Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

LetMeSleepNoEleven t1_itrkoyj wrote

I guess this looks to me like 2021 > 1969, unless I’m missing something?

The 1969 expressway is awful.

Edit: Big dig was probably not the best solution but it is a bit better than previous, it seems to me

89

Ashamed_Pea6072 t1_itscgen wrote

Unfortunately I think the Big Dig was the best solution

43

NineDog999 t1_itsf3hv wrote

Unfortunately I think the Big Dig was the best solution OFFERED at the time

​

If this was put forward today, I am confident there would be better solutions.

4

OldWrangler9033 t1_itstihy wrote

Like what? Put more buildings in? The greenway is at least park like verse more buildings.

8

OptimalFlight101 t1_itw1km0 wrote

Yea I'd rather city have more green spaces than buildings.

The highway into the city was necessary one way or another.

2

OldWrangler9033 t1_itxvyq0 wrote

It gets better. I'm old enough to have driven on that very same highway in its last years of existence. It was bloody narrow 6 lane highway split upper and and lower decks going Northward exiting city.

At one point, it had merge with single lane split to the Tobin bridge. Some people whom I knew who drove this "fun" stretch of the road called it the "Fun Game of Merge". This was because it was so bloody narrow and drivers were so frustrated they got highly...aggressive. I'm certainly glad above ground Central Artery is toast. It was one worse ideas for highway, I'm glad the other section wasn't built. The I-695, it would done worse things to the city.

1

yyzda32 t1_itsh7t1 wrote

It's funny, I think of the old Central Artery elevated and I remember:

"Kneeland St. CLOSED" When was it ever open?

Getting to Logan Airport was awful since you had to take the Callahan Tunnel to get there on 93.

13

LetMeSleepNoEleven t1_itsl1j2 wrote

I have not actually driven in Boston much since the big dig, so I don’t have much personal knowledge of the difference. But from a driving perspective as well as a walking perspective the Expressway was hell, from my memory. Especially going to the airport.

Love Storrow Drive though. Maybe screws up the riverfront but a driving dream.

3

Steltek t1_ituqwvv wrote

As a kid, my Mom was convinced if we walked around the Expressway, we'd be murdered. She very much had a "white flight"/combat zone view of downtown so most of my knowledge came from what I could see from the Expressway. The only thing I knew of Quincy Market were the glowing neon tubes in that glass breezeway.

Now as an adult, I can project my own fears on my kids: cars are fucking awful and drivers will blindly run you over while you're trying to walk or bike to school. Of course, the difference is that I'm right.

6

PasswordisP4ssword t1_its6rp1 wrote

In Boston and many other cities, neighborhoods were demolished for "urban renewal" and highways cut through them. The highways take up valuable space, make transportation infrastructure more car-dependent, and segregated neighbors along class and racial lines. Yes, 2021 > 1969, but we're still living with the repercussions of the choices our forefathers made 50+ years ago, and we need to make better choices now for the next 50 years.

4