DRIVING ALONG the Massachusetts Turnpike, electric vehicle charging stations are popping up at the service plazas, a harbinger of a future without internal combustion engines. But a new study from National Grid suggests the charging stations are somewhat misleading indicators of the future. The real challenge will not be installing charging stations, but delivering the […]
Tracking Transportation
Posted inOpinion
The Orange Line roadmap for commuter rail
DURING THE ORANGE LINE shutdown, the commuter rail network proved its tremendous value to Greater Boston’s transit system. It also showed exciting potential for the future. Last month, the MBTA added additional trains to serve Forest Hills, Hyde Park, and Oak Grove; increased its marketing of commuter rail; and waived fares for riders in Boston […]
Posted inTransportation
10 reasons for building a better highway
End of three-part series FOR US, the Allston interchange is more than a highway project. It’s a way to fix the mistakes of the past, reunite long-separated neighborhoods, and lay the groundwork for an equitable economic expansion of Boston. We believe the all-at-grade option for the throat section of the project, along with the project’s […]
Posted inOpinion
A partnership of sorts is transforming, recovering Allston
Second of three parts. IN THE PAST two decades, a partnership of sorts has emerged between the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the city of Boston, a variety of non-profit business and citizen groups, and Harvard University. This partnership rests on a congruence of interests – MassDOT’s need to replace functionally obsolete and structurally unsound viaducts, a […]
Posted inOpinion
How not to build a highway
First of three parts THE CONSTRUCTION of the Mass Turnpike through Allston, Brighton, and Newton in the late 1950s and early 1960s was a textbook example of the community, environmental, and social destructiveness of the highway construction of the era. This interstate highway segment was built without federal funds, before the National Environmental Policy Act […]
Posted inTransportation
Poftak says he is stepping down at T on Jan. 3
STEVE POFTAK, the embattled general manager of the MBTA who shouldered much of the blame for recent safety incidents at the transit authority, announced on Tuesday that he will resign his post on January 3, two days before the next governor takes office. Poftak’s departure, while expected, accelerates the timetable for the next governor to […]
Posted inTransportation
Key lawmaker calls for restructuring MBTA
TO JUMP-START a discussion about the future of the MBTA, the House chair of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee is calling for a fairly radical restructuring of the transit authority to narrow its responsibilities. Rep. William Straus of Mattapoisett said the intense focus on safety issues at the MBTA and the upcoming change in gubernatorial administrations […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: Low-income fares back on agenda
MBTA OFFICIALS presented new, lower cost estimates for introducing low-income fares on Thursday, but it was unclear when or if the T board will move ahead with the proposal. At a meeting of the MBTA board, T staff estimated the cost of cutting fares in half on all transportation modes for riders earning less than […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA unveils redesigned bus redesign
THE MBTA on Thursday unveiled a redesign of its initial redesign of its bus network, incorporating feedback from 20,000 commenters and changing 85 of the 133 routes in the original proposal. Testifying before the MBTA board, T officials said the latest plan expands service by 25 percent and doubles from 15 to 30 the number […]
Posted inTransportation
LaHood: T’s Poftak on right track with safety until COVID hit
A correction has been made to this story. STEVE POFTAK, the MBTA’s beleaguered general manager, received some praise on Tuesday from former US transportation secretary Ray LaHood and Sen. Brendan Crighton, the co-chair of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee. LaHood headed a panel that releases a report in December 2019 that was highly critical of the […]