Which MSA has the most major projects coming up: ATL, HOU, DAL, L.A., Seattle, D.C., Philly, Bos, San Fran, or Chi? (best, state)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It would be good, but I just don't see that much serious interest in moving forward with a N/S rail link right now. Former Govs. Weld and and Dukakis are pushing hard for it, but the current administration doesn't really see it as a priority. I think the administration (secretary of MassDOT) said they may fund a study, but it's so far off the radar that I don't think you could even consider asking a developer for money for it. Maybe $1/2 million for a study, but not more than that.
Well, can't you push for it? Personally?
Infrastructure-wise, it seems like it'd be the best value of any mass transit project in the US. It greatly increases capacity for Boston commuter rail stations which is already strained and the much less useful current solutions of just having more berths at the terminal stations are a bad value overall. Constructing this wouldn't just meet the current demands for greater capacity, but would greatly exceed them so would be a good hedge for the future, but also allows for many new transit patterns and is a strain relief on other parts of the transit system by not having to force transfers at already crowded stations as well as acting as additional rapid transit option within the core. Then on top of all that is that it's an important piece of infrastructure for national infrastructure as not connecting the current two stations means that national (and potentially international to Canada) rail transport is currently broken between the greater national network and the network going north from Boston. It seems ridiculous to not build this unless there's the expectation that Boston and its metro area will not grow to any significant degree and neither will any of the cities north of it.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 05-20-2016 at 06:50 PM..
Two major new projects coming to Chicago's extended Loop.
One is the selling of the Old Chicago Main Post Office which has been sitting derelict for quite some time. It's finally been sold to a developer with the means to redevelop it.
Both of these are centrally located, on the riverfront, and massive in size.
Unfortunately, it's also looking a bit grim for the Lucas museum right now.
Thanks Oy Crumbler for pointing this out, since there are apparently not alot of Chicagoans on here boosting all the development in town. These two developments are huge, put forward by reputable developers, and will quite literally change the face of the city. It may give a boost to an already expanding Chinatown, which marches into less desireable areas of the south side. With the negative publicity Chicago gets, the core areas and the outlying areas to the core along with many north side neighborhoods are just short of booming by all appearances.
Infrastructure-wise, it seems like it'd be the best value of any mass transit project in the US. It greatly increases capacity for Boston commuter rail stations which is already strained and the much less useful current solutions of just having more berths at the terminal stations are a bad value overall. Constructing this wouldn't just meet the current demands for greater capacity, but would greatly exceed them so would be a good hedge for the future, but also allows for many new transit patterns and is a strain relief on other parts of the transit system by not having to force transfers at already crowded stations as well as acting as additional rapid transit option within the core. Then on top of all that is that it's an important piece of infrastructure for national infrastructure as not connecting the current two stations means that national (and potentially international to Canada) rail transport is currently broken between the greater national network and the network going north from Boston. It seems ridiculous to not build this unless there's the expectation that Boston and its metro area will not grow to any significant degree and neither will any of the cities north of it.
Sure. But I don't have the kind of pull that would cause this to budge. The politics are against it.
The 2007 cost estimate for NSRL was about $7 Billion. However, the consensus locally is that that number was intentionally inflated by the contractor. Even still, the cost of such an expansion is going to be massive. Say the actual cost will be 1/2 that. $3.5 Billion (and that's a low-ball estimate) for a tunnel under the Financial District is a tough pill to swallow for taxpayers in MA who watched the last tunnel project (Big Dig) under Boston skyrocket above initial estimates. There's currently $2 Million dedicated to "study" (it's essentially an environmental impact study) the project. It's little more
The merits of a North/South Rail Link are undeniable. But at the same time, it's a tough sell for a city that went through so much with a tunnel project in literally the same location a little over 10 years ago. I think one of the issues is that a lot of tax payers around here feel like they're well connected to NYC via rail already. They don't care so much if the NSRL links the rest of the NEC with Montreal (improving connections to Portland ME, at 66k and about 200,000 in the immediate metro area is laughable as motivation for a project of that magnitude- same goes for Manchester and Portsmouth). There aren't many obvious immediate benefits to locals. Again, I know there are benefits, but I'm talking about easily marketable benefits. The South Station expansion, increased headways, system electrification, etc. can all be done without the NSRL.
A Red/Blue Line connection, electrification of the commuter rail network, south station expansion, blue line to lynn, green line extension (which is challenging enough as it is), south coast commuter rail, etc. are all projects that are far easier to sell to the local population. And to be completely honest, I'd prioritize a number of those as being more important in the present for the region than NSRL.
Atlanta has finally got a big one. This project has been in the works for years now and they recently change the design. It was going to be 3 towers, the tallest one being 720 feet however they decided to go with a two tower approach, but are only building 1 tower for now, however, with that, they redesigned that tower to now be taller.
98 14th Street - 920 feet - 74 Floors. - 382 condos, 180 Corporate Suites, 60,370 SF of Retail
It will be the tallest all-residential building outside of NYC and I think Miami(I think they recently approved of a residential building that was taller...not sure though). It'll also be Atlanta's 2nd tallest tower in the city.
Developers state they plan to break ground as soon as they receive approval from Midtown and City of Atlanta officials.
Atlanta has finally got a big one. This project has been in the works for years now and they recently change the design. It was going to be 3 towers, the tallest one being 720 feet however they decided to go with a two tower approach, but are only building 1 tower for now, however, with that, they redesigned that tower to now be taller.
98 14th Street - 920 feet - 74 Floors. - 382 condos, 180 Corporate Suites, 60,370 SF of Retail
It will be the tallest all-residential building outside of NYC and I think Miami(I think they recently approved of a residential building that was taller...not sure though). It'll also be Atlanta's 2nd tallest tower in the city.
Developers state they plan to break ground as soon as they receive approval from Midtown and City of Atlanta officials.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
