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What is it with Boston and leaky tunnels?
By adamg on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 9:42am
Did all our structural engineers grow up in the Sahara or something?
... State officials, who had planned to quickly and inexpensively fix the crumbling Storrow Drive Tunnel, have learned that it was not waterproofed when it was built in 1951 and may need to be replaced, a much costlier and more disruptive project. ...
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Comments
Get Rid of Storrow?
Is it possible? Has anybody really studied why we need an eyesore on the waterfront? Can't the Pike take the through traffic?
Has anybody at the statewide level even bothered to study this on a comprehensive scale?
For the kind of money they are talking about, we really need to think about regional travel and what it would take to get rid of this albatross. If the Pike could take the traffic and alternate routes could carry local traffic, isn't the money better spent to make improvments in other infrastructure so there is no need for this misuse of water front? I love the phrase "pleasure vehicles only". HA!
Part of the problem is that it is DCR, while Pike is Pike, and Highway is Highway, etc. MA needs an integrated Department of Transportation - at least for planning out stuff like this?
One Objection Comes Readily To My Mind
I'm not in favor of diverting more traffic to a toll road. As a matter of fact, if I had my way, we'd abolish the toll road before Storrow. Of course, that's just the Libertarian in me talking :-)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
For Whom the Tolls Toll
I actually don't mind diverting traffic to toll roads. Make the users pay!
C'mon Suldog, a that's your inner freeloader talking - the one that wants to use tax money from bike commuters to pay for car commuter space in a place that ought to be "for pleasure vehicles".
True libertarians pay for what they use and not for what they don't! That's why NH has so many tolls.
Sidebar discussion
New Hampshire has so many tolls only to soak tourists and bargain hunters making the run from Mass. to Maine, not because it's run by libertarians.
Indeed, Adam. Thank You.
NH is no more run by Libertarians than any other state in the union - that is to say, not at all. Not that we haven't tried :-)
I have no problem with paying for my use of roads. I do so now through excise taxes. What I do have a problem with is increasing the size and scope of the Turnpike Authority, which rightly should have been abolished many years back.
However, diverting traffic in some way or another is a good discussion. I see where Adam has started a new topic, including your proposal. I'm headed there. I'm very intrigued by the idea of a new trolley line on that right of way. That sounds like an excellent use of taxpayer money.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
They'd like to put through traffic on the Pike
But the Pike costs money. And the ceiling falls in.
Maybe when they shut Storrow down to replace the leaky tunnel, more people will get used to taking the Pike.
As to removing Storrow, that's a really silly idea. It would cost a billion dollars, and we'd get what out of it? Twenty extra feet of Esplanade and a huge traffic jam?
A billion dollars?
How so?
Save Storrow Drive!
Storrow Drive is an excellent alternative to driving the Pike and repairs do need to be made; however, I agree that we won't gain that much space and we would lose one of Boston's most scenic drives along the Charles.
huh?
I suggest taking the T into Boston sometime and walking the Charles, taking time to enjoy the Esplanade. It's lovely when you're not racing along at 60 mph (or alternately, sitting in a traffic jam swearing at the fool with the U-Haul).
Storrow should be shut down, the road removed and the park returned to its original and intended use.
The selfish car-centricity of those living around Boston never ceases to amaze me. Why would you *want* to drive through Boston to get from Suburb A to Suburb B? Take the Pike!
Easily so
You probably remember something called the Big Dig. That cost how much again?... 14.6 billion and running?
Abolishing Storrow drive wouldn't be so simple as just rolling out some turf on the blacktop and telling the cars to go away. The blacktop would have to be dug up. The blacktop would have to be disposed of. New fill would have to be trucked in. That fill would need sprinkler systems, paths, sod, lights, wiring, drainage...
And then there's the connections. Every single ramp or turn that now goes to Storrow would have to be routed to somewhere else, demolished, and rebuilt. Every single access point that only goes to Storrow would have to be rebuilt on another road.
The cars now not going on Storrow would not simply evaporate. They would need to go somewhere else, and it wouldn't always be the Pike. Traffic studies and, potentially, significant work, would be required on nearby roads (for example, Beacon and Mem Drive), because the use of them would increase drastically.
Tell me that wouldn't add up to a billion after contributions to the Jimmy (Hoffa) fund. Abolishing Storrow would be Big Dig 2 for Boston.