Boston Archives - WalkMassachusetts

WalkBoston Attends the NACTO Designing Cities 2022 Conference

Last week three of our WalkBoston staff had the exciting opportunity to attend the NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) Designing Cities 2022 conference! Our Executive Director Stacey, our Deputy Director Brendan, and our new Senior Program Manager Iolando spent the week exchanging ideas with over 1,000 officials, planners, and practitioners in NACTO’s first in-person conference since 2019. They participated in “Walkshops” (mobile workshops that allow attendees to visit, learn about, and reflect on local transportation projects) and attended talks whose topics ranged from best practices in public communications to universal basic mobility. WalkBoston attendees also got to hear from compelling speakers such as Mayor Michelle Wu and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.

The conference was pervaded by a spirit of optimism for the future of cities which Iolando found contagious. He left feeling “upbeat and happy,” because NACTO was “such a great opportunity to build relationships with like-minded people who are working on the ground on these topics,” including how to make transportation more equitable. Iolando attributes this energy in part to the many transportation experiments conducted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; experiments whose failures and successes provided plenty for practitioners to come together and reflect over. “As a person who is new to this organization, it felt like ‘Wow, this is such an awesome time to get started!’”

Iolando believes this positive energy (even in the midst of Boston’s current struggles to adapt to the Orange Line closures) is a testament to the conference’s skillful highlighting of the strides Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville have made towards a more equitable, safe, and sustainable transit system. For example, Iolando attended a Walkshop in Cambridge entitled “Reimagining Shared Spaces in Cambridge’s Cultural District” that took participants to explore Central Square. It focused on how transforming parking for cars into places for people improves walkability, thereby expanding the community’s access to services, arts, and cultural items. Another Walkshop Iolando attended, “Making Tremont Street Safer: A Journey through Space and Time,” looked at Boston’s South End and featured an interesting discussion of what it looks like to improve pedestrian safety and accessibility while balancing historical preservation in a storied neighborhood. Participants even observed construction crews building safety features such as raised crosswalks, lane reallocations, and separated bike lanes.

WalkBoston is immensely grateful for the opportunity to attend NACTO this year. Thanks to generous support from the Barr Foundation, NACTO was able to provide funds to support attendance to the conference for people from New England cities.

Transportation Advocates South Boston Seaport Strategic Transit Plan Comments

April 1, 2022
Jascha Franklin-Hodge
Boston Chief of Streets

Jim Fitzgerald
BPDA, Interim Deputy Director of Transportation & Infrastructure Planning

Re: South Boston Seaport Strategic Transit Plan

Dear Jascha and Jim:

Our collective organizations offer joint comments on the South Boston Seaport Strategic Transit Plan. Our comments build on the many verbal and written comments we’ve offered over the last few years, both about this plan, and specific projects within the project area.

While our organizations are eager to see the City tackle the very significant transit needs of this burgeoning part of the City, we continue to worry that this plan lacks the level of City leadership and cohesive vision needed to allow the neighborhood’s residents, businesses and workers to thrive in the years ahead. We would be pleased to meet with you to discuss our comments and our thoughts about how the project could be more effectively advanced.

Our specific concerns are outlined below:

Coordination + Cohesion: It remains unclear what the big picture goal and overall time frame is for the plan. As presented at the most recent public meeting, the “plan” was offered mostly as a laundry list of current and potent projects and lacked details about the timeline for implementation. It also lacked an appropriate level of coordination with the bike plan and offered no clear plan for improving accessibility for the area. Any successful transit plan must take these interconnected needs into account.

As a first step, we recommend putting all of the recommendations into one description and map color coded by timing of implementation (or perhaps overlays by year). The public needs to understand what is happening when and where.
- A tremendous amount of development is in various stages of planning and permitting, each of which is documenting their anticipated transit, walking, biking, parking and delivery operations. Please provide a consolidated look at all of these proposals and then describe how the plan for transit, sidewalks, bike lanes and roadways can accommodate the anticipated number of people and vehicles.
- Distinguish between the projects for which designs and funding are known (with some degree of certainty) and those which are still only ideas.
- Identify which entity (or entities) will be responsible for paying for, leading on designs and decision-making, and implementing the projects.
- Multi-agency complications exist on the roads in the neighborhood as well as in transit operations. Please clarify the ownership of the roads among MassDOT, MassPort and City BTD & BPDA.

Much is still unknown or unclear about the actual transit components of this transit plan. While there are proposed high level connections, there is very little detail about how those connections will be achieved.

Better bus connections are needed: (1) to/from North Station – and not just connecting to South station; (2) along Summer Street; (3) A Street; (4) Silver Line improvements (5) D Street service to Nubian Square (6) Express bus route changes. In order to provide clarity about what this plan will achieve to improve transit, we recommend:

Including information about the schedules of future service – we understand that precise information is not possible, but a vague description of “increased” service is not adequate.
Provide information about where funding will come from for both capital and operational investment
Provide a description of the current overall capacity of bus service for the district and what the future capacity goals are.
Distinguish between public (MBTA) and private shuttle service. Describe how private shuttles are being considered in the process and whether these services will be opened to the public.
Provide details about where buses will layover. Should there be a central point they all serve? Convention Center and Silver Line Way are the only remaining locations owned by the State with sufficient land area.
Outline how this process interacts and is coordinated with the MBTA Bus Network Redesign process.

MBTA Station improvements are critical to the plan

Improve bus circulation around Broadway station with vastly improved pedestrian crossings at West Broadway.
Build a new headhouse at Broadway Station to get last mile access from the northern side of West Broadway

Accessibility for people with disabilities must be definitively addressed, especially from South Station to A Street (via Congress Street is not an acceptable answer) and Broadway to the whole district.

Schedule a meeting with advocates and Boston Disabilities Commission in Spring 2022.
Focus on the network and connectivity, not just piecemeal, but rather a full concept of developed routes to serve as many needs as possible.

This plan must also compliment and contribute to better and safer bike conditions, especially on Summer Street, Congress Street and A Street.

Clarify the intended network and the timing of each piece of the network.
Clarify the goals, location and design of the South Bay Harbor Trail, including a discussion of the proposed width of the trail and whether it will be adequate to serve people walking and biking as a commuter route.
Prioritize separated bike lanes because bikes must be a core piece of the transportation system. They must be built into the network not just planned on a development-by-development basis.
Additionally, we want to see robust bike parking being considered as critical bike infrastructure – not only indoor bike rooms and bike parking that is accessible to residents and workers in new buildings, but on-street (or street-accessible), high-capacity bike parking, and want to ensure it is accounted for with all transportation planning in the area.

Make a final determination that there will be no vehicles, other than emergency access, on Northern Avenue Bridge. There has not been a public meeting about the Northern Avenue Bridge project since April of 2020. At that meeting there was overwhelming opposition to both the proposed design and the proposed allowance of vehicles on the bridge. It is concerning that several of the proposed routes in the South Boston Seaport Strategic Transit Plan assumed some access over the Northern Avenue bridge, when there are still many outstanding concerns about that project.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the plan. We look forward to working with you in the months ahead.

Sincerely,

Tom Ready, FPNA

Stacy Thompson, Executive Director, LivableStreets

Stacey Beuttell, Executive Director, WalkBoston

Wendy Landman, Senior Policy Advisor, WalkBoston

Becca Wolfson, Executive Director, Boston Cyclists Union

Galen Mook, Executive Director, Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition

Jarred Johnson, Executive Director, TransitMatters

Cc Mayor Michelle Wu
Ed Flynn, District 2 City Councilor
Michael Flaherty, At Large City Councilor
Julia Mejia – At Large City Councilor
Ruthzee Louijeune – At Large City Councilor
MassDOT Secretary Jamey Tesler
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak

Comments on Fenway Corners DPIR

March 30, 2022
Aisling Kerr, Project Manager
BPDA via email Aisling.Kerr@boston.gov

Re: Fenway Corners DPIR

Dear Ms. Kerr:

WalkBoston has attended project meetings and reviewed the DPIR for the Fenway Corners Project with respect to its impacts and benefits for people walking and using transit.

We are happy to reiterate that we are pleased that the proponent is proposing significant improvements to the walking environment in the Fenway neighborhood and giving detailed attention to the needs of people walking, taking transit and bicycling. The proposed transformation of Jersey Street into a pedestrian-only space will provide an exciting new way to experience Fenway Park (on non-game days) and add amenities for residents and visitors to the Fenway neighborhood. We are also pleased to see that the Lansdowne Street building will be designed around a public gateway through the building which will someday allow connectivity through the Lansdowne block to provide a pedestrian connection with Kenmore Square.

We support the proponent’s plans to modify the street system in and around the multi-site project in order to create more space for pedestrians and for people enjoying what will essentially become a new open space in the neighborhood.

We believe that the combination of street changes, walking, transit and biking improvements and attention to urban design provided by the project will provide benefits to both neighborhood residents and visitors. The proponent’s plans are consistent with the City’s goals of growing without adding significant new vehicle traffic to the City’s streets.

Overall we believe the project will benefit pedestrians on the streets and sidewalks of the Fenway. We urge the proponent to continue working with WalkBoston and other advocates and with the City of Boston to refine several elements of the design as the project proceeds.

Sidewalk/Bus stop/Bike interactions – We appreciate that the project team has continued to assess the operation of Brookline Avenue with attention to the mix of bus, walking and bike operations. While the exact design and operation of Brookline Avenue is not yet certain, the good faith efforts of the design team are encouraging. We urge the proponent to continue working with WalkBoston, the Boston Disabilities Commission, the MBTA’s Office of Systemwide Accessibility, the Boston Transportation Department and the bicycle advocacy community to ensure that the designs meet the needs of all sidewalk, transit and street users.
Transit operations – In order to achieve the mode shares that the proponent, the residents of the Fenway, the employers in the area, the City and all of us interested in reducing GHG emissions hope for, the operations of the many bus routes in the neighborhood and throughout the region need to be improved and added to. As noted above, we are encouraged that the needs of bus riders are being given careful attention to ensure that they are enhanced by the changes in street operations and design. We hope that the proponent will continue to be a voice for better transit with the City and the MBTA.
Curb management – As noted in the DPIR, the management of buses, deliveries, TNCs, and short-term parking is critical to the smooth operations of the district’s streets and sidewalks. With the proposal to eliminate on street parking in several locations we believe that it will be incumbent on the proponent to develop a detailed management system that is clear, easy to use and actually used by the many delivery vehicles and short-term parkers who frequent the neighborhood. This is needed for both the businesses and business users of the neighborhood, and for the safety of people walking, biking and taking buses. When drivers stop in travel lanes and block the passage of other vehicles, people walking can find themselves crossing the street between stopped vehicles and confronted with frustrated drivers. We ask the proponent to provide an opportunity for interested members of the public to review the curb management plan prior to its finalization.
Parking – The supply of parking for the project will have a profound impact on the mode of travel that will be used by people accessing the site. We urge the developer and the City to work together to further reduce the number of parking spaces that will be provided. With the 5-7 year buildout period we are hopeful that the City, MBTA and MassDOT will make progress toward the investments in transit, walking and biking that will make is sensible to reduce the number of parking spaces in the project.
Paving surfaces – Some of the sketches shown in public presentations continue to suggest paving stones or other uneven paving materials. We ask that all paving materials be fully accessible and comfortable for all people walking or using mobility assistance. We also ask that the proponent take into account the needs of providing good snow clearance on all of the sidewalks and also that they commit to providing such clearance.
Sense of welcome for all – The redesign and re-purposing of Jersey Street and all of the city blocks included in the project presents exciting opportunities for walkability. It also presents some challenges to ensuring that the spaces and places are not managed or curated in ways that could feel privatized or exclusive and less than fully welcoming to people of all races, incomes and ages. We urge the proponent to continue working with diverse community groups and individuals from a variety of Boston neighborhoods to ensure that the sense of welcome includes everyone.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments.

Sincerely,

Wendy Landman
Senior Policy Advisor

Fenway Project PNF Comment Letter

July 21, 2021

Aisling Kerr, Project Manager

BPDA via email Aisling.Kerr@boston.gov

Re: Fenway Project PNF

Dear Ms. Kerr:

WalkBoston has reviewed the PNF for the Fenway Project with respect to its impacts and benefits for people walking and using transit.

We are very pleased that the proponent is proposing significant improvements to the walking environment in the Fenway neighborhood and giving detailed attention to the needs of people walking, taking transit and bicycling. The proposed transformation of Jersey Street into a pedestrian-only space will provide an exciting new way to experience Fenway Park (on non-game days) and add amenities for residents and visitors to the Fenway neighborhood. We support the proponent’s plans to modify the street system in and around the multi-site project in order to create more space for pedestrians and for people enjoying what will essentially become a new open space in the neighborhood.

Sidewalk/Bus stop/Bike interactions – The project includes re-designed streets (in particular Brookline Ave.) with new protected bike lanes. We urge the proponent to continue working with WalkBoston, the Boston Disabilities Commission, the MBTA’s Office of Systemwide Accessibility, the Boston Transportation Department and the bicycle advocacy community to ensure that the designs meet the needs of all sidewalk, transit and street users.
Transit operations – In order to achieve the mode shares that the proponent, the residents of the Fenway, the employers in the area, the City and all of us interested in reducing GHG emissions hope for, the operations of the many bus routes in the neighborhood will need careful attention to ensure that they are enhanced by the changes in the street system and urban design.
Paving surfaces – Some of the sketches shown suggest paving stones or other materials. We ask that all paving materials be fully accessible and comfortable for all people walking or using mobility assistance. We also ask that the proponent take into account the needs of providing good snow clearance on all of the sidewalks and also that they commit to providing such clearance.
Sense of welcome for all – The redesign and re-purposing of Jersey Street and all of the city blocks included in the project presents exciting opportunities for walkability. It also presents some challenges to ensuring that the spaces and places are not managed or curated in ways that could feel privatized or exclusive and less than fully welcoming to people of all races, incomes and ages. We urge the proponent to work with diverse community groups and individuals from a variety of Boston neighborhoods to ensure that the sense of welcome includes everyone.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments.

Sincerely,

Wendy Landman

Senior Policy Advisor

MassDCR Birmingham Parkway Comment Letter

April 7, 2021

Jeff Parenti
Deputy Chief Engineer, Division of Planning and Engineering
Department of Conservation and Recreation

Re: DCR Birmingham Parkway

Dear Jeff:

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments at this early stage of project development. We are very excited to see DCR’s approach that improves safety for people walking and biking, that repurposes significant areas of pavement into enlarged parklands, and that is designed to slow and tame traffic.

We have several overall observations about the designs, as well as more detailed comments organized into three areas as they were presented during the March 25th public meeting.

Overall comments

As we have commented during several DCR design processes, we believe that multilane, relatively high speed traffic roundabouts are less safe for people walking than signalized intersections. We are especially wary of multilane roundabouts where pedestrians can face a double threat when crossing the approaches and exits. People with low or no vision are particularly disadvantaged at these uncontrolled crossings. In this location, less than a mile from the Perkins School for the Blind, this is a specially cogent issue. We urge DCR to refrain from considering multilane roundabouts. Tight, traffic calming mini-roundabouts (see MassDOT Guidelines for the Planning and Design of Roundabouts page 11) on VERY low volume, low speed neighborhood streets where sharp turning angles are maintained (primary vehicle movement is not essentially a straight-through path) may be safe.
We urge DCR to provide separate walking and bicycling paths wherever there is the space to do so. The speeds of walkers and bicyclists are quite different, and as the number of cycling commuters increases, the conflicts between these two modes are becoming more and more pronounced. In particular, the Birmingham Parkway project area presents ample space for separate paths. This project area includes the Dr. Paul Dudley White Bike Path which is a heavily used bike commuter route so separation is even more important.

The “Eye”

Alternative 1A is our preferred approach in this area because it:

Simplifies, rationalizes and signalizes the intersections (and does not use a multilane roundabout).
Returns significant usable square footage to the parkland along the river.
If better access to the recreation area at the old pool site is deemed to be important for its future use, Alternative 1D could be a reasonable approach.

We suggest considering several design details as the project advances:

Add pedestrian safety refuge islands where the crossing distances are long.
Tighten up turning radii wherever possible, particularly on those approaches where trucks and buses are not permitted to travel.
Ensure that the signal timing is set to allow fully adequate crossings times for walkers of all ages.

Parkway

Alternative 2B is our preferred approach in this area because it:

Maximizes the amount of land returned to park and active transportation use.
Re-uses the existing pavement in an efficient manner.
Will help to calm traffic by having two-way traffic.

We suggest considering several design details as the project advances.

Reduce the pavement and lane width of the roadway to help calm traffic.
As noted above, provide separate walking and biking paths.

Secondary Intersections

The approach described at the meeting of calming traffic, providing signalized intersections that will provide WALK phases for pedestrians, and reducing the amount of paving all seem appropriate. We look forward to seeing the design concepts as they are developed later in the project.

We look forward to seeing the next iteration of the project concept.

Best regards,

Stacey Beuttell, Executive Director
Wendy Landman, Senior Policy Advisor