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Alewife garage crumbles even more

By adamg on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 1:14pm

WCVB reports more concrete came plummeting down at the garage at the Alewife T station today. MassDOT reports:

Through ongoing assessments and repair work, additional areas of deteriorated concrete that need to be addressed have been discovered. As such, the garage will be closed over the weekend to address these areas and to expedite the repair plan.

Neighborhoods: 
Cambridge
Topics: 
The T
Free tagging: 
Red Line
Alewife


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Comments

By Scratchie on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 1:27pm.

Womp womp?

By jmeltzer on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 4:22pm.

"What sound does concrete falling off the Alewife garage make, Alex?"

By jmeltzer on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 4:24pm.

delete please

By HolyMolyCodPiece on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 2:04pm.

Berlin circa 1989?

By anon on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 2:15pm.

The lightweight concrete mix used in 1980s vintage MBTA construction is noted for having serious defects in our climate.

By HolyMolyCodPiece on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 2:30pm.

MBTA issues seem to parallel the Cold War which would occasionally flare hot in various locations throughout the world. I like the Berlin Wall analogy. :-)

By Waquiot on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 2:31pm.

A: Well, to get this done within budget, we're going to have to use a lightweight concrete mix.

B: Is that safe?

A: It's safe, but after about 25 years it will start to deteriorate.

B: And what will we do in 25 years?

A: I don't know about you, but I plan to be retired and in Florida in 25 years.

By anon on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 2:39pm.

Only requires 23 of service to qualify for retirement. That's why they're flat broke.

By anon on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 4:10pm.

just pegged off the scale. You can retire at 23 years, but you won't get even close to full pension or benefits.

By anon on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 3:50pm.

He went the cheap route on everything

By Waquiot on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 5:42pm.

But I don’t think he was enough of a micromanager that he decided the mix on the concrete on transit projects.

By anon on Mon, 08/13/2018 - 1:40pm.

check the alewife garage financials from the duk administration.

By Waquiot on Tue, 08/14/2018 - 9:14am.

Show me where he signed off on the construction contracts.

I hate to break this to you, but they highest these things go is to the agency level. Do you really think Baker spends his time looking over the details on how much asphalt is being laid down on the Commonwealth Avenue bridge?

By anon on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 3:27pm.

You mean 1929.

This is the Weimass Republic

By Aeroguy on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 4:52pm.

German state during the years 1919 to 1933
Unless you're being sarcastic

By Scratchie on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 5:36pm.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that he was making a "pun" or "play on words" by combining the name "Weimar" with the common abbreviation of "Mass" for "Massachusetts".

By jmeltzer on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 5:46pm.

Someone in this thread obviously went to Harvard!

By Scratchie on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 6:00pm.

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/vLruErVSYGx8s/giphy.gif)

By Keith on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 2:53pm.

Reminds me of what happened at the MBTA garage in Quincy Center. They had structural problems, were supposedly fixing it and then just closed it without telling anyone. Now so many years later, they are tearing it down.

By redheadedjen on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 3:08pm.

It joins the exalted company of Quincy Center garage that was condemned for years and is just now being torn down.

By BostonDog on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 3:13pm.

Alewife ages about 3 days for every earth day. The steel truss system in the main lobby is all rusted and corroded. It's only a matter of time before that's deemed deficient. They've never repainted which isn't surprising since it would be extremely expensive. Likewise, the windows are dirty and discolored.

Meanwhile the tile floor becomes extremely slippery when when it's humid out and there's a temperature change.

80's design and construction at its worst.

By aelscha on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 3:24pm.

The slipperiness of the tile - especially at the entrances to the passenger pickup/dropoff area - is amazing. You'd think it was engineered to be slick.

By tofu on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 3:29pm.

This doesn't sound good. The whole thing better not come crashing down. This stuff is usually what you read in the days before "the whole bridge carrying I5 over the river sank into the river"

By ShaneCurcuru on Fri, 08/10/2018 - 5:24pm.

MBTA Announces Alewife is closed:

https://www.mbta.com/news/2018-08-10/mbta-announces-weekend-closure-alewife

The MBTA is in the process of developing a long-term plan for the garage, and in early July, solicited bids for an Alewife Garage Structural Repairs contract. Under a $5.7 million contract awarded yesterday, work will begin in September, and will include repairing beams, patching concrete decks, re-caulking deck joints, and cleaning and flushing the existing drainage system.

By anon on Sat, 08/11/2018 - 12:05pm.

The kickbacks produced by this building paid for a lot of Cape Cod cottages - your politicians at work!

By mplo on Sat, 08/11/2018 - 11:36pm.

the garage probably wouldn't have to be totally closed in order to fix all the problems.