A private Interstate Off Ramp to MIT sold as a Bike Path, with major harm to the Charles River, and to the Cambridge Environment.
1. The key part of an outrage.
2. Introduction.
3. I90 connection to MIT.
1. The key part of an outrage.
Here is the overview of the situation, taken from “From Cambridge to Boston with the DJ Inspire 1 Drone footage," posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN-OmMzvHhw. This is a still from minute 1.59. Below I will present more stills from this source, only providing the minute as identification.
This is an overall picture of the area we have been studying. The Magazine Beach Playing fields, Woods and Swimming pool are very prominent in the middle. Also prominent toward the bottom is the narrow portion of I90 which needed to be replaced, plus Soldiers Field Road below it.
Less visible AND KEY are the BU Bridge, the Grand Junction railroad bridge, the Destroyed Nesting Area of the Charles River White Geese, the doomed wild area, and the Grand Junction Railroad which runs through and is targeted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Details below.
2. Introduction.
It is so distressing to see Cambridge Pols selling con games to well meaning people. I could go on and on and on.
The basic con is: Do not look at what we are destroying. Look at what we tell you to look at.
The Charles River White Geese, other free animals and the Charles River environment are beloved by decent human beings and attacked by frauds who call themselves environmental saints.
One of the big differences from the past is that we now have drones flying around in the skies which help call liars liars.
Plus there are good people involved. On the Charles River the good people are the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
The bad people, as usual, are the Cambridge City Council, related bureaucrats, fake “protectors” who do exactly the opposite, and too many others. The bad folks scratch each others backs and lie and lie and lie. Although people who have been conned can be very aggressive about stabbing themselves in the their own backs because they trust people who should not be trusted.
I have been working on the state’s plans to correct a very dangerous situation on the Boston side of the Charles River from the habitat which is directly being attacked by the Cambridge City Council and bureaucrats from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
They have very terrible plans for the Charles River. They have been fighting for destruction using various frauds. This report is about a fraud which claims to be helping bicyclists. Much of the fraud is quite beneficial. The bad stuff MassDOT is protecting the bicyclists from.
There is a railroad track going through the eastern part of Cambridge called the Grand Junction railroad. There are big plans there, most of it is good.
As usual, the bad stuff has been kept as secret as possible from the victims. The worst of it can be avoided, and I have tried to help well meaning people from, once again, being shafted by their government, and I have proposed a limited modification which could make the plans responsible.
MassDOT, once again, is standing up to dirty tricks coming out of the Cambridge City Council. I have responded to those dirty tricks and communicated a lot of responses.
Reality dates back to 2003 when the regional transportation authority, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority proved it possible to create an off ramp from I90 to the Metropolitan Institute of Technology. This off ramps is behind so much of the outrages on the Cambridge side of the Charles River.
The bad guys have tried to sneak in dirty tricks publicly AND LOST. So they are trying to sneak them into MassDOT’s proposal to make safe the portion of I90 which is across the Charles River from Magazine Beach. This stretch is now 40 to 50 years old. It is elevated and is being held together by extreme means.
Cambridge and friends are trying to use this repair work to assist in the creation of the off ramp which was proven possible in 2003.
Here is how it works.
3. I90 connection to MIT.
Never mentioned in all the piety from the Cambridge pols is the demonstration by the MBTA in 2003 that an off ramp can be built from I90 to the north through Cambridge, specifically to the heart of the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology OR FURTHER.
Their sales pitch is “bike way,” not mentioning that the bikeway, IF THE POLS HAVE THEIR WAY, will be the stalking horse for that off ramp.
From minute 4.39 of the Drone footage:
On the left side in the V between the BU Bridge and the on ramp to Memorial Drive, is the Destroyed Nesting Area of the Charles River White Geese. The Grand Junction railroad bridge can be seen on both sides of the BU Bridge. It runs under the BU Bridge.
Following that line to the left can be seen the Grand Junction Railroad Tracks heading to MIT. The buildings directly above that track, starting from the tallest building, are MIT buildings.
Looking to the right, the BU Bridge meets Commonwealth Avenue Boston ABOVE I90, the Mass. Pike. I90 comes to that point from the bottom right hand corner. Closer to the Charles River than I90 and running under the BU Bridge is Soldiers Field Road, the Boulevard on the Boston Side of the Charles River which matches Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
To the bottom left can be seen the Magazine Beach Playing Fields blocked off from the Charles River by the Starvation Wall.
At minute 4.40 is a closer view of the same relationship.
The MBTA study proved an off ramp can be built from the east bound lanes (Upper / right) of I90 AT THIS POINT to the Grand Junction River Bridge. The study showed that a ramp in the opposite direction can be built from the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge to the west bound (lower/left) lanes.
The one problem with the MBTA plan was that the bridge is not wide enough to build both the railroad and the off and on ramps. Dah, dah, all those lovely people and the Cambridge City Council are fighting to add to the I90 rebuild a widening of the Grand Junction Bridge.
They call it "bike lanes." The reality is that, once it is built and it is convenient for MIT, there is no reason from the point of view of MIT to continue to call it bike lanes. Once MIT decides it is convenient and politically feasible, they have their private off ramp to I90. That off ramp can be extended beyond the Main portion of MIT to Kendall Square Cambridge and, quite possibly over the extent of the “bike path” toward the Somerville line.
Nearly fifty years ago, Cambridge activists defeated a super highway in this area. It was called the “Inner Belt.”
I had the honor of being an intern in the governor’s office when he announced the killing of the inner belt, although I was working on other matters. Very discretely, on my own, I was in the middle of a legislative bicycle victory. Without me having any visibility, some associates of mine achieved a veto of an inadvertently harmful bike bill which passed both houses without negative comment.
Here from minute 9.13 is the same view from the east (upper in the prior picture).
Here from minute 10.54 is the view from the west showing the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge (on right) .connecting to the Grand Junction Railroad toward the MIT Campus. It has to go under Memorial Drive to get there.
At the top can be seen the Mass. Ave. (“Harvard” Bridge) which connects directly to the main part of the MIT Campus.
Here, from minute 9.28 is the Grand Junction track running from this point to Massachusetts Avenue.
From the left, first is the Grand Junction. Then is Vassar Street. Then is Memorial Drive. At the top is the Mass. Ave. Bridge. Massachusetts Avenue and the Grand Junction connect straight ahead.
To those in the process of being fooled, the Grand Junction widening is sold as a bike path. The MBTA plan showed it as an off ramp going to the heart of the MIT Campus.
