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Citizen complaint of the day: Boston's steamiest intersection
By adamg on Thu, 01/18/2024 - 2:16pm
A concerned citizen files a 311 complaint about the copious amounts of steam now rising from a Vicinity (formerly Veolia) manhole at Huntington Avenue and West Newton Street in the Back Bay:
The steam is coming out so bad and blocking visibility of both pedestrians and vehicles. Someone is going to get run over. The steam company needs to put a stack to direct the steam higher like they’ve done in the past.
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Comments
The Concerned Citizen
Should get a clue.
On a side note: Many people think the STEAM they see bellowing out of buildings on extremely cold days is pollution.
911 used to get calls on the regular ...
About a car on fire at a particular spot on Boylston Street - which always turned out to be a car that somebody had parking on top of a steam manhole.
I remember in the 90s
I remember in the 90s Downtown Crossing would look quite abandoned at night but was still bustling during the day , before stores really started closing etc. I was there every so often at night while in high school and remember seeing all the steam coming up out of the ground , it made things feel quite spooky and I could definitely see how it could freak people out if they weren't expecting it.
Geyser-like Steam Plume
I got a video a couple of years ago when we had a very heavy, wet snow. A steam vent on Tremont near the Parker House melted a bunch of snow but the water didn't drain out because other snow blocked it. It was very Yellowstone in the City, with the steam, the bubbling, etc.
I just got one question
What exactly is running off steam in the city??
I used to live by batterymarch and batterymarch (IYKYK), downtown... The steam there would turn the pavement to puddy.
District Heating Systems
One boiler, many buildings, with steam distributed through underground pipes.
https://www.energy.gov/eere/amo/articles/combined-heat-and-power-technol...
They are very old school, but are experiencing a resurgence as they are quite efficient and make geothermal options more affordable.
Systems can also be set up to deliberately pass beneath and heat sidewalks and streets, keeping the snow and ice off.
steam
Sometimes I get the feeling that a lot of people that report things to 311 have never before been in a city
They're not reporting the existence of steam
but rather the visibility impact, and are requesting a specific, common remediation.