GLX Impact on NH Route (Lowell Line)

[ck4049]

I noticed they started construction on the Right-of-Way behind the Somerville High School just off Medford Street in the recent weeks. Probably for the School Street station.

[Arlington]

I noticed they started construction on the Right-of-Way behind the Somerville High School just off Medford Street in the recent weeks. Probably for the School Street station.

Photos available on Facebook, including a good March 2015 album

Project presentation from Feb 2015

Technically, School Street (Gilman Square is the station name), is just brigework and project-materials staging during the current phase (Phase 2/2A, where "2" goes to Brickbottom and 2A goes to Union Sq)

Check out the Phasing diagram.

Then comes Phase 3, the yard and shops

Then the stations from Gilman Sq to Tufts don't get started until Phase 4 starts in

[rethcir]

School Street Bridge (by Somerville High School)

School Street Bridge utility bridge work (in rail corridor)
Monday March 23 – Wednesday March 25
Monday March 30 – Friday April 3
Monday April 6 – Friday April 10
Setting up for utility bridge work in road (requiring lane closure with sidewalk closure)
Thursday April 9 – Friday April 10

from: http://greenlineextension.eot.state.ma.us/schedule.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Arlington]

They are also installing the utility-diversion truss bridge next to the Broadway Bridge over the Lowell Line (@ Ball Square) this Friday & Saturday. I'm surprised how far north of the Phase 2 terminus (Brickbottom) they are working on the bridges over the Lowell Line. When Phase 4 does happen, the ROW seems likely to be fully rebuilt in advance.

The Green Line Extension Project (GLX) wanted to inform you of upcoming project work on the Broadway Bridge in Somerville.

On April 10 (Friday between 7 AM & 11 PM) and April 11th (Saturday between 7 AM & 7 PM) the GLX contractor, White Skanska Kiewit (WSK) will offload and install the temporary utility bridge structure at the Broadway Bridge. On Friday April 10th, 2015 between the hours of 4:00 AM - 7:00 AM Bay Crane will pre-assemble a crane on Franey Road, then travel the crane up Charles E. Ryan Road and along Broadway into the work zone. On Saturday April 11th 2015, between the hours of 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM Bay Crane will move the crane back down Broadway to Ryan and onto Franey Road to complete dis-assembly. During these times parking will be restricted in the posted areas to facilitate the movement of these vehicles.

Starting on Friday April 10th at 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Saturday April 11th, the contractor will close Broadway Bridge to conduct the construction. Please see the detour plan on the GLX website for how to navigate around the closure: http://greenlineextension.eot.state.ma. ... April.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Signage providing direction and detail police providing assistance will be available to assist vehicular, bike, and pedestrian traffic.

This work is in conjunction with the Broadway Bridge work and lane closure which began in January 2015.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. This work is an important step in bringing the Green Line from Cambridge to Medford and Somerville. Should you have any questions please feel free to contact the Green Line Extension at 855-GLX-INFO (459-4636) or [email protected].

[Arlington]

Recall that they're also rebuilding the Lowell Line's bridge over Harvard Ave in Medford(at Tufts/St Clement between Ball and College), raising it by about 3' in order to improve drainage at street level (big new storm pipe under a flatter street) and improve the vertical clearance. This has been in progress a long time. The bridge began with two running tracks in the middle and an empty slot in the abutments on both sides (presumably for customers that never materialized for 4-track ops that never were...the slots were reserved but steel never spanned them)

As of last week, they have dropped neat bundles of new ties at the Tufts science labs side, which I think means they will soon move the inbound Lowell Line from its old slot (on the lower, original bridge) to where the outbound Lowell Line used to go (but vacated in Fall 2014 in favor of a new outermost slot).

This has taken the extra time because the outbound's old bridge slot, to which the inbound track is moving, had to be demo'd and rebuilt higher off the road below (by about 3 feet?)

Once the Lowell Line is fully moved to the slots on the Mystic side, they can then build the slots for the GLX on what had been the old inbound slot and an empty slot on the Boston Ave/"Powderhouse Circle" side

[Arlington]

All indications are that today's single-track ops on the Lowell Line (9am to 5pm) are part of the run-up to moving the inbound tracks one slot on the Harvard Ave bridge from what they call the Western Slot (of the original bridge) to what was the Eastern Slot (of the original bridge, but now is the middle operable slot). It looks like the new (previously-re-slotted) outbound/eastern track will be the main track for the next few days, while they gear up for the move over the weekend
http://greenlineextension.org/schedule.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Medford
Harvard Street Rail Bridge Work:

Bridge work to be done in the bridge right-of-way
Monday May 4 – Wednesday May 6
Monday May 11 – Friday May15
Monday May 18 – Friday May 22
Work Done Requiring Lane Closure with Sidewalk Closure

Demo of Western Bridge Bay – work done in Harvard Street and bridge right-of-way
Saturday May 16 – Sunday May 17
Work Done by Others

Keolis Track work
Friday May 9 – Sunday May 10
Saturday May 23

[Arlington]

Can anyone say what the track work was @ Tufts' back lots? Was it, in fact moving the inbound Lowell track over one bridge slot?

[ceo]

Yes it was. Both tracks are now moved over.

[Arlington]

Yes it was. Both tracks are now moved over.

Great! That means that the continuing work and road closures is to now to raise and rebuild the former inbound slot and former empty slot on the Harvard St Bridge (Tufts U @ St Clements) bridge to be fully-ready for the laying of GLX tracks. Yay! It is so nice to see land being prepped that they will actually lay track on.

[ceo]

I went to the GLX informational meeting on the Ball Square and College Ave station designs last night, and learned some things.

- The work on the Harvard St rail bridge will be done in late summer or early fall. Sound walls are going up next week.
- The reconstruction of the Broadway bridge will start in 2016 and run concurrently with the construction of the Ball Square station (and the other stations). It will be done one side at a time so as to not have to close Broadway.
- The Lowell Line will be single-tracked through the area for the duration. I don't know if this is just under the Broadway bridge or all of them. The new bridge will have a center pier that's right where the Lowell Line inbound track is now, so there's no room for two tracks until they've demoed the existing abutment and built the new one further back.
- Tufts is planning a new building that will be partially over the tracks and adjacent to the College Ave station, extending over to where their DPW garage is on College Ave. The GLX people are redesigning the station and plaza to accommodate this, in cooperation with the Tufts real estate office. (This was an opportunity to address a number of deficiencies in the old design, so they're happy about this.)
- Tufts wants to build a pedestrian bridge from up the hill on their main campus across Boston Ave to the station.
- The crossover will be south of the station, not north of it as in the earlier plans. This way they can reduce the length of the storage tracks after the station. Trains will arrive at and depart from College Ave on either track, like Alewife.
- Some people think it's the GLX's fault that Tufts tore down a building next to the corridor, increasing the noise level from the Lowell Line.

[Arlington]

Anyone know what the proposed "Tufts Interlocking" is? Is it a Lowell Line thing (to allow for easier single-tracking while station construction happens between Brickbottom and Tufts), or is it a GLX-Phase-2-has-long-tail-tracks thing? Here's a quote from the GLX phasing:

GMP-4: This work includes the balance of the work for Phase 2/2A [Lech/Brickbottom/Union]. It also includes Tufts interlocking and retaining walls north of College Avenue, both of which are located in the Phase 4 area.

I can see where a Tufts Interlocking on the Lowell Line would be a good thing to have by the end of Phase 2/2A in order to ease single-tracking during Phase 4 (Construction of stations from Gilman to College Ave).

The alternative would be that they are laying long tail tracks for the GLX once the retaining walls are in (as temp/flex storage to operate Phase 2/2A while Phase 3 (the yards) is being constructed?

[BostonUrbEx]

Somerville Jct interlocking would be less than a mile away, unless they're moving it.

[BostonUrbEx]

One end of the Willey Track is out of service. Don't know this is related to GLX or not. Could be the beginning of the end.

[Arlington]

I'm posting this here (instead of the main GLX thread) because the bigger story (for the next 5 years) is that the Lowell Line is snug in its new bridge slots and the bridge is (essentially) done and just waiting for noise barriers (which are a Lowell Line noise-reduction thing, now that it is closer to nearby buildings, rather than a GLX thing)
Posted a photo of the nearly-complete Harvard St Bridge rebuildwhich they describe as:

A bird’s-eye view of the widened rail bridge over Harvard Street in South Medford. The two bays to the right of the relocated commuter rail tracks will carry tracks for the Green Line Extension to Medford. Also note the nearly completed noise barriers at the top of the photo along the outbound commuter rail track.

[BostonUrbEx]

As discussed more recently in other threads (not sure where), the NH Route will be temporarily single-tracked from a new Tufts interlocking to the existing Tower A interlocking. Tufts interlocking will be in the vicinity of Winthrop St or College Ave, with a goal-post style home signal behind 123 and 127 Burget Ave in Medford. Without knowing where the other home signals will be, I'm not sure which bridge the interlocking will be closer to, but I'm guessing Winthrop St.