Ashmont Trolley (My Ninjas, Please)
[image: a ninja awaiting the Red Line]
Welcome to Ashmont, the Southern end of Boston’s Red Line. Currently under renovations, they’re finally starting to to wrap it up and finish the project – something I hope to bring you some info on in the near future. Today, however, I’d like to focus on the ridiculousness that is the ‘high speed trolley’ that runs from Ashmont to Mattapan. Now you need to understand – I would rather not talk trash. In fact I look forward to the station itself being finished, so I can snap a few photos and give readers a general rundown of a project which I think has done a lot to revitalize the entire Ashmont / Peabody Square area. But for right now, follow me on this journey of foolishness.
For those of you who don’t know, the ‘high speed trolley’ running from Ashmont  [located in Dorchester] to Mattapan Square is an extension of the MBTA’s Red Line – which, off the top of my head, serves 7 stops [not including Ashmont itself]. The trolley is quite popular, as it connects both Mattapan and Milton [a suburb to Boston’s South] with the Red Line – the train downtown is always busy in the mornings & evenings with additional commuters from the trolley. So when Ashmont was slated for renovations & redevelopment, the trolley line was included in these plans – and was actually the first thing to get a makeover. The stops were cleaned-up, some ‘antique’ trolleys were brought back into service, and the trolley stop and turnaround at Ashmont were completely redesigned and rebuilt. Everything looked fine [not great, but fine], and things seemed to be moving along at a pace that we’ve all come to expect with a government project.
And then the noise started.
[image: the T wasting my money]
Yeah, I’m talking literal ‘noise’ – as in ear splitting shrieks of pain coming from the tracks. Loud enough to be kind of physically uncomfortable when you’re on the trolley. Loud enough that I can here the trolley from my apartment – which is something like 1/3 of a mile away – but not the train [I mean, I can hear both at times – but mostly I here the shrill echo of the trolley]. The noise had been measured at over 110 decibels at the station, and over 100 decibels at nearby homes.
The problem? The track at the turnaround [seen above] has a diameter that is too tight – trolley is at an awkward angle while going around, causing more friction between wheel and track, blah blah blah – super loud noise ensues. Did someone let the intern design this portion of the track? What the hell happened here?
Well obviously whoever is responsible is in the wind – since in the Bean you can literally build something that kills someone and skate. As blaming someone won’t help anyway, a solution is worked out – after two different systems involving automated greasing of some sort fail, the T falls back on insulated blankets and sprinklers that keep the tracks/wheels wet. SPRINKLERS AND BLANKETS. This is a project coming in just under $50 million dollars [maybe more?], and the solution is the aesthetically-depressing / intelligence-insulting blanket-covered water-drenched fence seen above.
My ninjas, please.
Seriously, I don’t even have a point that I’m moving towards here – I just want everyone reading AMNP to know about the ridiculousness going on in Dorchester, and to understand what kind of crap karma you generate when your design isn’t up to snuff. Imagine owning a home where every 15 minutes or so all day long you have to deal with 110+ decibels of fingernails on a chalkboard – all because someone either cut corners or had their trig confused.
Consider this when discussing fast-tracked infrastructure projects to boost the economy. Not because we shouldn’t support them, but because they need to be watched carefully.
My favorite part of this story? A State Senator suggested we put in a Disney-style monorail a ‘middle ground’ type solution. A FECKIN’ MONORAIL!
::note: I promise that I have a cheery, positive post on Ashmont’s redevelopment as a whole in the works – I’m just waiting for them to complete the finish work::
Posted: August 2nd, 2010
at 11:09pm by orangemenace
Tagged with for real?, infrastructure, transit, design, my ninja, please
Categories: architecture,my ninja, please,transit,design,criticism
Comments: 2 comments
Pamphlet Architecture 30 Winner
[PA30 Jury, left to right: Toshiko Mori, Kevin Lippert, Michael Bell, and Stan Allen]
A winner has been announced in the Pamphlet Architecture 30 Competition [the one linked to from AMNP’s sidebar for the past 6 months or so]. The winning entry, entitled: Coupling: Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism, was submitted by InfraNet Lab / Lateral Office and will be published as number 30 in the critically acclaimed Pamphlet Architecture series of publications. InfraNet Lab / Lateral Office, a nonprofit research collective probing the spatial byproducts of contemporary resource logistics, is composed of Mason White, Lola Sheppard, Neeraj Bhatia, and Maya Przybylski. The winning entrants will receive a $2,500 grant to develop their proposal for publication as Pamphlet 30 in September 2011.
Posted: September 11th, 2009
at 11:57am by orangemenace
Tagged with competition, writing, infrastructure
Categories: architecture,books,competitions
Comments: No comments
Taken for a Ride
[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2486235784907931000[/googlevideo]
Taken for a Ride is an amazing documentary by Jim Kleina and Martha Olson that documents the efforts to derail mass transit in America. Ever wonder why the U.S. has the worst mass transportation system in the industrialized world? Using historical footage and investigative research, this film tells how GM fought to push freeways into the inner cities of America, and push public transportation out.
I just came across this documentary, which had been recommended to me but I hadn’t seen. Good thing we bailed them out with all that government funding to save their asses – you know, since they’ve always looked out for the interests of the US public.
::Video Sundays, or VS, is a weekly feature here on AMNP. For more architecture-related videos, click on any Sunday in the sidebar calendar – or on the ‘videos’ category in the ‘archjutsu’ section. And don’t hesitate to submit suggestions for video features to architecture[at]myninjaplease[dot]com::
Posted: July 19th, 2009
at 5:00am by orangemenace
Tagged with video, politricks, civic, for real?, infrastructure, documentary, cars
Categories: my ninja, please,film,videos
Comments: 3 comments
Fat Highways
“America’s obsession with supersizing has ballooned from burgers, sodas, and lattes to SUVs, houses, and now freeways. Cities including Atlanta, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C., propose to widen some freeways to 24 lanes, or 400 feet—enough space for two 747s, side by side. The El Toro “Y†interchange in Orange County, Calif., already has 26 lanes. If this trend continues, you’ll need binoculars to find your exit” .:Architect Magazine->
Posted: June 24th, 2009
at 11:40am by orangemenace
Tagged with highways, infrastructure, US
Categories: sidenote
Comments: No comments
