In Commonwealth Magazine, our friend Nathan Phillips makes the case for pedestrianizing Storrow Drive. It’s a terrific piece, go read it.
This being a local blog, however, we need a hook. Here it is: eliminating cars and trucks from Storrow Drive will limit automobile capacity from Newton and western suburbs into Boston and Cambridge, which will discourage driving, especially at peak hours, and create additional political pressure to expand transit service. And, that will help Newton meet its Climate Action Plan goal to reduce vehicle miles travelled.
Please feel free to use the comments to make the case that eliminating capacity on Storrow Drive will only transfer traffic to other routes. Sure, some drivers will shift to Commonwealth Ave. and Route 9, but not all of it.
If only we had the bold political leadership to see real improvements in mass transit. We can’t even get a commitment from the State to improve the commuter rail in Newton. No future events planned, no funding the State budget. https://www.mbta.com/projects (scroll down to Jan 2020)
And then there’s the Allston Brighton Multimodal project, “improvements to I-90 and its abutting interchange and the creation of a new stop on the Worcester/Framingham Commuter Line to be known as West Station.” First part of the project is I-90; last is West Station. I doubt I’ll live to see West Station.
I agree 100%. I would also like to canalize the Mass Pike extension from 128 to the Central Artery to allow for barge transport, Bateaux Mouches, and kayaking in the summer, and conversion to the world’s longest outdoor skating rink (twice as long as the Rideau Canal Skateway) in the winter.
Michael,
I will not be able to sleep tonight, I’m so excited by this idea. I would totally live in a barge on the Michael Canal. I’ll put out treats for skaters during the winter.
Obviously, the answer to congested roads are flying cars. We were promised flying cars
for the last 60 years. I’ll gladly trade in my BMW for an electric flying car! Just increase the
size of the drones! Who’s with me?
Sign me up 😉
Imagine the equivalent of a Newton driver, only in a flying car.
Shudder.
Just imagine the fun of the morning commute. We could all get together and play the Ride of The
Valkyries as you spread out over Watertown, Cambridge, and Brighton as we attack Boston for parking spaces. The parking companies could rename the parking lots as hangers and charge twice as much. Massport already has expensive landing fees, so they would love it. Just think of how we could get people to want to join the police if they each get a flying police cruiser! The economy would take off even more as everyone melted down cars to build flying ones. I guess the air traffic controllers might be against it but think how many more would be needed. …
could there be drive through Starbucks then?
Self driving flying cars are the answer.
You guys are thinking inside the car…uh, box. Why not “Beam me downtown, Scotty!” ? Quantum mechanics would have full employment! 🙂
But what’s the question?
Never underestimate the utility and efficiency of having the earth hold us up.
Once you give that up and replace a solid surface with the need for vertical thrust, energy consumption goes way up. Compare standing to constant jumping. It’s worse than that.
In contrast, trains use gravity to hold them to smooth, low-friction rails. Diesel trains get about 500 miles per gallon per ton. Electric trains are up to three times more efficient than that, transferring 90-95% of the energy from catenary electrical lines to locomotive power.
Flying cars, a perennial symbol of the future, are simply incompatible with our need for great efficiency in personal transportation.
Cynicism is cheap, and it’s easy to be skeptical of Nathan’s vision. But a trip to Europe’s big cities, pre-Pandemic, opened my eyes to the possibilities of a world less reliant on the automobile. Mass transit there is modern, the trains speedy, frequent, and clean, and the metropolitan area covered extensively. Since government maintains low fares, a much higher percentage of the population chooses mass transit.
Gas automobiles account for about a third of greenhouse carbon dioxide emissions. That reality is not sustainable if we are to survive global warming. Of course, we suburbanites will always need cars in certain situations. Nonetheless, our lives would improve, and life as we know it sustain itself for longer, if transportation revolved around riding public transit, walking, and biking. Compared with Paris and London, public transit in greater Boston is laughable, and our bike-friendly infrastructure much less adequate.
I agree with everything except “we suburbanites will always need cars in certain situations.”
I’m farther out in suburbia than you guys (2.5-hour walk to the Back Bay, of which 1.5 from Newton Centre), but just about the only time I use a car these days is to go to the Needham dump, which they’ll probably end up closing in a few years.
For example, I’m responsible for grocery shopping and we’re a mile away from the supermarkets, but I don’t think I’ve driven there in a couple of years.
Game-changers for me have been these rear pannier baskets, which with a reinforcement to the hooks can easily carry two gallons of milk each:
https://www.basil.com/en/memories-bicycle-bag-black.html
As well as the combination of these two products, which in the dark have some supernatural power to bring speeding motorists to a stop for my bicycle, even when they have the right of way:
https://cdna.lystit.com/photos/macys/65621c06/calvin-klein-Silver-Slim-fit-Reflective-Raincoat.jpeg
https://lumoshelmet.co/products/lumos-matrix
Also, we got this through Landry’s and I can’t recommend this enough for anyone with 3-5 year-olds that need to be gotten to/from preschool:
https://www.burley.com/product/piccolo/
Career politician, Multi Millionaire John Kerry owns SIX large mansions, heated swing pools, a private jet, and a $ 7,000,000 yacht that he docked in a State he doesn’t live in to avoid taxes.. Biden hired Kerry to lecture working class families about THEIR carbon footprint….
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna38378992
Thank you for bringing this up. While he is a Democrat, and revered by the party elite, he is a bit of a fraud. But, he is a veteran, so he has that. When Harvard University used the Beal Brothers to hide their plan to buy up Allston, 115 acres worth, and it was finally revealed, some of us got giddy.oh, the things that Harvard could do for the Metropolitan area. Like make a wide canal that parallels Western Ave, making it useful for water taxis. Or making a right of way for a street car line from Watertown square to downtown Boston! Imagine if Harvard felt a sense of community obligation!
Then I woke up and had breakfast
@Jack Leader, Village 14 needs more of your steely-eyed, razor sharp commentary!
These views of Dusseldorf (in 1990 and 2019) look a lot like Storrow Drive (“now” and “could be”).
The roadway is similar but the surrounding architecture is totally different. I’ve been there and it is a vibrant area that attracts all kinds of people.
I’ve never been to Dusseldorf, but I was intrigued by Bruce’s pictures that showed three prominent buildings in the upper right hand corner of both photos that looked as though they were initially constructed before World War 2 bombing leveled the city. It’s possible these three structures survived the bombing, but photos taken immediately after the war showed that almost every structure in the downtown area was completely, or at least significantly destroyed. Recent photos of all three buildings suggest strongly that all three needed to be totally rebuilt or massively restored. Jackson Joe is correct. Dusseldorf is now a thriving and vibrant city and these landmarks, whether new or original, add a lot to what makes the city tick. Germany, which has such a horrible history of insanity, seems to be one of the few places that still knows how to do things right.