Seriously, can't we ever just tell the NIMBYs to go f*** themselves?
The 93/95 issue isn't just NIMBYism; they would have to take numerous homes and possibly some businesses to build it out. There is a difference between a highway coming closer to your property and needing to move somewhere else while the gov't forces you to accept what would likely be below market value for your home (and many homes around there are near $750K in value - because eastern Massachusetts). Telling someone who might have their home taken from them because a state didn't have the foresight to build something properly in the first place and then telling them to fuck themselves while doing it? That's classy...
Apart from the fact that the number of takings has been grossly overstated by the opponents to this project, minimal takings will be required only if they build the full option - which includes C/D roads on I-95 from south of Washington Street to north of Route 28. It is both feasible and practical to construct a full set of flyover ramps that meet current design standards within the current footprint of the cloverleaf.
As for businesses, word on the street is that they are looking to relocate anyway and are willing to be taken, and that it's actually Woburn that's raising the objections.
Woburn Toyota just got done building a huge new building inside the ramp circle for the Washington Street exit on 128 northbound. I grimaced watching it go up over the past few months, because it's yet another case of encroachment that is a bad idea for everyone but that business. I doubt they would have done it if there would have been any kind of movement for the C&D option in this project in the next decade.
Aside from the cloverleaf another large part of the problem is three exits very close to each other (Washington Street, 93, 28/Main Street). There's just a lot of traffic. The flyover would eliminate a lot of the conflicts, but the volume is just high.
On another topic, the restriping made to the US 3 / Middlesex turnpike C&D entrance on 128 southbound has IMO been a net negative. It changed what was just a long queue to a long queue with a series of annoyances. It hasn't done much to address the mainline queuing that happens at that exit.
1. The addition of the striped "exit only" lane for Middlesex turnpike may help get some cars out of the queue, but it has invited people to make mistakes and act aggressively. Since the new signage that went up a few years ago doesn't indicate the new exit only lane, people who aren't commuters don't know that you still have to stay in the rightmost mainline lane to get on to US 3 north. What happens is:
1. People who don't know that the dashed lane is for Middlesex turnpike only but want to get to US 3 get to the end of the lane, realize they made a mistake, and then try to merge back into the queue. This holds up legitimate middlesex turnpike traffic and US 3 traffic.
2. On top of the mistaken drivers, you get aggressive drivers that fly down the lane intending to bypass queued cars, forcing more merges that makes everybody late.
3. The C&D lane for US 3 is helped by having the dual-lane stripe so that even if you're in the left lane you can still exit, and the merge is on the ramp which is great and moves some movements forward. Alas, any gains from this are wiped by the on-ramp from Middlesex Turnpike, which is still a big conflict that causes the source of the queueing that backs up on to the 128 mainline.
None of this stops people blowing past the queue in the second rightmost lane and trying to merge in to the exit queue, but that was happening anyway.
I can't think of a real good way of fixing it that won't cost a ton of money, take a bunch of property, or eliminate the Middlesex Turnpike exit (which would be really bad for locals). The situation here is even more bleak than Woburn because even with Washington street the C&D option eliminated a lot of the choke points. I was hoping the state would have bought the land of the former Dodge dealer there, but alas, new buildings went up a couple of years ago.
On the plus side, the changes made to the 128 Northbound side (exit only lane, two full lanes exiting to US 3 north, a longer merge area for the end of the C&D on to 128) have made an appreciable difference. If only the merge from Middlesex Turnpike on to the C&D could be longer for safety, but overall it's been a very positive update on the northbound side.