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State plans $100-million upgrade of decaying Comm. Ave. deck at BU Bridge

BU Today reports on the impending work to buttress the bridge over the turnpike and train tracks, which is falling apart enough to force the shutdown of the B Line this past summer.

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   … they're building the new bridge to be just as dysfunctional as the old one.
IMAGE(https://elmercatdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/comm-ave-bridge.jpg)
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Meaning....

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I hope the new bridge will have 5 chicanes and 7 speed bumps.

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Why are they doing a total replacement of a configuration which is known to NOT work? Doesn't it make more sense to prefab a replacement in a new configuration?

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The bridge is in horrible shape so something needs to be done but closing the bridge for 3 weeks is going to suck. That's 3 weeks with effectively no B-Line service and horrendous traffic. Hopefully they provide at least a pedestrian bridge throughout the construction -- there is as much foot traffic as the vehicle type.

It would be nice if they took this opportunity to improve pedestrian crossings (the current crossings aren't even ADA compliant and far too narrow for the volume of users) but I'm not expecting much.

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The detour map seems unrealistic. Eastbound traffic from Brighton Ave to Boston won't detour through Central Square. They'll take Amory or St Paul.

http://www.bu.edu/today/files/2015/11/Slide15.jpg

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I wonder if the proposed eastbound detour is for Cambridge bound traffic who would normally take the BU Bridge? That's a long detour when you can head up towards Mass. Ave. past Kenmore and take the Harvard Bridge.

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That the Central Square detour is for trucks; cars can take Mem Drive. But yes, the residential streets are going to see a LOT more use.

It would have been nice to see what the plans are for routing B-Line and 57 traffic around the area too. Even in the dead of summer there are still a lot of people taking the T through there. I bet the 65 will be getting more use!

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They'd do the following:

B Line service from Boston College runs inbound to Chestnut Hill Ave, then down Beacon Street. For whatever reason, the T took out one of the branches of the wye at Chestnut Hill Ave and Comm Ave a few years back. If they hadn't, the could run B Line service outbound from Harvard Street (although they'd need a new crossover there) to Chestnut Hill Ave, then down and on to the D Line for a quick(ish) trip in to Kenmore. For people west of Harvard Ave, it would probably wind up being faster service.

Of course, the T shot themselves in the foot at some point taking out that section of the wye.

Another option: use the three weeks of shutdown to do as much of a rebuild of the B Line as possible, fixing any trouble spots and slow orders. And put in signal priority, for crying out loud!

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They are using accelerated bridge techniques, and the closure in each direction will only last for three weeks (eastbound in August '16, westbound in August '17). This is something that really needs to happen, and the approach they are taking should mean a rather brief disruption, rather than the sometimes years long process we've seen on other bridges.

It also looks like there will be at least some improvement for pedestrians nd cyclists, so that's another win.

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