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MassDOT on Sunday, July 27 at 9:00PM will begin work to improve the median and Commonwealth Avenue Bridge substructure on Interstate 90 in Boston.
Beginning Sunday night at 9:00pm and lasting for approximately six months, the left lanes in both Eastbound and Westbound directions on I-90 from west of the Prudential tunnel to the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge will be closed to traffic in order to create work zones for substructure rehabilitation work. Closure of the right lanes in both directions will follow upon the reopening of the left lanes. Three lanes of traffic will be maintained in each direction on I-90 Eastbound and Westbound during peak hours.
Short-term nighttime and weekend closures of an additional lane on I-90 Eastbound and Westbound may take place as required.
Work to be performed throughout this project will include rehabilitation of the east and west abutments, as well as major rehabilitation of the east and west piers. The project will also include reconstruction of the I-90 median.
The project will be ongoing throughout the next twelve months leading to the replacement of the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge deck over I-90 which is scheduled to begin in late 2015.
The Commonwealth Avenue Bridge was constructed in 1962 and supports Commonwealth Avenue traffic and the MBTA Green Line.
MassDOT encourages drivers to plan ahead as those traveling through the area should expect delays.
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This is unclear. It states that 3 lanes of traffic will be maintained at peak hours, but does not say how many lanes there are to start with. Are there 3 or 4 lanes on this section of the pike? Does this mean all lanes will be open during peak hours, or 1 will be closed? It makes a huge difference when trying to anticipate the resulting travel delay.
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There are 4 lanes on I-90 in each direction in the work zone. With one lane closed, three lanes will be open.
this will create a huge bottleneck as this portion of road is backed up with even 4 lanes through most of the daytime hours. Why can't this be a night time only operation like so many other projects?
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Lane closures are required for this and other similar projects in order to create safe zones for ongoing rehabilitation work set up.
so what time to what is peak hours so are the exits closed during peak hours or are they open.
and what time is off peak hours you have explain right so all drivers understand it
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Peak hours refer to typical morning and evening weekday commute hours before 10am and after 4pm. No exit closings are scheduled as part of this project.
This has been a disaster so far. Getting on 1-90 eastbound in Cambridge has been impossible. The right lane being closed on the eastbound side where there are no trucks, equipment, or visible construction has backed traffic up incredibly. Two days ago the backup went all the way across Solidiers Field Road — from the pike!
I'll be travelling out of Boston Sunday at 6:00 pm, entering the Pike at Mass Ave. Will I run into lane closures at that time? Would it be better for me to enter the Turnpike from Storrow? When the Prudential Tunnel ceiling work was performed there was a VERY helpful phone number to call, with a real person on the phone who gave excellent alternate directions. This project should have a similar feature.
This has been an absolute disaster for traffic so far – adding at least 30 minutes to commutes; and this is even with very light summer traffic. What are the plans to mitigate these large problems during the next 6 months?
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Thank you for your comment, forwarded to district Highway for review. Project traffic mitigation plans are reviewed during the work and revised as necessary while still allowing the project to proceed on schedule.
This has destroyed traffic…is anhinga being done to save the extra 40 minutes it takes during rush hour to get on i90 east during morning rush hour? This seems poorly planned
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Your comment has been forwarded to district Highway for review. Thank you.
What a disaster this has been. I have been driving the Pike every day for the last 15 years and I never ever thought I would see the day where someone thought it would be a good idea to close a lane of traffic for 6 MONTHS during rush hour. I don't think anyone realizes how bad this will be after Labor Day. Right now are literally the lightest traffic days of the year save for Christmas week. The delays will be hours long once the roads are at full capacity next month. Very shortsighted thinking with this project. Do the work at night even if it takes longer or leave the lane open 2 hours a day in each direction during peak rush hour.
I Agree with the prior comments that this, so far, has been disastrous. I typically would travel through the Allston Tolls, Eastbound, a little before 8 AM, with traffic freely flowing up to and then out of the toll. since this work has started, there has been a traffic backup all the way to the New Balance Building/Market Street – if not further. And, when driving on the section of the Pike with the lane closures, there are only orange cones or barrells in those lanes – otherwise empty. Understood this is in preparation for adding repair resources to those areas, but it has been several days and still empty/closed lanes and only majorly backed up traffic is the result. driving by empty/closed lanes is excruciatingly annoying and insensitive to the thousands of travellers this is affecting. it is disappointing to learn this will be ongoing for AT LEAST another year – we all know highway projects never finish within the timeframe expected – big dig, prime example. and, as already pointed out by above-posts, we are at a relatively low-traffic point in time during the year – August – when everyone goes on vacation. A plan needs to be put into place come September and beyond, when the additional THOUSANDS of students return to the area, and school starts, and summer vacations are over. i am fearing MASSIVE delays on the Pike – a toll road that we not only pay for out of our taxes, but also each and every time we drive on the road. and, pay for what???? Major traffic congestion for at least the next 12 months. Not Fair.
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Thank you for your comments. The necessary bridge repair requires set-up area and lane restrictions. Regarding traffic, partial or periodic opening of lane restrictions would cause traffic merge with the open mainline lanes, causing additional delays. We apologize for the inconvenience in completing this important work.
The additional ~20min it now takes in the morning to go from West Newton to the Allston tolls is likely to balloon post Labor Day. The DOT should reevaluate the current lane closure plan quickly and implement changes by September or the back ups will be a nightmare and complaints will grow.
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Thank you for your comments. The necessary bridge repair requires set-up area and lane restrictions, while keeping three main travel lanes open. We apologize for the inconvenience in completing this important work.
Your explanation: "The necessary bridge repair requires set-up area and lane restrictions." is hollow. Keep the lanes open if there is no work being done. Close them when work is being done — like the zipper lane.
Agree with all comments above – going to 3 lanes on the pike in the Boston stretch is a major failure. Mass DOT must find a way to do this work without closing a full lane 24×7. Post Labor Day will be a complete fiasco and PR nightmare for the agency so figure it out now.
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Thank you for your comments. The necessary bridge and median repair requires set-up area and lane restrictions, with three main travel lanes remaining open.
I was shocked to see the lane closures during the day since the highway signs only mention closures at night sunday through thursday. I was even more surprised when I googled why the lanes are closed only to find out that this is a SIX MONTH project! This has easily added 20+ minutes each way to my commute. I can only imagine what is going to happen after Labor Day.
The DOT needs to find a way to ease this restriction during rush hour. Over 20 minutes a day is not an acceptable burden to place on thousands of commuters for 6 months without better planning, communication, and mitigation. There is no work going on in these zones during rush hour anyways, so the DOT needs to find a way to allow traffic through. Hard to justify the investment in a "substructure rehabilitation" and "median improvement" when you factor in the 1500 hours of people's time you're wasting every day. Don't think Comm Ave bridge is exactly Minnesota Rt I-35. This is going to be a DISASTER post-labor day.
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Thank you for your comments, shared with the Highway Division. The necessary bridge repair requires set-up area and lane restrictions, while keeping three main travel lanes open. We apologize for the inconvenience in completing this important work.
To whoever is moderating this forum:
1. Who do we contact at the DOT for concerns and comments about this issue?
2. Does the DOT use traffic simulators before making their lane closure decisions? Was this degree of congestion planned or is this a surprise to the DOT?
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Thank you for your questions. Traffic count and congestion information is analyzed as part of all major state roadway projects. If you wish to contact MassDOT regarding this or any issue, please visit our Contact page: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/contactus.aspx
Very shortsighted thinking with this project. Do the work at night even if it takes longer or leave the lane open 2 hours a day in each direction during peak rush hour." I expect a lot more from my tax dollars & tolls!!
It's crazy that these repairs take so long
By the time this work is done, the Commonwealth Ave. work will start and then after that, the Fenway Center project will likely start. That work will likely take more than a year to do and will also require lane closures. Therefore, we are probably looking at 2 to 3 years of restricted operations on the Turnpike east of the Alston Tolls!?!
This does not even take into consideration the work that is currently under consideration for the reconfiguration/reconstruction of the Brighton/Alston Interchange and viaduct, which is probably going to take another 2 or 3 years.
This would then stretch the time to 5 or 6 years of inconvenience to travelers of the vital link.
is this a likely scenario???
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Multiple necessary projects affecting one area are always coordinated to reduce the impact on traffic. The exact schedule and timing of the important future projects listed above have yet to be determined.
I agree with essentially all of the comments above:
1. This has already been a disaster during extremely light summer driving conditions. The result once the September traffic surge arrives will be more amazing than the Red Sox' collapse this year. The PR hit for MassDOT will be equally impressive.
2. Why can't this work be done only at night, as has been the case for years under the Pru/in the Pru tunnel? Same set up requirements seem to apply in terms of creating the necessary space to perform the work. These lane closures during rush hour in either direction, much less both directions, show an incredible lack of understanding of the well known and consistent traffic patterns on the Pike. Seeing the barriers up and no work being performed for hours at a time is infuriating.
3. The answers provided to the comments above are mechanical and unresponsive. They provide no explanations of any substance and would be completely inadequate at a public meeting (and are equally insufficient on this blog).
4. The economic cost of the closures, even if you only value the time of the people stuck in the resulting traffic at minimum wage, far exceeds any additional costs of doing this work at night.
5. Poorly planned and poorly implemented.
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Thank you for your comments, forwarded to the Highway Division. The carefully planned and necessary bridge repair and median work requires set-up area and lane restrictions, while keeping three main travel lanes open. We appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience as we complete this work.
This sounds like Carmageddon II! Only the one on the west coast was for a weekend. This is going to be much longer and more painful!
This is what happens when you let your infrastructure rot and not invest in it. Shame on Massachusetts for charging (still) to ride the pike and not investing back in it.
Is it really necessary to replace the median (at a cost ot thousands of hours of lost productivity)? If so, why? If it is required, surely there must be a way to do it more quickly. How about those portable median pieces we see all of the time? Do both sides of the Pike really have to be lane limited at the same time? Isn't there a fast track bridge repair approach (I recall bridges on I 93 being address in a creative way)? Finally, and perhaps most importantly, where are the workers? I have been sitting in nightmare traffic for three weeks and I have yet to see a single worker on my way in or my way home!!! Our state reps. should start looking at this ASAP. There must be better alternatives.
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The work includes necessary replacement of medians to enhance driver safety. The closures of lanes in both Eastbound and Westbound directions on I-90 from west of the Prudential tunnel to the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge are necessary to create work zones for substructure rehabilitation work. The current night work prepares the subsurface for the shoring towers and a jacking system to keep the bridge deck in place to allow foundation work, with the shoring and jacking system to be set up in the closed travel lane. Permanent lane closures are required for the setup and work described above.
The lane closures are the result of traffic management plans that take into account constraints with the physical, available right-of-way and close proximity to the commuter rail lines. The permanent closures allow the project to be completed safely and on schedule. MassDOT will continue to monitor traffic impacts and make adjustments as necessary that continue to ensure safe travel.
You never explained why it is necessary to replace the medians. Please explain.
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As noted previously, the median work is necessary to enhance driver safety. The new medians will reflect current safety standards.
Something NEEDS to be done here to remedy this situation. This extremely poor planning is costing the city an immeasurable amount of productivity and costing workings parents valuable time with their children. The city must react in a prudent manner here to fix this ridiculous bottleneck. For starters, let's get some people working during the day to significantly shorten the construction timeline. Secondly, just move the barriers over so that the lanes can remain open.
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Thank you for your comments. The permanent lane restrictions are necessary to allow evening work to proceed efficiently and safely. The required night work will be followed by bridge and median work that is visible to the traveling public during commute hours.
MASS DOT needs to stop this work immediately and reconsider how to proceed with this project. You don't seriously think that businesses, workers and voters will put up with this chaos for the next two years?
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Thank you for your comments, forwarded to the Highway Division.
Dear MASSDOT:
1. Would you please explain to me and to this forum exactly what the projected time line is for only three lanes open on the parts of I-90 that are going through repairs/construction? Your website says 6 months for the right lanes and then 6 months for the left lanes. Does this mean 1 year or are we talking more time? Please give us an exact projected date as to when commuters can expect to have all four lanes open on both sides.
2. You said in an earlier reply that you would make adjustments as necessary depending on traffic impact. Well, the impact has been disastrous in the month of September. Have you therefore had any discussions on how to made adjustments?
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Thank you for your questions. Please refer to follow-up information provided on this blog in late August: http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/massdot-highway/boston-i-90-construction-update/
Also, a website is dedicated to providing information on this project: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/highlightedprojects/i90medianbarrierreplacement.aspx
As the website indicates, Phase I from August 2014 to January 2015 includes high speed lane closures, with 3 lanes open in each direction during peak hours. This is followed by Phase II, February 2015 through July 2015, including “low” speed lane closures, with 3 lanes open in each direction. All dates are approximate as always and subject to change due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances. The project continues as planned with no planned changes to the project as posted.