My future MBTA subway map

[Paul1705]

Thank you.

Is the Silver Line still a bus? (I see the Washington Street segment is replaced by the Green Line.) Is the new section along Herald Street to Back Bay in a tunnel or on the surface?

[railgeekteen]

Surface.
The silver line does not exist anymore.

[Paul1705]

Ok, so what kind of vehicles service the former SL2 which goes along the waterfront and appears to be extended to Castle Island and the SL1 and SL3 which go to the Airport and Chelsea? Most of this is shown here in dark gray or black, I'm not sure which color.

[railgeekteen]

Subway tunnel.

[railgeekteen]

I just added another urban ring.

[Rbts Stn]

https://xkcd.com/1196/

[ceo]

Eliminating the Minuteman in favor of a transit line will NEVER happen. I will agitate against such a proposal.

Now, another thing that will never happen is the people of Arlington, Lexington and Bedford going along with a surface transit line on the Lexington Branch. If you want to extend the Red Line it's going to be below grade at least as far as I-95 (and probably further because of grade crossings). In which case restoring the Minuteman on top of it is trivial.

[bgl]

Eliminating the Minuteman in favor of a transit line will NEVER happen. I will agitate against such a proposal.

Now, another thing that will never happen is the people of Arlington, Lexington and Bedford going along with a surface transit line on the Lexington Branch. If you want to extend the Red Line it's going to be below grade at least as far as I-95 (and probably further because of grade crossings). In which case restoring the Minuteman on top of it is trivial.

Seems pretty short sighted, a heavy rail link is vastly better and more efficient that a bike trial.

[ceo]

[quote="bgl"]Seems pretty short sighted, a heavy rail link is vastly better and more efficient that a bike trial.[/quote]
You obviously haven't seen how busy the Minuteman gets at commute times and on summer weekends. It's become a vitally important facility for that part of the suburbs.

Honestly, I've never thought the Red Line extension made much sense to begin with; there's nowhere near enough population density to support full heavy rail out that way. And I grew up in Lexington and would have appreciated better transit options to Boston when I still lived there.

[BandA]

Population density? Where do you think all those cars that fill Alewife garage to overflow come from? A Red Line station where the 128 Lexington rest area is located, for example, would be very very popular. Burlington even more so.

[Paul1705]

What I remember from about 1973 (I read about this from outside the Boston area) was that the MBTA only wanted to go to Arlington or Arlington Heights, not Lexington. There was speculation about going as far as Route 128 but I don't know if that reached official planning.

Was it community opposition or lack of money that ended the plan? (Usually it's a combination of both, with an agency preferring to spend resources elsewhere.)

Also, the commuter rail service must have had low demand if it was down to a single round-trip. (Again, cause or effect?)

P.S.: Was the line beyond Alewife supposed to be in a tunnel?

[Charliemta]

It wasn't lack of funding, but opposition from Arlington NIMBYs that stopped the line at Alewife. Arlington was concerned about two things: Arlington Center becoming clogged with traffic wanting to park and board the Red Line there, and also of course the concern that a "crime train" would be coming to Arlington.

[Paul1705]

So Lexington residents had no opinion on it because the line wouldn't go out that far?

[RenegadeMonster]

and also of course the concern that a "crime train" would be coming to Arlington.

Crime Train? Can please explain what they meant by that?

[ceo]

Someone in Arlington looked at the T map, realized the other end of the Red Line went to places where black people live and it was all over right there.