deathtopumpkins wrote:The point remains, though...that's not going to do a hell of a lot for the traffic that makes going to Hartford or Springfield such a crapshoot. ORT should de-gunk things at Route 128 and in Allston after they straighten that interchange, but the miles of backups at I-84 are less because of the toll wait than because of all the trucks that have to slow to 15 MPH on the ramps. Springfield is bad because I-291 is an abomination of an interchange with the traffic lights backing up traffic straight through the tolls onto the highway. And the 495 exit has such crush-load volumes an accident on either road within 3 miles of the interchange borks that one bigtime. Honestly, I think the freight intermodal projects on CSX and Pan Am are going to do more good for the Pike than any changes to the road itself because it's the endless parade of big rigs going through the Berkshires and Worcester Hills that are the biggest culprits behind the road congestion. It's not a Greater Boston phenomenon...it's 495-and-west. The truck volumes in Metro Boston have declined a lot since Beacon Park closed...you notice it a lot these days at the tolls, at the rest areas, and on the lower quadrant of Route 128 where traffic is flowing pretty smoothly despite a lot of lane narrowing in Needham and Dedham for all the bridge construction. There's not nearly as much diesel fumes being belched and hazard lights flashing taking the curve of an onramp. The Pike has heavier truck traffic on it west of 495 than I-95 has anywhere east of New Haven. Every truckload that gets diverted to rail or diverted from a long trucking trip to a short (and off-peak hours) trip helps a lot when it's those down-shifting behemoths clogging up the ramps and rendering the right lane useless through the hills. ORT is long overdue in this state, but it's only going to have dramatic effects in and around the city. I don't think barring a major reconfiguration to some of those problem interchanges out west or a kajillion-dollar add-a-lane project between 84 and 291 that the rest of the state is going to feel like their time spent on the Pike has changed much at all.jonnhrr wrote:And apparently MA hasn't heard of open road tolling as NH and ME already have at several interchanges. They are really behind the times.Not to drag us off topic, but MA certainly has heard of ORT, and it is coming soon. It is in place already on the Tobin Bridge (but the transition will not happen until the state completes testing), and both the Turnpike and the harbor tunnels should have it by the end of 2015.
The point re: the Inlands is there's a competitive market for a transit mode that has schedule certainty. You will win on travel time to Springfield or Hartford most days of the week on a bus, but you absolutely can't wager on that on any given day, so planning your life around a Boston-Worcester-Springfield or Boston-Worcester-Bradley/Hartford bus is almost futile. A train that reliably runs on time 14 times out of 15 is a big frickin' deal for this corridor. And it doesn't have to be foamer-land speed...just reliably on-time, especially New Haven-Springfield and Worcester-Boston amid all the MBTA congestion.