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CITY OF BOSTON

SULLIVAN SQUARE - RUTHERFORD

AVENUE CORRIDOR

Public Informational Meeting – June 30, 2016

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CITY OF BOSTON

Project Team

City of Boston James Gillooly, Deputy Commissioner

William Conroy, Project Manager

Tetra Tech Erik Maki, PE, PTOE , Project Manager

Ian McKinnon, EIT, Transportation Engineer

The Cecil Group – Urban Design

Brown Richardson & Rowe – Landscape Architects

Jacobs Engineering Group – Structural Engineering

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CITY OF BOSTON

Agenda

Review Project Goals

Mobility & Traffic Data MBTA System/Trends

I-93 Corridor

Volumes 2008 vs. 2015

Adjacent Projects

Concept Plans and Discussion Austin Street to City Square

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CITY OF BOSTON

Rutherford Avenue Corridor

Route 1 North Ramps

Sullivan Square

North Washington Bridge

1000’ 900’

Austin St/Gilmore Bridge

City Square

Total project length from Alford Street/Mystic River to City Square is about 7,000 feet.

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CITY OF BOSTON

Project Goals

“Right-size” the Road – Replace regional highway feel with

neighborhood-oriented character

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CITY OF BOSTON

Project Goals

Improve pedestrian connections/ safety to MBTA Transit

Stations and community

Decrease traffic congestion

Protect Main Street from cut-through traffic

Create public/open space

Provide opportunities for appropriate development

Provide bicycle connections

Increase on-street parking

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CITY OF BOSTON

Urban Street Grid

TOD Development

Proposed Options

Surface Option

Underpass Option

Project Goals

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CITY OF BOSTON

Project Goals

Create continuous

bicycle and pedestrian

connections along the

entire corridor

Create bicycle and

pedestrian

connections across

the corridor

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CITY OF BOSTON

Mobility – Sullivan Square transit HUB

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CITY OF BOSTON

Mobility – Orange Line daily boarding

80048297

9920

9095

9512

7209

8667

7336

82818495

9004

10125

1888

1103

3521 3382

4743

3122

36633843

3327 34243695

4956

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1997 2004 2007 2008 2009 2013

Daily B

oardin

gs

Weekday MBTA Orange Line Station Entries

Sullivan Square Community College

Growth: 4%/Year

Growth: 9%/Year

Source 2014 MBTA Blue Book

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CITY OF BOSTON

Mobility - Orange Line Improvements

Wynn Subsidized Service 9 extra trains per weekday

AM Headways (8 Min → 5 Min)

PM Headways (10 Min→ 7.5 Min)

$7.5 Million over 15 years

MBTA Purchased Cars 152 new vehicles purchased

Delivery 2018, Service 2019

More cars during peak periods will

Reduce headways to 4-5 min

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CITY OF BOSTON

Mobility – City of Everett – Transit Action Plan

Sullivan Sq.

Haymarket

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CITY OF BOSTON

Mobility – 30 year bike plan

Opportunity to create new connections to existing and proposed

bikeways; also get a Hubway station at Sullivan Sq

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CITY OF BOSTON

Daily Traffic Volumes 2008 vs. 2015

+3.5%

+12%

+20%

Data collected in June 2008, and September 2015

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CITY OF BOSTON

+2.9%

+4.2%

-3.5%

Data collected in June 2008, and May & October 2015

Daily Traffic Volumes 2008 vs. 2015

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CITY OF BOSTON

Rutherford Avenue Daily Traffic VolumesNorthbound vs. Southbound Comparison

Location 2008 2015

Rte-99 South of Alford St

BridgeNB: 19,557

SB: 28,919

NB: 20,732 (+6.0%)

SB: 29,456 (+1.9%)

Sullivan Square Underpass

NB: 5,799

SB:17,599

NB: 6,799 (+17.2%)

SB: 19,336 (+9.9%)

Rte-99 Austin St Underpass

NB: 8,330

SB: 23,855

NB: 7,660 (-8.0%)

SB: 25,895 (+8.6%)

Note that southbound travel is much higher than northbound, by

about 3X

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CITY OF BOSTON

Traffic volume comparison -

Austin Street Underpass (Both NB/SB)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

12:0

0 A

M

12:4

5 A

M

01:3

0 A

M

02:1

5 A

M

03:0

0 A

M

03:4

5 A

M

04:3

0 A

M

05:1

5 A

M

06:0

0 A

M

06:4

5 A

M

07:3

0 A

M

08:1

5 A

M

09:0

0 A

M

09:4

5 A

M

10:3

0 A

M

11:1

5 A

M

12:0

0 P

M

12:4

5 P

M

01:3

0 P

M

02:1

5 P

M

03:0

0 P

M

03:4

5 P

M

04:3

0 P

M

05:1

5 P

M

06:0

0 P

M

06:4

5 P

M

07:3

0 P

M

08:1

5 P

M

09:0

0 P

M

09:4

5 P

M

10:3

0 P

M

11:1

5 P

M

VO

LU

ME (

VP

H)

2015 2011 2008

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CITY OF BOSTON

Traffic volume comparison -

Austin Street Underpass

588 432 392 376780

595 752 732

2352

1445 1568 1751

15861600 1398 1350

2940

1877 19602127

23662195 2150 2082

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

1997 2008 2011 2015 1997 2008 2011 2015

AM Peak Hour PM Peak Hour

NB SB

Big

Dig

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CITY OF BOSTON

Regional Mobility

Future Tobin effect?

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CITY OF BOSTON

I-93 Annual Average Daily Traffic

120000

125000

130000

135000

140000

145000

150000

155000

1997 1998 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2010 2014 2015

AA

DT (

VEH

IC

LES

)

I-93 2-Way AADT

AADT

Growth: 0.9%/Year

Note: Volumes dropped in early 2000’s due to the recession and

again in 2007-2009

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CITY OF BOSTON

AM Peak Hour – Volume Comparison

Location Exist 2008 (TT) Exist 2015 (TT)Future No-Build

2030 Old (TT)1

Wynn Build

2023

(HSH)2

A

Sullivan Square East of

Maffa/Cambridge St2841 2785 2984 3283

B

Sullivan Square North of

Bunker Hill St1463 1448 1537 1987

C

Sullivan Square South of

West St1910 1935 2005 2143

D

Sullivan Sq NB (Underpass)

123 152 129 185

E

Sullivan Sq SB (Underpass)

1279 1199 1343 1219

Current 2015 counts are similar to the older 2008 counts during peak

hours (i.e., saturated conditions).

Wynn projections generally higher than previous projections.

Lower Mystic Regional Working Group – future growth scenarios

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CITY OF BOSTON

PM Peak Hour – Volume Comparison

Location Exist 2008 (TT) Exist 2015 (TT)Future No-Build

2030 Old (TT)1

Wynn Build

2023

(HSH)2

A

Sullivan Square East of

Maffa/Cambridge St2579 2294 2708 3249

B

Sullivan Square North of

Bunker Hill St2822 2835 2963 3415

C

Sullivan Square South of

West St2615 2453 2746 2967

D

Sullivan Sq NB (Underpass)

480 677 504 603

E

Sullivan Sq SB (Underpass)

969 710 1017 1066

Current 2015 counts are similar to the older 2008 counts during peak

hours (i.e., saturated conditions).

Wynn projections generally higher than previous projections.

Lower Mystic Regional Working Group– future growth scenarios

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CITY OF BOSTON

Adjacent Projects within the Study Area

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CITY OF BOSTON

Adjacent Project Development

Partners Healthcare – Assembly

Square

4,000 employees & 2,400

parking spaces

Boston Housing Authority

Charlestown Redevelopment

+1,900 new residential units

Wynn Casino

629 hotel rooms

4,000 employees

Hood PDA

Bunker Hill Apartments

Chain Forge Redevelopment

Rope Walk Redevelopment

30 Polk Street

Long Term Projects:

Sullivan Square TOD

BRA land at BHCC

Brickbottom / Inner Belt

North Point

McGrath Highway

Industrial Zoned land near I-93 &

Medford Street

Other Everett, Somerville &

Cambridge Projects

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CITY OF BOSTON

Austin Street –Existing Geometry &

Concept Development

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CITY OF BOSTON

4(4)

4(5)

0(4)

14(8)23(15)

100(93)

81(76)

AM Peak – 7:15 to 8:15 AM

PM Peak – 4:00 to 5:00 PM

AM (PM)

0(7)

Austin Street –

Pedestrian

Volumes

Pedestrian

bridge to be

counted and

evaluated in the

Fall

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CITY OF BOSTON

Austin Street –

AM Peak Hour

Volumes

237

182

279

30

20

21

148

119

8632

329

1728

2015 Existing Volumes

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CITY OF BOSTON

Austin Street –

PM Peak Hour

Volumes

653

234

427

67

188

32

132

128

136

53

171

1312

2015 Existing Volumes

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CITY OF BOSTON

Rutherford Avenue- Previous Concept

(See full-size roll plan after slide show)

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CITY OF BOSTON

Austin Street - Previous Concepts

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CITY OF BOSTON

A. Surface Option

B. Underpass Option (SB Only)

C. Underpass Option (NB+SB)

Austin Street Improvement Options

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CITY OF BOSTON

Rutherford Avenue Corridor Right-of-Way

Route 1 North Ramps

North Washington Bridge

Austin St/Gilmore Bridge

City Square

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CITY OF BOSTON

A. Surface Option

Remove Underpass

Open space gained +++ both

sides

Continuous Pedestrian crossing

but may take longer

Traffic Operations – concern

Gilmore queues affect SB

flow along corridor

Enhanced access to BRA parcels

Future Bike

Connection

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CITY OF BOSTON

B. Underpass - SB Only Future Bike

Connection

Remove NB Underpass

Open space gained ++

Heavy SB traffic stays underneath

Higher Speeds SB along

Rutherford

Shorter Pedestrian crossings

Future BRT lanes?

More signal time allocated to

Austin St and Pedestrians

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CITY OF BOSTON

C. Underpass NB+SBFuture Bike

Connection Reduced Underpass

Less Open space

Shorter Pedestrian crossings

Future BRT lanes?

Potential for Reversible Lanes in

Underpass for peak flow

Higher Speeds along Rutherford

More signal time allocated to

Austin St and Pedestrians

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CITY OF BOSTON

North Washington St Bridge BRT Lane

Separated bike lanes

Protected Intersection

City Square

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CITY OF BOSTON

Separated bike lanes- examples

Source: Indyculturaltrail.org

Western Ave, Cambridge

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CITY OF BOSTON

Separated bike lanes-

examples

Austin, TX

Lance Armstrong path

Photo credit: Adam Coppola

Photography

Seattle, WA

Photo credit: Adam Coppola

Photography

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CITY OF BOSTON

New Design Guides

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CITY OF BOSTON

Your continued involvement is appreciated!

For more Information, visit:

www.cityofboston.gov/transportation/rutherford/