Urban Ring Meets the Marx Brothers.
By: Arshag A. Mazmanian
The Marx Brothers movie “Cocoanuts” is set in Florida in 1929 during its land boom. Groucho, the owner of the failing Hotel de Cocoanut, has this exchange with Chico:
Groucho: “Now here is a little peninsula, and here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland.”
Chico: “Why a duck? Why-a no chicken?”
Groucho: “You try and cross over there on a chicken and you’ll find out why a duck!”
I recently received from the Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) three “Preliminary Draft” plans, each of which includes a viaduct from the Grand Junction Rail Line (GJRL) on the westerly side of the BU Bridge (Boston side of the Charles River) to grade at Commonwealth Avenue, quite close to the BU Bridge. This proposed viaduct would serve to accommodate two travel lanes for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) 60-foot articulating buses along the Urban Ring Phase 2 route. (See the “Urban Yoke?” installment of this series for further details on the GJRL.)
Unfortunately, there are no plans to post these “Preliminary Draft” plans at the Urban Ring’s website (www.theurbanring.com). But what is clear from these plans is that there would result many traffic pattern changes in the area of the BU Bridge/Commonwealth Avenue/Essex and Mountfort Streets/Carlton Street Bridge/University Road that is currently beleaguered with heavy commuter traffic even before the introduction of BRT buses that are planned to run every seven (7) minutes with the benefit of electronic traffic signals control providing right of way over B Line trolleys and autos.
The “Cocoanuts” dialog above might be modified to reflect these plans as follows:
Groucho: “Now here is a little rail line, and here is a viaduct leading over to Commonwealth Avenue.”
Chico: “Why a duck? Why-a no tunnel?”
Groucho: “You can get down off a duck’s back without digging!”
EOT has accepted that it would be a folly to use the BU Bridge as an integral part of the Phase 2 route because of its many limitations on both the Cambridge and Boston sides. But is the GJRL with its viaduct the answer? Sometimes tunnel vision is better than no vision at all.
(In subsequent comments to this installment, I shall address the impacts of the continuation of the Phase 2 route between the viaduct at Commonwealth Avenue and either (1) Commonwealth Avenue to Kenmore or (2) Essex/Mountfort Streets to Park Drive.)
