The Mid Cambridge Neighborhood Association has posted state links on the Grand Junction passenger rail project along with the decidedly misleading statement that the Cambridge City Council has opposed the passenger rail project. The truth on the “opposition” is that the “opposition” is to current plans. Current plans are not irresponsible enough to please almost certainly a majority of the Cambridge City Council. One irresponsible vote was fired in the recent elections effective in January.
There is a map of the Grand Junction railroad in Cambridge that could be of general interest. It may be seen at http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/17/Downloads/grandjunction/GrandJunctionmap.pdf.
This map could be used to exactly locate the areas of destruction on the Charles River. Directly to the left of the railroad at the Charles River is the Destroyed Nesting Area of the Charles River White Geese, which extends slightly to the right as well. Ground vegetation has been fully destroyed to the right and mostly destroyed to the left. The first white line to the left is the BU Bridge. Most of the green area to the left of that is Magazine Beach. The area in which massive tree destruction is sought by Cambridge and the state starts with the BU Bridge and goes east to the second bridge to the East, the Longfellow Bridge. The 105 tree grove which is slated to be decimated and for which I have twice provided photos may be located by realizing that Memorial Drive is an undivided highway at the BU Bridge and extending perhaps half a mile to the east where a split with a park in the middle of two separate travel areas is visible. This split is the location of the targeted grove, but the trees in the targeted grove are much smaller than other targeted healthy trees.
The more general Massachusetts Department of Transportation posting is at http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/planning/GrandJunctionTransportationStudy.aspx. This has links to other matters of value, including the map of the Grand Junction in Cambridge.
The scheduled meeting is at the Kennedy-Longfellow School Auditorium at 158 Spring Street in Cambridge, Thursday, December 8, 2011, 6:30 pm to 8 pm. A relevant flier is also provided by link.
