STARS & STOPS
Big Dig changes affect traffic across the city
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff, 1/26/2003
During the past week, our eyes have been firmly focused on the new I-90 connector linking the Mass. Pike to South Boston and Logan International Airport. It has been an amazing development, which we trust you're not already tired of reading about.
In any event, please, keep reading. Combined with this weekend's opening of the new Exit 20 off the Southeast Expressway and next Wednesday's closure of Exit 24 on the old Central Artery, the Big Dig is causing daily traffic reverberations -- both good and bad -- throughout the city.
Plus, if you do keep reading, there's a traffic secret hidden down below -- a little Big Dig Easter egg of sorts.
One major area of concern to readers has been the closure of Exit 19 off the expressway, which put drivers on North Frontage Road and offered easy access to East Berkeley Street and the West Fourth Street Bridge.
With the exit's demise, many readers have said northbound traffic has been slowed on the expressway because drivers are now forced to use Exit 18 (Mass. Ave.), which has three sets of lights to get through and tends to back up traffic onto the highway.
"On behalf of all northbound Expressway commuters, thanks to the genius who decided it was a good idea to combine the exit for Frontage Road and Mass. Ave.," wrote Susan from South Weymouth. "Three days in a row, 15 minutes to get through to East Berkeley Street -- what a mess! I'm no traffic engineer, but I could have told you this was not going to work."
Fear not Susan, you're getting Exit 20. While we southbound types still curse the one-lane merge on the Leverett Circle (which has been backing up badly as of late) and the Dock Square gulag, you have a little slice of concrete heaven now.
Actually, Susan is right. Exit 18 has been taking on some of the Exit 19 burden. But there have been other problems.
The traffic light immediately downstream of Widdett Circle, the first one you hit coming off of I-93, was broken, according to Glen Berkowitz, the Big Dig's transportation milestone manager. The signal is supposed to be managed by the computer up at Boston City Hall, but the communication between that signal and City Hall has been on the fritz for much of the last two weeks -- possibly as a result of the weather.
"We believe that, as of [last Thursday] afternoon, the crews managed to get that signal communicating," Berkowitz said. "We commit to track that problem and make sure we do everything we can to keep that signal online."
Yes, Susan: There is an Exit 19
In an effort to further reduce traffic on Exit 18, here's that secret.
With the opening of Exit 20 this weekend, Exit 19 more or less reopens as well.
Exit 20 is located in the same physical space where Exit 19 was the last two years. In fact, Big Dig officials had finished Exit 20 two years ago but didn't have the tunnel built to connect it to, so it became "temporary" Exit 19.
But because future plans call for Exit 20 to take drivers to both I-90 eastbound and westbound, as well as South Station, there's a little unpublicized detour off the exit that will take you to East Berkeley via North Frontage Road -- the same destinations that Exit 19 offered. It will not be a "signed" route off I-93, so beware. But it's there. We promise.
Just get off on Exit 20, stay to the left, and follow the detour for South Station. Voila! Exit 19 lives on.
Sumner bummer
Jack from Swampscott wrote of a problem we had noticed on the old Central Artery at the ramp where traffic from the Sumner Tunnel merges with I-93 north.
"Granted, it is not the best on ramp, but there is generally enough room at the top of the ramp to allow a decent merge," he wrote.
But the Jersey barriers on the ramp switched sides suddenly last week, slowing the merge and forcing cars on the on-ramp to come to a complete stop before sliding into traffic.
"Traffic was backed up all the way to the airport roadway," he wrote. It also slowed things down on the Artery.
Sean O'Neill of the Big Dig said the barriers were purposefully moved at the request of the Boston Transportation Department, which had recorded too many fender-benders at the merge and wanted on-ramp traffic better slowed or metered onto the old span.
Look for the closure of nearby Exit 24 (Callahan Tunnel/Logan) to help ease the on-ramp backups. Maybe.
The wrong Haul
Now, on to Haul Road, which has gotten a lot of attention since last weekend's opening of the I-90 connector and especially after this weekend's opening of Exit 20.
The benefits of the new Exit 20 are only one-way. Big Dig officials insist that Exit 20 drivers who want to head south on I-93 must use the Sumner Tunnel. To them, there is no return route around or near the connector to get you back on the expressway until new ramps are complete about a year from now.
Or is there?
"I am very much interested in the thinking behind the Haul Road restriction, which has never made any sense to me (except perhaps during the periods years ago when it was actually used during working hours by heavy trucks hauling dirt, etc.)," wrote Steve from Milton.
Steve and other readers aren't saying it directly, but many drivers are already scheming to avoid the Sumner by taking the I-90 connector westbound, getting off at Exit 25 in South Boston and heading over to the "commercial vehicles only" Haul Road, which would take them directly and illegally to the southbound expressway, thus avoiding all the Central Artery mess you and we love to hate.
We're no transit angel. There may have been times when we've secretly driven the forbidden road. But we're here to give you the simple and very law-abiding answer, which is: Unless you're a commercial vehicle, stay away from Haul Road.
Ticket prices for using the road are $50, which could buy you two Fast Lane transponders.
So why is this still a forbidden road? Sean O'Neill of the Big Dig said it's mainly the road's one-lane capacity, as well as environmental approvals needed to build it that restrict its use.
"If you opened it up, you'd have a parking lot," he said. There's also a need to keep the road clear for emergency vehicles to service the I-90 connector and nearby areas.
T Freeze
The subzero weather that we've been dealing with lately has MBTA officials candidly admitting that subway and trolley performance has been dropping as low as the mercury.
We received numerous calls and e-mails this week about frequent breakdowns on the Green, Red, and Orange lines, with some commuters complaining about 30-minute waits for trains on freezing platforms. Makes you want to buy a car, kind of.
Jeffrey Parker, director of subway operations for the T, admits that performance has slipped drastically with the cold snap. And he and other T officials were also candid about the reasons behind it.
"We don't want to be out there blaming the cold for all this," said T spokesman Joe Pesaturo. "We need to be doing a better job."
The week's record-setting temperatures are affecting everything, from air compressors to hoses, to doors, to brakes. Water in the system freezes, valves don't seat properly, air hoses crack, and air compressors work overtime and burn out to keep the leaking air flowing.
And when a disabled train poops out, all the trains behind that train slow down, platforms fill with angry and freezing commuters, and things just get good and messy.
"Our maintenance is focused on doing our best to make service better for the next rush hour, largely because we know we've been having these problems," said Parker.
As many trains as possible are going into shelters overnight; heaters are being placed on air compressors to keep them warm; signals and brakes are being switched throughout the night to keep things from freezing.
"Because of the poor performance we're stepping it up a notch," he said.
"We are honestly not having service that I know we want to provide to our passengers," he said. "When we are providing that service . . . is when I'll feel better about this."
Pit Stops
Starting tomorrow, Back Bay Station begins an extensive renovation, including the replacement of all station entrance doors and the "reconstruction" of the station's hellish bathrooms. The project is expected to take six months and the bathrooms will be closed at all times, with temporary facilities near the Clarendon Street entrance in the back of the station . . . If you should see a train crash and a robbery at Boylston Station on the Green Line today, it's only an MBTA drill, we pray . . . Two elevators at Park Street station that allow riders to get between the eastbound and westbond platforms will be taken out of service beginning Monday, Feb. 3, through Sunday, March 9. MBTA personnel will be available to assist passengers needing to cross the platforms . . . Amtrak plans to add a 10th daily Acela trip between Boston and New York and Washington tomorrow. The new southbound train will depart South Station at 11:15 a.m., arriving in New York at 2:42 p.m. and Washington at 5:47 p.m. A new northbound train will depart New York at 12:03 p.m., arriving in Boston at 3:33 p.m.
Can't get there . . .
Exit 22 (Summer Street) from I-93 south will be closed from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Saturday morning. Drivers wishing to access Summer Street and South Station from I-93 South should continue on the highway to Exit 21 and follow the detour.
* Exit 25 (Haymarket) from I-93 south will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday. Drivers should proceed to Exit 24 and follow the detour.
* Exit 24B and 24C from the eastbound Massachusetts Turnpike to I-93 north and south will be closed from 11:59 p.m. Monday to 3 a.m. Tuesday. Take Exit 24A and follow the detour.
* The City Square on-ramp from Rutherford Avenue in Charlestown to I-93 south and Storrow Drive will reopen at 5 a.m. Wednesday. The ramp had been temporarily closed for the past two years to allow construction of the connection of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge to I-93.
* The ramp from Route 1 south (Tobin Bridge) to I-93 south and Storrow Drive will close from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. today through Wednesday morning.
We answer as many inquiries each week as space allows. Please, no phone calls. You can reach us at starts@globe.com. The column is also on Globe Online, which can be found at www.boston.com/globe/metro/startsandstops. Our mailing address is Starts & Stops, P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378.
This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 1/26/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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