Quincy Center Station - Construction/upgrades

[djimpact1]

There's an interesting article in the Patriot Ledger concerning Quincy Center's planned redevelopment, tentatively starting in 2013, and the correlation of the city wanting the MBTA's Quincy Center Station (especially garage area) to be a part of this reworking of the center...

http://www.patriotledger.com/features/x ... TA-station

I found this to be pretty comical:
"Harrington said the station does not have the pedestrian access needed to highlight the new public common that will be built in front of city hall as part of the downtown revitalization.

“When you leave a T station, it should be a pedestrian experience,” Harrington said. “When you get off the T stop at Harvard Square, you see Harvard Square.”"

Even with whatever potential changes the center's redevelopment could bring, I can't imagine it will change things so much that the area surrounding the station will be comparable to Harvard Square or Government Center, etc. Maybe it will open-up the area enough to let people see the newer Lowe's as soon as they exit the station. :-p

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Any info on exactly what they're studying to do with it? The whole complex pretty much is the parking garage, so a blow-it-up-and-start-over means a whole replacement station. Which is silly.

May be the only chance the get to add double-track to the Old Colony Line choke point if that's tied into the upgrades. There's ROW room and structural room for making a siding long enough to convert the existing platform into an island, but it would tear up the front entrance pretty good to do the construction work. A total station renovation is the only reasonable shot to swallow that kind of a disruption. Gotta do it, though. If they ever want to balance 3 branches and future Cape rail without a permanently crippled schedule they gotta double up the JFK and QC platforms.

[djimpact1]

Starting tomorrow (for an indefinite period of time), the Quincy Center parking garage will be closed due to the sacrificed integrity of the structure.

Articles can be found here:
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/v ... 1061143319 (Boston Herald)

http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x1446 ... ing-garage (Patriot Ledger)

[FP10]

Soooooooooo bringing up the earlier posts, maybe there is a chance for a better station to serve the increasingly urban design oriented Quincy?

[Adams_Umass_Boston]

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/qui ... rTownlinks

The Globe's story.

[Amtrak7]

Reminds me of the LIRR Hicksville parking garage incident, when a crack was discovered in 2008 and the garage was closed immediately until it could be replaced. The new one opened in March 2011.

[theseaandalifesaver]

I can only imagine the headache this is causing for people who drive to the train AND the people who regularly park at Braintree.

[Adams_Umass_Boston]

I can only imagine the headache this is causing for people who drive to the train AND the people who regularly park at Braintree.

The Globe article states...
"The garage at last report was not well-used. It was around 50 percent capacity…"

I would say the effect sound small.

[theseaandalifesaver]

[quote="Adams_Umass_Boston"][quote="theseaandalifesaver"]I can only imagine the headache this is causing for people who drive to the train AND the people who regularly park at Braintree.[/quote]
The Globe article states...
"The garage at last report was not well-used. It was around 50 percent capacity…"

I would say the effect sound small.[/quote]

I didn't even read the article. Clearly.

[BostonUrbEx]

The MBTA has removed the figures for parking spaces for this station, so can't even figure out what 50% of capacity is. Just blank lines for parking spaces: http://mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/subw ... -71.004798

[Matthew]

It was 872.

[rethcir]

Quincy Center is being re-zoned and re-developed in a major program. As I recall TOD is a big part of the push. With this being the case, they may choose just to remove the garage altogether.

Quincy has a weird relationship with the Red Line. For instance, the neighbors actually asked for the Quincy Adams entrance on the Independance Ave side (near the old Friendly's) to be closed, they would rather have to take the bus to the center than risk people actually coming and going.

[jscola30]

I remember when the Metro used to have ask the T, someone inquired about the Independence Ave. entrance. Davey said that a large concern back then was people parking illegally on the street rather than using the garage (don't ask me why they just couldn't enforce it). As far as this "lightly used" is concerned, while I don't regularly park there, the times that I have parked there, I feel like it's used way more than that. Not full to capacity, but pretty full. Of course, over the past few years, spaces have been closed because of the damage and that could be part of it. I wouldn't say Braintree will bear the brunt of this closure; it's pretty well full by 730 or so; but I think Quincy Adams will (they usually have open spaces all day, not sure if it can accommodate everyone).

[Head-end View]

I might be taking a trip to the Quincy/Braintree area this Fall. I usually park at the Quincy Adams garage when taking the Red Line into Boston.

With the Quincy Center garage closed, is it still possible to find spaces available at Quincy Adams around 10AM weekdays?

A few years back I remember a couple of times the Q-A garage was full and I drove to Quincy Center and found spaces available there, but without that option this could be a problem.

[The EGE]

The MBTA Business Center lists a $28.4 million contract for a "South Shore Parking Garage" to be sent to bidding next month. Is this for the Quincy Center garage?