Rose F. Kennedy Greenway

[mjtinmemphis]

Boston is a true model city for urban renewal.

[Cotuit]

Greenway plan eyes shuttle, parking

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | October 18, 2004

The Rose Kennedy Greenway will be the aboveground centerpiece of the $14.6 billion Big Dig, transforming a vast section of downtown into a 30-acre central park. And officials are proposing parking, bus, and trolley rules to govern the area, along with a possible Greenway shuttle that would perpetually circle the park.

After they are finalized, following a public comment period that begins this week, the Boston Transportation Department's regulations could restore some of the highly prized on-street parking spaces wiped out a decade ago by Big Dig construction.

The plan would also provide designated strips of curbed areas for MBTA and tour buses, prohibiting parking in areas where traffic is heaviest during rush hour.

''My estimation is we'll have a 30 percent increase in usable curb space versus a year-and-a-half ago, when we were in the throes of construction," said James Gillooly, deputy commissioner of the transportation department.

Vineet Gupta, the department's director of planning, estimated that there will ultimately be 125 to 175 parking spaces along the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

But a significant amount of the space along street curbs will be reserved for trolleys, 15-minute tour bus pickup and dropoff areas, and spaces that trolleys and MBTA buses will share.

''We're introducing shared bus stops, trying to maximize the utility of the curb lines," said Gupta. He referred to the areas as ''super stops," where residents or tourists can ''hop on or hop off any vehicle."

While city transportation officials have no plans to organize a Greenway shuttle themselves, they said they like the idea. They have published a proposed route for a privately or publicly run trolley -- ideally free to riders, they suggested -- that would connect the many MBTA stations and bus stops in a circuit.

''The idea is catching steam. We think it could be entrepreneurs," said Gupta.

Traffic engineers and city and state officials set the general configuration of the Surface Artery corridor streets a decade ago, when engineers designing the Central Artery's underground tunnel needed to know where to site surface streets, curbs, and sidewalks. The decision was made then, with public input, to restrict traffic generally to two lanes in each direction, north and south, with additional lanes along most blocks for parking, turning, or entrances to highway ramps.

But Boston transportation and Big Dig planners have been devising a set of proposed parking rules and bus and trolley regulations during the past six months.

They unveiled the extensive plans late last week before the Mayor's Central Artery Completion Task Force. The public comment period is this week and next, with meetings scheduled in the Wharf District, the North End, and the Leather District and Chinatown. The first meeting, focused on the five central blocks of the Wharf District, will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Aquarium Exploration Center.

The new rules are expected to be fully implemented when the new surface streets are mostly completed, by the end of next summer.

Under the proposed regulations, on-street, metered parking would be allowed along the east side of Atlantic Avenue between the Evelyn Moakley Bridge and Christopher Columbus Park. But there would be peak-hour restrictions on parking on Atlantic between Summer Street and the Moakley bridge.

Little parking would be allowed near Quincy Market.

City transportation officials said they have no way of determining how many parking spaces existed along the elevated Central Artery in the pre-Big Dig era, when Atlantic Avenue and Purchase Street were two-way thoroughfares. As the Big Dig got underway downtown in the mid-1990s, one of the ideas engineers came up with to minimize traffic disruption was to make Atlantic Avenue one-way northbound, and Purchase and the other streets on the west side of the Artery one-way southbound.

That change simplified traffic flows and is a permanent feature of the finished Big Dig project. But now city officials are filling in the details, marking specific blocks along the two north-south streets for long-term, short-term, or no parking. Parking rules along Atlantic Avenue and Purchase Street are being coordinated with cross streets, side streets, and mini-neighborhoods, such as the heavily traveled tourist area near State Street and the New England Aquarium.

Tour buses navigating the corridor, while having space along the way to stop to accommodate passengers, would be required to pull away from the Surface Artery area to park for extended periods.

''We want to get them away from the Waterfront to the Quincy Market area," said Gupta, noting that bus operators say passengers like using Quincy Market as a base.

From The Boston Globe

[Cotuit]

Setting Greenway's tone

Park system planners hope harbor center will signal the arrival of a 'New Boston'

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | December 7, 2004

At left, a concept of a Boston Harbor islands visitor's center before an architectural conmpetition to build a structure was proposed.

Rose Kennedy Greenway planners are launching an architectural competition for the first building expected to be completed along the new, post-Big Dig park system, and city officials hope it will signal the emergence of a "New Boston."

While the guidelines are vague, the goal is for a modern, high-concept structure devoid of red brick. The 2,400-square-foot building, about the size of a modest suburban house, will be a visitor's center to promote the use of the 34 Boston Harbor islands.

Called the Harbor Park Pavilion on the Greenway, it will set the tone for even more ambitious buildings destined to dot the Greenway, the newly emerging green space above Boston's Big Dig highway tunnels.

"The building should be of the 21st century," said Robert Kroin, chief architect at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city's development arm.

The city and a Design Advisory Committee overseeing creation of the new downtown park system are pushing cutting-edge design philosophies such as transparent exteriors, multiple entrances, and the use of shiny, modern materials.

Greenway planners hope the harbor pavilion and some already in-the-works cultural institutions that will populate the Greenway, including the New Center for Arts and Culture, and the Boston Museum Project, will help bring continuity and attention to an elongated park system a decade and a half in the making.

"Wouldn't it be great if they shared common design elements, rather than being fragmented," Kroin said at a recent meeting of the Mayor's Central Artery Completion Task Force, a citizens' group that has overseen Greenway design. "It is so crucially located it has the opportunity to both observe and advance important views of the city."

The building will be in the heart of Boston's downtown tourism landscape, the corner of State Street and Atlantic Avenue, near the New England Aquarium. The budget is $4 million, a lot for something that size even though it includes the interior and contents.

"This is a great opportunity for young architects in the Boston area to show what they can do," said Gary Hack, the dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, and chairman of the Design Advisory Committee, which came up with the idea of a competition for the pavilion's design.

In fact, the competition will be open to anyone, though judges will be on the lookout for an architect familiar with New England. Calls for ideas will go out in January, and the winner is expected to be chosen in the spring.

The selected architect will then meet with the National Park Service and its partner, the Island Alliance, a nonprofit group that promotes the Boston Harbor Islands National Park, to complete design of the pavilion in 2005. It could be open by late 2006.

Among the eye-popping examples cited by the city as the kind of design it is seeking were: Toyo Ito's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in Kensington Gardens, London, a white folded metal panel origami; Eric Owen Moss's The Umbrella in Culver City, Calif., a tangle of curved and angled metal screens and struts; and Richard Meier's Neugebauer House in Naples, Fla., with a Nike logo-shaped roof.

Sarah Peskin, director of special planning projects for the Northeast region of the park service, who is now raising the money to build and furnish the pavilion, said it is intended to be made of high-quality materials and feature the latest in computerized, interactive technology to help visitors to Boston and residents negotiate their way among the Boston Harbor attractions.

The design guidelines, though not explicit, suggest that glass and transparency are preferred -- except in the restroom area, a requirement of the pavilion.

The guidelines are similar to those set up for a cultural institution on a block adjacent to International Place, which spurred intense competition between the New Center for Arts and Culture and the Boston Museum Project.

Both projects' sponsors hired internationally renowned architects, known for their modern or futuristic visions. But the work of the two architects, Moshe Safdie of Somerville, who drew the museum project, and Daniel Liebeskind of New York, who created the arts and culture facility, has been extremely well received.

The museum is half above and half below a plane of lawn and plantings -- all under a vessel-like structure housing theaters and exhibits. The transparent design will enable pedestrians to feel like they are in a gallery as they pass by on the outside.

The arts and culture center also is designed with unusual angles, irregular shapes, and extensive use of glass. The center won the contest to build on the Greenway near International Place, but the museum project may find a home several blocks to the north.

The Boston Society of Architects will advise the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and National Park Service on the competition for the pavilion. The turnpike, as the manager of the Big Dig, is responsible for the creation of what goes above the tunnels.

A panel of seven judges includes representatives of the Boston Society of Architects, the Design Advisory Committee, the turnpike, the BRA, Wharf District design firm EDAW, the Island Alliance, and the National Park Service.

The pavilion will supplement two other park service information locations in Boston. It will incorporate a cafe and informational exhibits, and it is one of three or four smaller, kiosk-style structures planned among the parks.

From The Boston Globe

[TheBostonian]

Does anyone know what will become of the big and ugly ventilation building in Dewey Square. It is heavenly that the nearby vent towers have a building going up around them. But what about this ugly thing?

[ezcheese]

do you have a picture of it?

[TheBostonian]

do you have a picture of it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm looking for one. I think the old BigDig.com may have had something. But the new and useless site has nothing.

[TheBostonian]

I like this unrelated picture I found in my search. The Turnpike Authority building is in the middle of a lot of big dig construction. I like to know that they have to work in their own mess.

[TheBostonian]

A ha! Here it is!

from:

http://www.masspike.com/bigdig/multimedia/photo_feb05.html

[BostonFaker]

Isn't that where the Darwin Project is supposed to go?

[TheBostonian]

Isn't that where the Darwin Project is supposed to go?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

According to

http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2005/02-11/darwin.html

it would cover it somehow. And that would be heavenly!

[TheBostonian]

And thank you so much for helping me find my info!

[TheBostonian]

Actually, this picture shows the Darwin Project ending at Congress St. And I can't really tell, but it looks like the vent building is on the other side of Congress St.

[ezcheese]

they certainly need to do something about it.

[BostonGal]

Isn't that vent between Congress and Summer Streets?

I too have been wondering what on earth they plan on doing with it, it's quite the eyesore!

[BostonGuy501]

Unfortunately I think the tower is to remain where it is.

[Cotuit]

Growth stunted along Greenway. Soil depths too shallow for some tree plantings.

[Lone Ranger]

That's pretty impressive. So is this:

Growth stunted along Greenway. Soil depths too shallow for some tree plantings.

Such a delicate project ...

[Cotuit]

Event plans for Greenway taking shape. To be unveiled today. [Boston.com]

[Cotuit]

Greenway board wants horticultural society out. Panel cites group's lack of progress on garden. [The Boston Globe]

[Cotuit]

A few photos from along the Greenway from yesterday:

Dewey Square is desloate. I'm not really feeling the pyramid structures at the T entrances. They really need to figure out what is going to take the place of the Mass. Hort. building quick because this area hurts, especially with the large vent building nearby.

One lone piece of the Artery remaining. I'm assuming this is to stay as it appears to have been cleaned up and painted.

Building that was cut down when the Artery was built near Quincy Market. The end of this building has been renovated. I rather like how the renovation keeps the memory of the scar but works the facade in a new way that integrates it with the Greenway.

Zakim from the North End parcels. I'm not really sure I like how these are coming along. It would have been nice to see structures lining Hanover Street to re-connect the North End and Haymarket streetscapes.

[atlrvr]

The YMCA will build a new 70,000 sq. ft. facility at the northern tip of the greenway, right where 93 enters the tunnel. The Y will actually be built on top of the interstate.

http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stori...tml?jst=b_ln_hl

Hopefully, this will get going soon. It seems like all the promised facilities are taking forever to start construction. Even the landscaping is just inching along. Even though it has nice wide sidewalks, Surface Rd. isn't very inviting to walk along because there is nothing to look at, and no buffer from all the cars.....though, I imagine it is better than the Green Monster that was 93.

[atlrvr]

Here is a rendering of the proposed Armenian Genocide memorial along the Greenway, which is nearly adjacet to Quincy Market.

Apparantly neighborhood groups and the Mayor are against the idea, but it appears the state will likely have the final say. It would be funded by the Armenian Heritage Foundation.

[Lowerdeck]

Looks oversized and out of place to me. Couldn't they have planned something simpler and/or in another part of the city more appropriate? (Is there a major Armenian neighborhood in the city?)

[atlrvr]

The YMCA near North End is a small step closer to happening. Tishman Construction has been signed as project manager, who will:

TCC will secure the development agreement between the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the YMCA before beginning the design, permitting, and construction process for Parcel 6 of the Rose Fitzgerald Greenway.

[JJK5]

The YMCA near North End is a small step closer to happening. Tishman Construction has been signed as project manager, who will:

This would be the first actual "building" on a Greenway parcel correct? I'm pretty sure none have been built yet. Is there anything closer to breaking ground?