The future of the Tobin Bridge

[Pete from Boston]

The massive rebuilding of the Chelsea approach to the Tobin Bridge, coupled with the work on the bridge itself, leads me to wonder why there hasn't been much conversation about the long-term future of the bridge.

After this rehab, how long is the bridge expected to be in good shape? How do the costs of all these projects compare with replacing it? Does it have a projected lifespan?

These are a lot of specific questions, but I'm more wondering if anyone else has thought about this rather than specific answers.

[Alps]

I'm gonna guess that it's got roughly 30 years after the latest updates. Design should probably start in the 2020s since it'll be a long process to get to Final Design completion (two rounds of EIS in the way) and then through construction.

[abqtraveler]

I'm gonna guess that it's got roughly 30 years after the latest updates. Design should probably start in the 2020s since it'll be a long process to get to Final Design completion (two rounds of EIS in the way) and then through construction.

Am I sensing that a future replacement of the Tobin Bridge could turn into Big Dig 2.0?

[Pete from Boston]

I'm gonna guess that it's got roughly 30 years after the latest updates. Design should probably start in the 2020s since it'll be a long process to get to Final Design completion (two rounds of EIS in the way) and then through construction.

Am I sensing that a future replacement of the Tobin Bridge could turn into Big Dig 2.0?

Every major transportation project in Massachusetts is Big Dig 2.0. There is a generation or more of skeptics that will complicate any similarly large undertaking (and not necessarily without good reason).

Connecting the north and south commuter rail lines, for example, is a project that could yield huge regional benefits and in most similarly congested metro areas would be getting serious review by now, but here the words "new tunnel"  cause an almost physical reaction in people.

[SectorZ]

I'm gonna guess that it's got roughly 30 years after the latest updates. Design should probably start in the 2020s since it'll be a long process to get to Final Design completion (two rounds of EIS in the way) and then through construction.

Am I sensing that a future replacement of the Tobin Bridge could turn into Big Dig 2.0?

Every major transportation project in Massachusetts is Big Dig 2.0. There is a generation or more of skeptics that will complicate any similarly large undertaking (and not necessarily without good reason).

Connecting the north and south commuter rail lines, for example, is a project that could yield huge regional benefits and in most similarly congested metro areas would be getting serious review by now, but here the words "new tunnel"  cause an almost physical reaction in people.

Thankfully no other city I can think of was as short-sighted as Boston with the unconnected rail hubs. I'd love a connector, too, but we've got bridges down to one lane for over 5 years without construction even being initiated in places because the state is close to becoming broke.

[Rothman]

I thought Chicago had a big mess in regards to east-west rail traffic.

[Duke87]

I thought Chicago had a big mess in regards to east-west rail traffic.

In addition to Boston and Chicago, New York and Baltimore still retain multiple unconnected commuter rail hubs. Philadelphia had a major project to connect theirs in the 1970s. Every other city with commuter rail naturally only has one hub for it.

Regarding the Tobin Bridge, a quick scan of the area seems to indicate that construction of a new span adjacent to the exiting one would require numerous structures to be taken, no matter which side you do it on. I could see this being an impetus for a tunnel to be considered for its replacement. Whether that would actually happen is another story.

[Alps]

I'm gonna guess that it's got roughly 30 years after the latest updates. Design should probably start in the 2020s since it'll be a long process to get to Final Design completion (two rounds of EIS in the way) and then through construction.

Am I sensing that a future replacement of the Tobin Bridge could turn into Big Dig 2.0?

Potentially, since 1 now swirls down from 93 into tunnels. It would free some of the gnarl on the Chelsea side and complete the reunification of Charlestown with its waterfront. The question is whether enough memory has elapsed since the actual Big Dig to get funding for it.

[PHLBOS]

Philadelphia had a major project to connect theirs in the 1970s.

The Center City Rail Tunnel, as the project was called back then, opened circa 1985.  It linked the then-Pennsylvania Railroad (all lines ended at Penn Center/Suburban Station) to the then-Reading Railroad (all lines ended at the old Reading Terminal, which is now a marketplace & part of the Pennsylvania Convention Center).  In terms of rail ops, the old Reading Terminal was replaced with the current Market East/Jefferson Station.

Regarding the Tobin Bridge, a quick scan of the area seems to indicate that construction of a new span adjacent to the exiting one would require numerous structures to be taken, no matter which side you do it on. I could see this being an impetus for a tunnel to be considered for its replacement. Whether that would actually happen is another story.

I'm gonna guess that it's got roughly 30 years after the latest updates. Design should probably start in the 2020s since it'll be a long process to get to Final Design completion (two rounds of EIS in the way) and then through construction.

Am I sensing that a future replacement of the Tobin Bridge could turn into Big Dig 2.0?

Potentially, since 1 now swirls down from 93 into tunnels. It would free some of the gnarl on the Chelsea side and complete the reunification of Charlestown with its waterfront. The question is whether enough memory has elapsed since the actual Big Dig to get funding for it.

Memory of the Big Dig cost overruns wouldn't be the only issue.  Politics, like it or not, would have a role as well.  Keep in mind that had Congress not overrode then-President Reagan's veto (it also helped that the Speaker of the House back then, Tip O'Neill, was from Massachusetts); the Big Dig, as we know it, would not have happened.

While replacing such with a tunnel would, in the long term free up some land on both ends; there will still be some land takings on both sides for the lead-in roads & tunnel portals.  One downside of replacing that bridge with a tunnel would mean that local hazmat traffic would lose another road to utilize.  Such a move would force those vehicles to use MA 99 or I-93 north of Downtown Boston.  Hazmat traffic along I-93 southbound are directed to leave the highway via Exit 26/Leverett Circle/Storrow Drive.