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Car bursts into flames on I-93 southbound near Leverett Connector
By adamg on Sun, 02/19/2017 - 1:46pm
Chris captured firefighters dealing with the blazing car on I-93 around 1:30 p.m.
Shawna Wright drove by the flaming vehicle before the firefighters even got there:
Car fire on 93 south just before storrow exit @universalhub pic.twitter.com/MB79dEuT8v
— Shawna Wright (@S_copyWright) February 19, 2017
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Numbers/Names on signs of Off Ramps.
What are the numbers/names on the signs of the first, second, third, fourth Off Ramps driving via the Leverett Connector leaving Boston?
It Would Have Been I-95, But Those Ramps Have No Exit Numbers
Leaving Boston via Leverett Connector:
Re: Numbers/Names on signs of off ramps.
Many thanks!...
What are the Numbers/Names on the signs for the fifth and sixth off ramps?... driving via the Leverett Connector leaving Boston.
There are no exit numbers on Route 1
And it is possible to purchase maps that will give you every exit number on Interstate 93 from Canton to St. Johnsbury.
I-93 Exit List
I-93 exit list via Wikipedia
Leverett Connector / Northeast Expressway
York StreetSargent Street — W. RevereThe sand pile that was supposed to carry I-95
across the Runmey (aka Great Lynn) Marsh was mostly removed several years ago to provide sand to reclaim parts of Revere Beach that had eroded. It's a good thing that the roadway was never opened to traffic, because a few years after it was abandoned for highway use (as a result of Governor Sargent's 1971 moratorium on highway construction within the 128 belt), part of the surface imploded. According to an MIT highway engineering professor who researched the failure, apparently the design engineers accounted for tidal inflow under the embankment, but failed to consider the effects of the inevitable tidal outflow back into the marsh.
Actually, what are now the upper and lower decks of I-93
were originally supposed to be part of the I-695 Inner Belt, and were to run from the I-695/I-93 junction in Somerville to the I-695/I-95 - Tobin Bridge - Elevated Central Artery junction over the Charles River. The current Leverett Connector was not part of the original I-695/I-95 plan, and was constructed as part of the Big Dig when the Scheme Z spaghetti loop configuration was rejected.
Bonus fun facts - The southbound Leverett Connector ramp from southbound I-93 utilizes the original ramp stub that was supposed to connect southbound I-93 to the "outer" (towards Roxbury) I-695. Likewise, the northbound Leverett Connector ramp to northbound I-93 utilizes the original ramp stub that was supposed to connect the "inner" (from Roxbury) I-695 to northbound I-93.
Leverett connector notoriety...
Leverett Connector
http://www.greaterbostonsuburbs.com/poorroaddesigninmass.htm
In spite of having won the July 2001 National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) "prize bridge" Award, the Leverett connector has already earned its notoriety among commuters. Sometimes known as the "baby bridge" to the prominent Zakim Bridge, the Leverett connector connects Storrow Drive and Leverett Circle with the northern section of interstate 93 (and the Tobin Bridge as well). Exiting Storrow Drive or Leverett Circle onto the connector is generally a good experience as the bridge quickly moves traffic out to the major northbound thoroughfares from the city.
However, coming southbound on I93 or off the Tobin Bridge, onto the Leverett Connector has become one of the worst traffic traps in the area. The connector, which is really just a huge two mile off ramp, does not allow southbound traffic to view its whole span when exiting I93 south. Additionally, GPS traffic does not cover traffic on the connector (we aren't sure why, exactly). Thus traffic entering this long ramp have no way to know if they will zip right through or if they will stand in a backup which could last up to the full 2+ miles and from which there is no alternative exit. And while this is disconcerting, the true flaw lies in the reasons for the often horrendous backups.
Why The Leverett Connector Downramp Backs Up
The connector moving southbound is set up for failure thanks to short sighted thinking about the design of the exit ramps. The right hand fork brings traffic to a light which does not adequately funnel traffic into the roadways. The light basically prepares one to cross an intersection, after which time they must wait in another light to either turn right towards Memorial Drive in Cambridge or go straight onto a narrow and tight merging Storrow Drive entrance. And because the right turn towards Cambridge then pits traffic against difficult turning signals and museum traffic, the off ramp fork just doesn't get you very far.
But the much bigger design flaw occurs at the left hand fork of the Leverett Connector off ramp where one lane only can get onto Storrow Drive and the majority of traffic using the Connector are using it to get onto Storrow. Now if this lane flowed freely then the connector might work, but the one lane of funneled traffic goes under a bridge and then must perform a hard merge with traffic on the right (ironically, coming off that right hand fork of the connector off ramp!). As a result, traffic cannot move quickly through the bridge and thus the connector left hand ramp crawls too slowly - backing up traffic at sometimes along the entire length of the connector.
Finally, to make matters even worse, traffic coming off the Southeast Expressway must make a hard merge right into this single lane that is being shared by two connector off ramps in order to stay on Storrow Drive west. Therefore, most of the day enjoys a bottleneck of merging, weaving and utter confusion - right across from Mass General Hospital.
So, what can be done other than redesigning the whole ramp system? One solution might be to limit traffic coming onto Storrow Drive from the Museum of Science (officially it's Nashua Street and McGrath Highway) and to not allow it to cross merge into the left hand lanes of Storrow. This would allow traffic flowing off the Leverett Connector to move into the right hand lane without a busy merge. Secondly, there needs to be clear signage at the end of the bridge, indicating which lane should be for which purpose. Massachusetts solution at best will be to throw a couple of HEAVY MERGE signs up and to let people fend for themselves, and as usual it will do nothing other than allow them to claim that they addressed the problem.
http://www.greaterbostonsuburbs.com/poorroaddesigninmass.htm
Characterization Of The Leverett Experience Has A Few Problems
Actually, Google Maps has live traffic conditions for every individual ramp.
First of all, it's not "one lane of funneled traffic" — it's one lane of exiting traffic that begins its own lane. Both lanes inbound on the Leverett Connector continue through to the Leverett "Circle" intersection, but drivers need to be in the left lane if they wish to take the exit to Storrow Drive. What might appear to be a funnel, is caused by drivers who fail to move into the left lane earlier (often deliberately, so they can sneak in at the last moment).
Traffic coming from the northbound Expressway has a symmetrical configuration. Instead of the Tobin Bridge inbound traffic, Sumner Tunnel traffic begins it's own lane in the underground connector tunnel ramp. Both lanes continue to the Leverett intersection, but here, traffic must move to the right lane for the Storrow Drive exit. (and yes, some drivers cut in line at the last minute here too). This traffic also begins its own lane before going through the two-lane tunnel onto Storrow Drive.
So, there's actually no merging involved in any of this — lane changing yes, but not merging where a lane is taken away. From both directions, there is plenty of time for drivers to move to the correct lane before the Storrow Drive exit — if they try!
If you try that alternative instead of taking the Storrow Drive exit, you probably won't try it again. I agree, it's a horrible, horrible intersection (two horribles when you have two sets of unsynchronized signals to endure), but that's a whole 'nother topic.
It would be unreasonable to prevent southbound traffic on MA-28 from accessing the Charles Circle exit to Beacon Hill and Mass General Hospital. Although two lanes at the Leverett Circle intersection entrance are merged into one, it then begins its own, third lane, continuing onto Storrow Drive west.
At the Charles Circle exit, those three lanes split into four lanes— two lanes to Charles Circle and two lanes continuing west. To exit at Charles Circle, you can't be in the right lane, and to continue on Storrow Drive, you can't be in the left lane. It certainly would be nice if there was more space to change lanes before the split, but of course that's not the real problem. If there's no backup further down Storrow Drive, it's quite easy to move into the correct lane.
The bottom line is the Leverett Connector Bridge and Tunnel have the capacity to bring a much larger volume of traffic— from four high-volume sources— than can be dissipated by the all of the roads leading out of the Leverett Circle junction node. I can imagine Leverett Circle being rebuilt to be less horrible, but that wouldn't increase the capacity of Storrow Drive, and the Leverett Connector would still bring in more traffic than it can handle. If you insist upon driving into the city during high-traffic periods, then you must expect your Leverett Experience to be unpleasant. It serves as a reservoir where excess traffic headed into Boston will always accumulate.
Signage? Signage?!! — You're apparently not from around here (or are you?) Indeed, the very definition of "to Storrow" involves ignoring signs!
They could put up huge signs like in these Photoshopped pictures, and you probably wouldn't even notice they were there!
Bottle Neck on the Connector
Anybody know why this necks down to one lane and back to two coming off of I-93 south? It always seemed stupid and insane to me. This is what backs the whole mess up onto I-93 south!
My understanding is that the neck down
was to minimize the need for additional takings of the Boston Sand and Gravel yard and to avoid the need to reconstruct the Prison Point bridge. It also provides for a direct connection lane off the loop ramp from the Tobin Bridge.
My guess is that, given the typical peak hour traffic volumes and flow at this location, any added benefits by having a full two-lane off-ramp from I-93 south would be more than offset by the lack of a free-flow lane from the Tobin Bridge southbound.
Two Lanes Instead Of One Would Make Traffic Twice As Slow
As Roadman pointed out, the new Leverett Connector utilizes an exit ramp that was initially constructed for an interchange with the Inner Belt. It was designed as a split, with two lanes going off to the Inner Belt, and a lane reduction for traffic continuing south on the Lower Deck.
The new connector ramp starts with the two vestigial lanes, but after looping over the train tracks, it narrows to a single lane and joins the northbound connector traffic on a single viaduct. Besides costing less to build, there wasn't much right-of-way in this location for more lanes. A single lane in each direction through this area is all that is needed, and the ramps have enough shoulder/breakdown space so emergency vehicles can get through, even when it's jammed.
Because there's just a single lane of traffic coming from I-93 south, the traffic entering from the Tobin Bridge begins its own lane so there's no merging before all the traffic crosses the two-lane Charles River bridge and final section of viaduct to Leverett Circle. If there were two lanes coming from I-93, then the Tobin traffic would have to yield and merge into it — nobody on either road would enjoy that!
As I said earlier, the real cause of backups on the inbound Leverett Connector is the inability of Storrow Drive or other local streets to handle all the traffic it brings in. Adding another lane to the ramp would just make more space for cars to queue. Twice the number of vehicles would fill up the ramp, but the queue wouldn't empty any faster so your actual speed would be twice as slow.
You can easily observe this, any time the connector is filled and backing up onto I-93. Gauge how fast you're moving right after exiting, when the ramp is still two lanes. Then, after the two lanes merge into one, notice you're now moving twice as fast.
When stuck in traffic, would you rather be on a road with fewer lanes that moves faster, or a road with more lanes that moves slower?
Numbers/Names on signs of Off Ramps.
What are the numbers/names on the signs of the first, second, third, fourth Off Ramps driving via the Zakim Bridge leaving Boston?