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Turnpike to return to full width at 5 a.m. Monday

MassDOT reports it's returning the turnpike in Allston to the full four lanes in both directions tomorrow morning, three weeks ahead of schedule.

The news is not quite as good for people who drive on the road above the turnpike - or take the Green Line, though: Work there to replace half of the Commonwealth Avenue bridge will continue through next week.

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Comments

In other news, the green line extension is 15 years behind schedule.

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"Look what we can do when we're motivated; also there will be bus substitution on your line every weekend for the next 65 years and we're pushing back the new Orange Line trains to 2145"

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Don't let this wonderful, and obviously good for commuter news distract you that this project is already a full year late, and should have been completed this year. Great news, but this project is going to finish late (and as a potential result, over budget perhaps) no matter what good news comes out of it from here on out.

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The glass is half empty

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The glass is half empty. We planned on filling it by 2025, but due to budget cuts, it will only be made 65% full, and this has been bumped to 2029..

You will pay for three full glasses, however.

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Despite Adam Vaccaro's rosy Commonwealth article, paid for by Stephanie Pollack herself, this is a botched job. They delayed and delayed and shoved every disruption into one block of time. If this project had been done properly off-site as pre-fab over the course of a year, they could have replaced the spans overnight without disruption. Instead, Pollack pushed it to the side to make room for Green Line Extension planning. Baker had to intervene like a parent, told Pollack, you need to eat your Commonwealth broccoli before you get your GLX dessert. Pollack screamed at Tinlin. Tinlin scrambled to get the job done and then quit before he did too much damage to his health. And hence, the Commonwealth botch before us

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citations needed

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heard the screaming. In summary, the workers of Stuart Street

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Did you really blame this project for Timlin's aneurysm?

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I don't mind that they postponed it a year to make sure they planned it carefully.

It's not like the Pike was restricted to 2 lanes for the entire year.

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It was planned carefully.

Execution was a problem - about a year and a half to two years ago.

The contractor had fabrication problems which meant they couldn't make the August 2016 window. I think I remember reading at the time that they got penalized for that (or at least lost all hope of getting any "ahead of schedule" bonus"

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The contractor absorbed all costs related to the delay.

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I know our transportation infrastructure is a mess, but this is fantastic news and we should be making sure people who worked on this project are quickly rehired for other major road projects. GREAT work!!!

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I was really getting worried about the commuters from Weston. Haven't they been through enough? I just hope opening Mem drive these last few weekends starts to express our deepest sympathies for the minor delays they've had to endure.

Politics aside, the project is pretty impressive. A clear indication that it's not impossible to pull off complex construction jobs quickly when the state cares.

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when the state cares

The legislature drives to 'work' *snicker*. If it wasn't along their commute they wouldn't care.

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"Regional airports are essential to our economy."

"You fly into Dayton, don't you?"

"Every other Friday."

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Yes, because the only place the Pike goes is Weston. That's the only exit. When you take that exit, the ramp is a dead-end at a parking lot, and only Weston residents are allowed to park there. All those MBTA and intercity buses you see on the Pike -- Weston. Contractor vans -- all of those plumbers live in Weston, or are fixing leaky Weston sinks. When you think you hear someone saying they're going to Western Mass, they're actually saying Weston, because it's physically impossible to go anywhere else.

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Excellent!

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I think it's informative how much vitriol this type of news generates in the comments. There's the usual car haters, a bit of NIMBYism tossed in for those Cantabrigian sensibilities are horribly affronted by opening Memorial Drive to traffic on construction weekends to complaints about the Green line extension being delayed and therefore somehow this bridge replacement project is a pox on the region.

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Yes, four classes of reaction:

1: "a refreshing glass of water."

2: "the glass is half-full."

3: "the glass is half empty."

4: "the glass of water came from a Chipotle restaurant at a cholera Clinic, and it's leaking."

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