4 ms·
I'm skeptical. I looked at google maps, and I allow that it may not be perfectly accurate, but the line appears to follow surface roads in the area which allows
by goodcanadian 4y ago
I'm skeptical. I looked at google maps, and I allow that it may not be perfectly accurate, but the line appears to follow surface roads in the area which allows for cheap and easy (relatively) cut and cover tunnels. Further, if the line already existed to Harvard Square, there is no reasonable alignment that would take an extension under Harvard yard. The line turns because the road turns and that is the direction they wanted to go. They also had to deal with the pre-existing station and tracks. It was probably determined to be the best option as trains would already be stopping at the station, anyway.
- ghaff 4y agoYeah, it seems to basically follow Mass Ave from Harvard to Porter which makes perfect sense. (There's some one-way funkiness on the surface street--Boston/Cambridge, what can you say?) But given that the Hardware Square station existed at the time of the Red Line extension, I'm not sure why you would go under Harvard Yard. I'm willing to believe that Harvard Square station could have been located differently in a way that didn't require such a dogleg approaching Harvard Yard but that decision happened a very long time ago.