Red Line Construction

[JoeGallows]

We have glass at Charles/MGH.

http://fb.xenostarz.com/joestuff/construction/CharlesGlass.JPG

http://fb.xenostarz.com/joestuff/construction/CharlesGlass2.JPG

[ChunkyMonkey]

That's looking rather nice. When are they schedule to complete the makeover?

[bowesst]

Wow, that does look really nice.

[Waldorf]

I ride through Charles/MGH everyday and it keeps on getting better. The glass compliments the newer buildings of MGH.

[ezcheese]

wow, that is looking awesome! sure beats the hell out of this:

http://www.paranoiaisparamount.com/images/ab/IMG_0586.jpg

[justin]

I'm not sure what the ethics of posting other people's pictures is, but I found this cool one on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=158344993&size=l
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=158344993&size=l

[DowntownDave]

It is nice to finally see significant progress here. The new station is so much better than the old.

18 June:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGHStation-01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGHStation-02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGHStation-03.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGHStation-04.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGHStation-05.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGHStation-06.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGHStation-07.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGHStation-08.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGHStation-09.jpg

[KentXie]

I'm really liking what I see. Nice to see you're back DowntownDave

[palindrome]

wow thats gorgeous. Will they be taking the old station down? Please say yes!

[Ron Newman]

The old station has already been demolished. Currently there is a temporary station.

[Corey]

The old station had a lot of charm, but this new one is looking quite fancy as well. I approve.

[justin]

I don't find the new design particularly offensive, but it is disjointed and boxy, unlike the original idea they had in '01:
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2218/charlesmghstation7cv.jpg
justin

[palindrome]

The old station has already been demolished. Currently there is a temporary station.

I see,

will they be removing all that nasty green metal next to the station?

[vanshnookenraggen]

The old station has already been demolished. Currently there is a temporary station.

I see,

will they be removing all that nasty green metal next to the station?

It's not nasty, and they are keeping it.

[ChunkyMonkey]

I'm not sure what the green metal is for? And why would they need it? It seems disjointed next to the modern glass. I assume the platforms are in the new station.

[Ron Newman]

I thought the platforms were staying were they were, but I could be wrong.

[laramaro]

Apparently much of the existing platform is being retained and restored. From the MBTA website http://www.mbta.com/projects_underway/charles.asp:

The MBTA, in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), is in the process of improving the Charles/MGH Station on the Red Line. The open-air elevated station is situated at the foot of the Longfellow bridge. The purpose of the project is to make the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA); to accomplish safe, barrier-free pedestrian access to the station and platform; and to modernize the station to be customer friendly, operate optimally, portray an appropriate image as a gateway to Cambridge/Boston, and consider future development of nearby institutions.

The design, the joint venture of HDR Engineering, Inc. and Elkus/Manfredi Ltd, will relocate the headhouse while retaining and restoring much of the existing platform structure. The existing headhouse, which was demolished in July 2004, will be replaced with a new, modern, glass-enclosed structure. The headhouse will be situated on a newly constructed traffic island that is away from the center of the busy intersection. New, at-grade crosswalks will provide access to the entrances. The unsightly pedestrian bridges and overhead walkways have been removed. The new Station will be accessible upon completion of the project. The anticipated completion date is Fall of 2006.

http://www.mbta.com/projects_underway/images/charlesmgh_rendering.jpg

http://www.mbta.com/projects_underway/images/charles_mgh_interior.jpg

[chumbolly]

The addition of the new MGH building and the Charles Street Jail Hotel Tower make for a really nice backdrop for the new station design. I really, really like this project.

[Scott]

Red Line to close for weekends as work
ramps up on three T stations
The Dorchester Reporter checks the progress of construction progress at three MBTA stations;Fields Corner, Shawmut, and Ashmont
http://www.dotnews.com/Tstationworkupdate.html

[FastLane]

Some pics from today:
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/th_CharlesMGH.jpg (http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/CharlesMGH.jpg) http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/th_CharlesMGH2.jpg (http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/CharlesMGH2.jpg)

[castevens]

WOW, i'm never really in that part of the city, so i did NOT realize that it was that far along. Last time i was there, there was NOTHING

[tocoto]

IMHO the station is disappointing and will always look half finished since there is still a big chunk of ancient, crummy looking copper still there. After an incredibly long construction project considering how little was done, the old copper is still there so I assume that it's permanent. I was shocked when I realized that.

[Ron Newman]

I wonder if some of that will ultimately come down when the station is finished. It appears that the platforms are being extended somewhat towards Beacon Hill, which suggests that the part of the platforms nearest the Longfellow Bridge will be removed.

[ckb]

IMHO the station is disappointing and will always look half finished since there is still a big chunk of ancient, crummy looking copper still there. After an incredibly long construction project considering how little was done, the old copper is still there so I assume that it's permanent. I was shocked when I realized that.

The station is a little dissapointing considering the original design Justin posted just a bit upthread, but I find the retention of the copper cladding and its integration into the design of the new station (another push-out, green glass which recalls the color of the copper. The interterior of this "old portion" seems to have received some much-needed refurbishment already, and it appears that more is to come.

And I really don't understand why people complain about the length of this project. Traffic underneath the station has never been allowed to be blocked off for more than two lanes at a time. Shutdowns of the Red Line have been extremely minimal. A three story structure was demolished while car traffic ran below and train traffic ran through. And a new three story structure is being built in its place. I think things are moving pretty well for a government-run project in Massachusetts. Surely this project should take long than the Cambridge St. reconstruction (a straw man for sure!).

I wonder if some of that will ultimately come down when the station is finished. It appears that the platforms are being extended somewhat towards Beacon Hill, which suggests that the part of the platforms nearest the Longfellow Bridge will be removed.

I think the platforms may be extended a tad, but my guess is that they won't be extended significantly towards Beacon Hill so as to eliminate the uncovered portion of the platform extending on the Longfellow. This section is already about two car lengths. With the current configuration, the Red Line motormen have very little room to work with when spotting the train so that all doors will open onto the platform -- I think this is part of the reason trains are slow to enter Charles these days. I think any "extension" is just a "restoration" of the platform space which was lost when the old headhouse was demolished.

[Scott]

Hasn't been all good, though I suppose they have done as well as can be asked. The ramp off Storrow west has been real bad and it is hard to get across the Longfellow or its chaos if you turn left on Cambridge with no marked lanes, even with a traffic detail. You do the right thing and stay to the left and it can take 3 light cycles to get under the station.

Call me crazy but I like the copper and think the station is really nice as is. Its hard to explain in a few sentences but it reminds me of older times when Buzzy's was open and the jail was still in use and this area was VERY rough around the edges but was alive 24 hours.

[citytect]

I don't mind the green metal at all, but I do anticipate a somewhat disappointing unfinished look to the station.

[JoeGallows]

Moooore glass.

http://fb.xenostarz.com/joestuff/construction/Charles.jpg

http://fb.xenostarz.com/joestuff/construction/Charles2.jpg

Looks like they like the greened copper so much, they went and painted the newer fence the same color.

http://fb.xenostarz.com/joestuff/construction/Charles3.jpg

[bosdevelopment]

Moooore glass.

http://home.comcast.net/~bostonians/images/CMGH1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~bostonians/images/CMGH2.jpg

Looks like they like the greened copper so much, they went and painted the newer fence the same color.

http://home.comcast.net/~bostonians/images/CMGH3.jpg

Am i the only person that likes the copper

[DudeUrSistersHot]

Am i the only person that likes the copper

nope

[vanshnookenraggen]

Am i the only person that likes the copper

nope

Ditto....but that paint....

[ckb]

Am i the only person that likes the copper

nope

Ditto....but that paint....

Ditto ditto .....

of course it is the MBTA, so the paint will never be cleaned again and eventually will take on a darker color that will hopefully be less obnoxious to the eye ...

[DowntownDave]

I really do like how its coming along.

Escalators, stairs and elevator are clearly visible. I wonder to what extent the elevated track and supports will remain visible:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGH-01-1.jpg

The other side:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGH-02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGH-04.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGH-05.jpg

Overall:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGH-06.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CharlesMGH-07.jpg

[chumbolly]

I noticed during my commute this morning that workers have begun installing the wall surfaces inside Charles in the existing portion of the section. I didn't get a great look from my vantage point inside the train, but at first glance, it looked like 16"x16" walnut or mahogany paneling. That's crazy from a maintenance point of view, so I think it may instead be some sort of dark brown stone. Either way, it looks incredibly good contrasted against the brushed steel window trim and ceilings. That station is beginning to look like the lobby of a W Hotel.

[DowntownDave]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CMGHStation-01.jpg

[statler]

Longwood transportation upgrade ready to roll
Officials hope $55m in road, transit improvements helps the medical area grow, relieves workers' travel woes

By Ron DePasquale, Globe Correspondent | September 16, 2006

The Longwood Medical Area and the surrounding Fenway and Kenmore neighborhoods are set to get long-overdue transportation improvements, which should help the booming district grow and remain competitive.

The Yawkey and Ruggles commuter rail stations will be lengthened to allow for longer trains, making them more convenient destinations for workers who now must travel into Back Bay before heading back to the Longwood area by other transit. And the MBTA's Longwood, Fenway, and Kenmore stations on the Green Line will also get makeovers.

Meanwhile, the intersection in front of the Landmark Center will be redesigned and other road improvements could include special one-way lanes in the area during peak travel times. These improvements will come courtesy of a $55 million transportation spending package the Legislature recently approved.

``Whenever we talk about our needs, helping people get here has been at the top of our list every year," said Marilyn Swartz-Lloyd , president of the Medical, Academic and Scientific Community Organization, which represents 21 Longwood institutions. ``All the institutions are incredibly concerned, because it's the reason a number of people will not come to work here, and decide to leave here." At least 60 percent of Longwood's workers already use public transit, according to MASCO, and are enticed to use the T with subsidized passes and shuttle buses. About half of the vehicles in Longwood are through-traffic, according to MASCO. More than 37,000 people work in the area.

Boston Red Sox executives, who have been buying property near Fenway Park, supported the transportation improvements, which made the legislation controversial. But backers of the spending bill said it is Longwood's economic power that was the catalyst for approving the transportation upgrades. Representative Dan Bosley , a North Adams Democrat and House chairman of the Legislature's Economic Development Committee, said Longwood drives not only Boston's economy, but the state's as well.

``It's such an economic engine that it makes sense to move people around better," Bosley said. ``It has tremendous potential growth, but it's strangled under the current system. We have to get the cars out of there." If more commuters ride instead of drive to Longwood, surface parking lots could be developed into biomedical facilities or housing, the plan's supporters say. Separately, the MBTA is conducting a $450,000 study on tunneling under Longwood, which would be part of the Urban Ring, a long-discussed circumferential transportation network that would link the area to existing transit lines.

Already Longwood is hosting several building projects, including an 18-story Center for Life Sciences Boston by Lyme Properties; Brigham & Women's Hospital Center for Advanced Medicine, an ambulatory care center at 68 Francis St.; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's planned 400,000-square-foot complex; and Joslin Diabetes Center's planned nine-story lab/clinic and 150-unit residential building at 1 Joslin Place.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are buying property in an effort to control development around the ballpark. The team now owns a McDonald's on Upper Boylston Street, along with the old WBCN-FM and Town Taxi buildings. It plans to partner with the Sage family to build a hotel and condo complex that would replace the Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge on Boylston.

Road improvements, along with reworking the Landmark Center intersection, include installing traffic signal management systems. Studies will be conducted on whether on-street parking could be eliminated on busy streets like Brookline Avenue.

Several Longwood advocates said that while the state improvement package helps in the short term, congestion will cloud Longwood's future until the T completes the Urban Ring. The plan would use bus and rail services to create a transit loop through seven communities, from Chelsea and Everett to Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline and many parts of Boston, including Longwood, and connect to major T lines.

The $55 million ``obviously helps us," said Rick Shea , Dana-Farber's vice president for facilities management and former MASCO president. ``But the Urban Ring is what really would make a huge difference. Then you could go underground in Longwood."

The MBTA has initiated some bus portions of the Urban Ring plan, and continues to study others. But David Dixon, an urban planner with Goody, Clancy who has studied the area for MASCO, said the T only has stations around Longwood's edges and poorly serves commuters who work in the district's center.

``The Urban Ring must be built, if only to get people to and from Longwood," Dixon said
Link (http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2006/09/16/longwood_transportation_upgrade_ready_to_roll/)

[ablarc]

``Whenever we talk about our needs, helping people get here has been at the top of our list every year," said Marilyn Swartz-Lloyd , president of the Medical, Academic and Scientific Community Organization, which represents 21 Longwood institutions. ``All the institutions are incredibly concerned, because it's the reason a number of people will not come to work here, and decide to leave here."
Longwood in a nutshell: isolated by ill-conceived transport.

Boston Red Sox executives, who have been buying property near Fenway Park, supported the transportation improvements, which made the legislation controversial.
Whoa. Come gain? Red Sox support: the kiss of death?

``It's such an economic engine that it makes sense to move people around better," Bosley said. ``It has tremendous potential growth, but it's strangled under the current system. We have to get the cars out of there." If more commuters ride instead of drive to Longwood, surface parking lots could be developed into biomedical facilities or housing, the plan's supporters say.
Truth is, this can be done whether more commuters ride or drive. Perhaps they?ve heard of parking garages? Just put shops on the ground floors.

Separately, the MBTA is conducting a $450,000 study on tunneling under Longwood, which would be part of the Urban Ring, a long-discussed circumferential transportation network that would link the area to existing transit lines.
By all means, tunnel.

But don?t forget to put a station dead smack in the middle, where it belongs. Longwood,-- like Charlestown, East Cambridge. MIT, the South End, the North End and even Beacon Hill-- suffers from peripheral transportation. It?s a disease that occurs when you use existing rights-of-way instead of tunneling. How much preferable it is to come up right in the middle of Harvard Square!

(A digression in the form of a list of places I wish I could emerge from the subway: Hanover at Prince, Post Office Square, Joy Street at Myrtle, Mass. Ave. right at the MIT dome, Northampton Square, Blackstone Square, Bunker Hill, Navy Yard, Inman Square. If I lived in Paris, chances are I could.)

Road improvements, along with reworking the Landmark Center intersection, include installing traffic signal management systems. Studies will be conducted on whether on-street parking could be eliminated on busy streets like Brookline Avenue.
Bad idea. That converts a street into a highway. We don?t need to get cars moving faster; we need to get folks to leave them at home. Less traffic flow, not more.
The $55 million ``obviously helps us," said Rick Shea , Dana-Farber's vice president for facilities management and former MASCO president. ``But the Urban Ring is what really would make a huge difference. Then you could go underground in Longwood."

The MBTA has initiated some bus portions of the Urban Ring plan, and continues to study others. But David Dixon, an urban planner with Goody, Clancy who has studied the area for MASCO, said the T only has stations around Longwood's edges and poorly serves commuters who work in the district's center.
This problem afflicts the T as a whole.


Btw, I suspect that this post and the one it's a response to are both misplaced in this thread. Sorry.

[castevens]

This is probably in here somewhere, but any idea when this will be completed? I will be working at MGH next semester, and it would be spectacular if it was done

[justin]

Last I heard, it's due January.

justin

[castevens]

Great! Just in time!

I'm applying to BID, BMC and MGH...I'm working in the Emergency Department, and I know MGH is insane...

[Scott]

Great! Just in time!

I'm applying to BID, BMC and MGH...I'm working in the Emergency Department, and I know MGH is insane...

Mass General and Beth Israel ER's are a cupcake compared to BMC where level 3 traumas go, the homeless and prisoners from South Bay.

[castevens]

Hmm, interesting. The only thing I was basing my analysis on was when I work at the South County (Rhode Island) Hospital ER, we airlifted all the cases we couldn't handle to MGH.

But that isn't the first time I've heard that about BMC. My only experience with BMC is that that is where we send all the alcohol vomitters here at NU

[kz1000ps]

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/2121/charles2rx2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The red REALLY stands out, for the better or worse

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/9661/charles3gf3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/4739/charles1vf4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

and the other (north) side

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/3014/charles4qt0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Ron Newman]

The red wall is for the current temporary stairway. It will go away after the new station opens.

[ablarc]

This circle is as chaotic as ever. If anything, the new station aggravates the chaos (visually, at least). At least the old station had a spindly and temporary look.

I've tried to like the new station from an urbanistic standpoint, but I just can't. Its principal virtue is newness, and that will rub off. Then we'll be left with just the visual chaos.

[justin]

Is chaos not quintessentially urban?

justin

[bosdevelopment]

This circle is as chaotic as ever. If anything, the new station aggravates the chaos (visually, at least). At least the old station had a spindly and temporary look.

I've tried to like the new station from an urbanistic standpoint, but I just can't. Its principal virtue is newness, and that will rub off. Then we'll be left with just the visual chaos.

I would tend to agree with you. It may be because of the level of construction going on there, but it's almost as if the designer was trying to confuse everyone when he made this monster. Like the ICA, once the newness wears thin, it will be another eyesore. It's a damn platform for god's sake, why do you need all that glass for a platform

[Scott]

BAH! It's a nice station, 10 times better than it was and it will help relieve the chaos below that is going to get 10 times worse when they start digging up Storrow Drive.

[Ron Newman]

And let's not forget that it makes a subway stop next to a major hospital fully accessible. That's more important to me than the station's appearance.

Even for the fully able-bodied, getting in and out of the old station was an exhausting task.

[ablarc]

Is chaos not quintessentially urban?
Haussmann didn't think so. And he left us an eloquent treatise on urban order.

Sounds like an opinion from the Seventies.

Like the jungle, the suburb, politics, human affairs or business, the city can be chaotic or not.

[justin]

Pretty though they are, I find Hausmanns' boulevards a touch sterile compared with the medieval warrens they enclose. And what of Istanbul, Cairo, New York? No, chaos is urban; which is not to say that every good city has to be chaotic.

I'm not crazy about the new station, but nor do I hate it. The design is clumsy, but in practical terms it's a vast improvement over the moated bunker that preceded it. Charles circle was always going to be chaotic. At least one may hope that the increased pedestrian presence at ground level will tame it a bit.

justin

[bowesst]

This circle is as chaotic as ever. If anything, the new station aggravates the chaos (visually, at least). At least the old station had a spindly and temporary look.

I've tried to like the new station from an urbanistic standpoint, but I just can't. Its principal virtue is newness, and that will rub off. Then we'll be left with just the visual chaos.

ablarc when did you last step foot in Boston? Have you walked around the MGH T stop yourself or are your profoundly insightful criticisms of Boston's development projects derived solely from looking at a few of the lousy pictures we take?

I don't go around bashing blandly designed bible belt faux-churches surrounded by nothing but parking lots before I actually see them for myself.

[Merper]

I don't go around bashing blandly designed bible belt faux-churches surrounded by nothing but parking lots before I actually see them for myself.

HA! I would!

[ablarc]

]I don't go around bashing blandly designed bible belt faux-churches surrounded by nothing but parking lots before I actually see them for myself.

HA! I would!
So would I. They're abominable, like everything in autosuburbia. The pictures tell the story, and they tell it true. Folks aren't often surprised visiting places they've seen pictured.

When I lived on Cedar Lane Way, the T stop was Charles. It wasn't great then, but it had a kind of neglected, raffish charm that recalled the old West End. It looks like the new station will be clean and up-to-date by comparison until it gets old and neglected. Then few will find in it raffishness or charm. (All that dirty glass.)

Mistaking cleanness and up-to-dateness for architectural quality is an error more common in suburbia than among city folks; it's ubiquitous among my clients, but they live in Suburbia and have often never seen a city.

[Merper]

In time, the most redeeming quality about the new station will be whatever's left of the original copper siding...

[Ron Newman]

The most redeeming quality of the new station will be the escalators and elevators, which make it usable by people who could never have used the old one.

[ablarc]

The most redeeming quality of the new station will be the escalators and elevators, which make it usable by people who could never have used the old one.
Amen, functionally.

Merper probably got it aesthetically.

[chumbolly]

The most redeeming quality of the new station will be the escalators and elevators, which make it usable by people who could never have used the old one. Though of course, having been deposited at street level by all that newfangled technology, the hospital patrons will then have to play Frogger in the circle to get to their final destination, no pun intended.

[Ron Newman]

It looks to me like the circle has been reconfigured so there will only be two lanes of one-way traffic separating the station exit from the MGH sidewalk. I assume there will be a signal at that crosswalk once all the construction is over.

[sidewalks]

While I am not in love with the new design, I think it will age better than many here have suggested. Nonetheless, the MBTA maintenance record is reason for concern.

And though I have only driven through the area lately, I think the new street configuration is a drastic improvement. The unbroken and intimidating swath of pavement surrounding the station has been broken down into pedestrian friendly geometry. The materials used on the street-level improvements are also excellent. In sum, I think this is a very significant enhancement to the area.

[Spatch]

I commute on the Red Line and enjoy watching the Charles station's progress as I go by every day. I think the hybrid look is fascinating.

My one worry is the large wooden panels they've placed up on either side of the elevated tracks between the Charles platform and the portal to Park Street. I surely hope these are temporary panels, either to block construction noise or welding sparks or otherwise, because they completely ruin a lovely view. I feel like we're driving down a highway surrounded by the 50-foot NIMBY walls. Does anyone have any knowledge of these panels and whether or not they'll be removed once construction is finished?

[Ron Newman]

The new Charles/MGH station opened this morning.

[justin]

I commute on the Red Line and enjoy watching the Charles station's progress as I go by every day. I think the hybrid look is fascinating.

My one worry is the large wooden panels they've placed up on either side of the elevated tracks between the Charles platform and the portal to Park Street. I surely hope these are temporary panels, either to block construction noise or welding sparks or otherwise, because they completely ruin a lovely view. I feel like we're driving down a highway surrounded by the 50-foot NIMBY walls. Does anyone have any knowledge of these panels and whether or not they'll be removed once construction is finished?

The panels are copper-green on the outside and they're noise barriers, so yes, they're there to stay. The glass headhouse is a hack job, but the access to the station is very easy and they did a fine job renovating the old platform, which now has casement windows and mottled red tile. I'll post some pics soon.

justin

[justin]

As promised:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/00154.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/00103.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/00101.jpg

Comparison with the original:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_misc/IMG_1630.jpg

Notice that the same kind of tile (if that's what it is) is used for the sound barrier and the station piers:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/00100.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/1cd040b9.jpg

The metal panels covering the entrance awning are really ugly, and they're used all over the station. The diagonal pole is all that is left of the original bold design.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/00097.jpg

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2218/charlesmghstation7cv.jpg

The interior is quite spacious, though it's not clear to me why they didn't move the platform a bit toward the inbound end, where the useless left wall with windows is; the curve is not too bad. You can't see it in the picture, but the row of windows on the left varies in size to accomodate various changes in geometry, for an exceedingly clunky effect,

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/00109.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/00153.jpg

The old platform itself is nicely redone, with red tiles and new windows. For once they covered up all the piping on the ceiling.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/00110.jpg

Comparison with before:

http://www.paranoiaisparamount.com/images/ab/IMG_0586.jpg

All in all, an improvement, but not architecture.

justin

[kz1000ps]

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/11/img4155kn1.jpg

[whighlander]

Really disappointed that the extended section of the platform was not covered in any fashion

And for that matter what is the reason for not covering the track with a lightweight glass canopy -- then standing on the platform in February in a snow / rain event wouldn't be so unpleasant

westy

[briv]

I was pretty shocked that the new station didnt even include an enclosed area where passengers could stay warm while awaiting the train during winter.

MBTA stations possess some of the most inhospitable climates in Boston. In the summer their underground stations are stiflingly hot and dank; and in the winter their aboveground stations offer absolutely no shelter from the freezing temperatures outside. It's pretty clear that passenger comfort is not very high on the MBTA's list of priorities.

[ChunkyMonkey]

...In the summer their underground stations are stiflingly hot and dank...


MBTA installs fans, misters for passenger comfort

June 1, 2007

BOSTON --Waiting for the bus or subway is about to become a little more bearable.

The MBTA plans on installing fans and misters at some particularly hot and sweaty subway and bus stations starting Friday to lower the air temperature, by 15 to 25 degrees in some cases, and to reduce humidity.

The goal is better customer service, said Daniel Grabauskas, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Passengers in the past have complained about oppressive temperatures that in some cases have reached 100 degrees. Crowds and train exhaust exacerbate the problem.

"There's no way we're going to make the stations chilly on an oppressively hot day," he said. "But when you get off the bus or the subway, it will certainly be more comfortable."

The station cooling program is part of a push to place reliable air conditioning throughout the T system, including buses and trains.

Most of the evaporative coolers will be placed at Winter Street and at the Chauncy Street concourse by next Thursday. Stations getting the units include Chinatown, Downtown Crossing, State, North, Government Center, Bowdoin, Haymarket, Park, Boylston, Hynes, Alewife, Central, South, and Harvard.

Passengers welcomed the news.

"There are some stations that are particularly hot, like Government Center," said, Alex Sprung, 22, of Boston, who takes the Green Line to the New England Conservatory of Music. "That's good in the winter, but not when it's really hot outside."

[Charlie_mta]

MBTA installs fans, misters for passenger comfort
Is a "Mister" the same thing as a gigolo?

:?

[statler]

http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2007/09/10/1189478405_9734/410w.jpg
New T station dresses up MGH area
Riders say stop safer, smoother

By April Simpson, Globe Staff | September 11, 2007

For years it was an eyesore at the edge of one of Boston's most prestigious and historic neighborhoods, an intersection with Jersey barriers and traffic jams in the shadow of an outdated mass transit station.

But now after a long wait, neighbors and hospital employees are marveling at the changes to the Charles-MGH stop on the MBTA Red Line, which has been significantly spruced up with an infusion of public dollars.

"It's just much more attractive," said Rosemary Tambouret, a 58-year-old pathologist at Mass. General, admiring the newly constructed station's glass exterior. "The other one looked like it was going to fall apart."

The $48.6 million project took months longer than expected, forcing the more than 8,000 commuters who use it on a typical weekday to rely on crossing guards to help them traverse busy intersections.

While it is still flooded with traffic, the gateway area to Beacon Hill seems safer to Laura Regan, a 25-year-old nanny from Cambridge. Regan previously avoided the Charles-MGH stop altogether. She used to board the T at Central Square, and get off at Park Street to walk to Mass. General, to avoid pushing a stroller through what she considered a danger zone.

"I didn't come here," she said. "It would be a 40-minute commute, just to get two train stops."

The old Charles Street-MGH stop was constructed in the early 1930s and was barely changed for 70 years, until the MBTA began modernizing stations several years ago, said T General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas. The station, which is right outside Massachusetts General Hospital, lacked entrances and exits to accommodate people with disabilities, forcing the hospital to encourage some patients and employees to find some other way to travel.

"It had no access," said Grabauskas. "It had a long steep staircase that people had to traverse. There were no elevators, no escalators, nothing."

To Stephen S. Young of the Beacon Hill Civic Association, having an inaccessible station in front of Mass. General did not make any sense. The old station, he said, "lived up to its age."

Residents, commuters, and city officials say the entire area needed an upgrade. New construction projects, such as the Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care at Mass. General, and The Liberty Hotel, formerly the Charles Street Jail, are making the neighborhood more of a destination for commuters and tourists, said Councilor Michael Ross.

Massachusetts General Hospital invested more than $2.5 million into the new station, which is used by roughly 5,000 employees daily.

Ross said the new station is a success. The lengthening of a traffic island has made it easier for pedestrians to avoid heavy traffic aroundthe station. However, some traffic lights may be out of synch, Ross said. He said he has requested additional work at a pedestrian crossing where cars speed onto the westbound lanes of Storrow Drive.

Some people have griped about delays. Begun in 2003, the project was not completed until February of this year, months past the scheduled 2006 completion date. Some Commuters said they wished the T had built a bridge between the station and Mass. General.

But for the most part, users of the station are pleased that construction is done.

"It definitely looks a lot better," said Jarrod Boland, a 29-year-old graduate student at MIT who lives on Beacon Hill. "Hopefully, they'll start to clean up all of Cambridge Street."

April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com.
Link (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/11/new_t_station_dresses_up_mgh_area/)

[Ron Newman]

The station looks nice but it really is not finished yet. Some small areas near the glass walls are still roped off, as are the exit doors that face east.

[TheBostonBoy]

It is a great station for sure. Last time I was there I was very pleased when I got off there. A great improvement.

[chris]

It's still absurd and annoying to be a pedestrian crossing on the Beacon Hill side near the CVS.

[PerfectHandle]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/justin_justout/T_charles_mgh/1cd040b9.jpg

I think the material on the right side of this photo looks terrible in person.

[Ron Newman]

Yeah, it cuts off a nice view, but I'm sure the neighborhood required it in order to reduce noise.

[whighlander]

As posted earlier -- I can't imagine why the T didn't put some sort of canopy over the end of the platform that extends over the Longfellow Bridge

That end was a tack-on job when the T lengthened Red Line platforms to deal with 6 car trains -- at the time the argument was that:
1) It was inconsistent with the original architecture to cover the new platform
2) The old station was scheduled for revamp anyway so why worry about something that would only be in use for a few years {turned out to be nearly two decades ? but who?s counting}

So of course when we got a new station -- we got the usual stupid T hybrid

restored and very nice old platform, brand new and very modern headhouse and entrance lobby + uncovered "new platform"

The T even with Grabauskas doesn't seem to learn from past mistakes

Westy

PS: of course there was the further typical T-amnesia/dementia of not digging the sublevel station for the Blue Line extension when the project was underway on the surface -- even if it was decades to utilize it as a station

[Arborway]

PS: of course there was the further typical T-amnesia/dementia of not digging the sublevel station for the Blue Line extension when the project was underway on the surface -- even if it was decades to utilize it as a station

I don't know of any prep work done at the station for an eventual Blue Line connector. Compare this to the Tufts Medical Center station which got built 19 years before it opened. The T knew it was better to get it over with while things were torn up for the hospital being built on the site.

[ant8904]

First, wow his post is 3 years old...

Second, so Boston had a full-fledge underground station that was not serviced till 1987? With the station fully set up and locked? I'm just imagining the station but the tunnel goes to nowhere, it's kinda cool.

[Charlie_mta]

As I recall from that time period, the South Cove Orange Line tunnel and station were built with the expectation that the Southwest Expressway would be built immediately after, with the Orange Line rerouted down its median. However, that highway was unexpectedly cancelled by Gov. Sargeant around 1970, resulting in a long delay in building the Orange Line in the SW corridor, due to lack of funding and uncertainty about what to build in the SW corridor (a smaller highway, no highway at all, etc.)

So really, the Tufts Medical Center station and tunnel weren't built early due to MBTA foresight and vision, but rather due to the political accident of an expressway being cancelled.

[Arborway]

First, wow his post is 3 years old...

Haha there was something wrong with the forum for a little bit and the thread was somehow at the top of page 1 along with the rest of the current threads. I'm not making this up...

[Ron Newman]

some new posts about Science Park station (on the Green Line) were briefly in this thread before being moved to a more appropriate one.

[found5dollar]

my bad.