Thread by @PeoplesPike

.@Steph_Pollack introduces teh I90 #Allston Project
Realign I90
Create better development opportunities for Harvard
Create layover space for MBTA
Create new West Station
Improve conditions getting on & off interchange
Better connection to Charles River
Replace viaduct

@Steph_Pollack This is why @MassDOT wants 8 lanes of traffic on I90 and 4 lanes on Soldiers Field Road

@Steph_Pollack @MassDOT Basically she isn't too interested in reducing lanes or cars on either I90 or Soldiers Field Road
Even if a lot more people were on the commuter rail, @Steph_Pollack says it would barely make a dent in I90/SFR demand

@Steph_Pollack @MassDOT Here is why it is a tight fit in the Throat if you need 12 high-speed highway lanes, 4 train tracks, and a walk/bike path and you refuse to consider making changes to the edge of the riverbank

@Steph_Pollack @MassDOT Now @Steph_Pollack explaining all the concerns that MassDOT has heard. Many of these could be corrected or mitigated if MassDOT wanted to.

@Steph_Pollack @MassDOT .@Steph_Pollack said she wanted to have a "real discussion" but she hasn't had a meeting of the project Task Force since late 2019

@Steph_Pollack @MassDOT

@Steph_Pollack @MassDOT West Station with 4 tracks is good. Wasting space on a "express track" to bypass the station is terrible. The #Allston deserves a buffer park & walk/bike path btw the train tracks and abutting homes.

@Steph_Pollack @MassDOT .@MassDOT still doesn't have a preferred alternative. But they need (want) to have a preference in months, not years

.@Steph_Pollack has two questions
Can you build it faster?
Can you build it without any impact on the river?

West Station slide that was out of order in the presentation

A letter from @MassDEP @EEASecretary says "don't touch the river"

@MassDOT has a brand new idea for a highway viaduct

Next steps, but @Steph_Pollack says the all-at-grade is no good because it touches the river (so why are they wasting our time if they've already decided it is unworkable?)

The elevated SFR viaduct (final configuration) with SFR in the river for ~10 years (during construction). Worth noting that MassDOT never talked about how this intrusion could be mitigated.

Wait! @MassDOT is going to study an all-at-grade option that is wider (wider highway shoulders, wider lanes on Soldiers Field Road) which will create even more impact on the river! ("not artificially decreasing the width of SFR lanes" says Mike ODowd). Not good!

Here's MassDOT "bloated at-grade". A total loser. Please don't insult us with this.

shorter @MassDOT "we don't have a favorite, but wow this highway viaduct is great"

wonder why @WestonSampson @ArupGroup who reviewed the highway viaduct option in 2018 didn't come up with any of these ideas

Here's the new Highway Viaduct in cross-section

They've hired a bridge designer to put lipstick on this pig.
Previously MassDOT committed to rebuilding the Grand Junction Bridge over Soldiers Field Road for 2-track rail service between West Station and Kendall. Now "does not preclude".

Is this a joke? A footbridge below the highway and above the train tracks?

"How @MassDOT will choose the amazing highway viaduct option" (oops, I mean "How the build alternatives will be compared")

see how they put in *bold* that they can only think of changing the bank of the river as an "excessive impact"?

This is the riverbank that @MassDOT thinks is so good that it shouldn't be improved.

Here's the summary of 3 bad options

.@MassDOT "we don't have a preferred alternative, but look how much better the highway viaduct is!"

45 days until MassDOT formally announces their decision to build the new highway viaduct that we are seeing for the first time today.

Will @MassDOT just patch up the existing viaduct or build something similarly bad that will last 75 more years? We will find out this Fall.

Mayor Joe Sullivan: "this is a forever decision and I hope we will be bold come this fall" but he is supporting everything @MassDOT which contradicts his desire for "transformation"

Betsy Taylor loves the new schedule. Says there is a serious safety problem, but if that was true why has MassDOT dragged out this project for so long? She will push hard to repair the viaduct & she knows how to finance replacing the viaduct.

Why is it so much different or more complicated to rebuild something other than a highway viaduct?

Robert Moylan wants to replace the viaduct and not much else. Other nice to have things can be considered at a later time

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