minor opposition grows.

I said it's not a center of opposition to the Green Line because it isn't. I don't know how else to say it.

There isn't any significantly visible opposition in general in Somerville at this point. What exists is a broad grouping of people who all agree that some version of this project should be done. When you will start seeing disagreement is if and when one alignment is chose over the other and someone feels shortchanged. Or that might not happen at all.

Pete wrote:Compared to what? The opposition might be nothing compared to other places but opposition is opposition and even minor opposition grows.

I said it's not a center of opposition to the Green Line because it isn't. I don't know how else to say it. [/quote]

We aren't talking about the whole Green Lin(that honor belongs to the people of JP). What we are talking about is the segment in Somerville.

efin98 wrote:

Pete wrote:Compared to what? The opposition might be nothing compared to other places but opposition is opposition and even minor opposition grows.

I said it's not a center of opposition to the Green Line because it isn't. I don't know how else to say it.

We aren't talking about the whole Green Lin(that honor belongs to the people of JP). What we are talking about is the segment in Somerville.[/quote]

What does JP or the rest of the Green Line have to do with Brickbottom? This thread's about the Somerville extension. There's no opposition to it to speak of coming out of Brickbottom. I don't understand what isn't clear about this.