Tag: Cambridge

MBTA Draw One Bridge Replacement Project NEPA Draft Environmental Assessment Comment Letter

MBTA Draw One Bridge Replacement Project NEPA Draft Environmental Assessment Comment Letter

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January 6, 2025
Re: MBTA Draw One Bridge Replacement Project NEPA Draft Environmental Assessment 
Sent via email: drawone@mbta.com

Dear project team,

My name is Brendan Kearney, and I’m co-executive director of WalkMassachusetts, a statewide pedestrian advocacy organization previously known as WalkBoston. We have followed the slow progression and implementation of the New Charles River Basin Master Plan for decades. The North Station Draw 1 Bridge Replacement project is an important component to the multimodal network of the Boston region, and we want to ensure this location includes the proposed pedestrian and bicycle connection.

The drawbridge crosses over the Charles River directly behind North Station. It currently has two moveable spans with four tracks. Existing piers are supporting the spans already in place. The new drawbridge will have three moveable spans with additional tracks. We are concerned that the current draft of the design for the bridge does not include a pedestrian path, the 2nd of three important pedestrian connections within the Master Plan. This crucial pedestrian and bicycle connection was a commitment by the Commonwealth as part of the Central Artery project mitigation. It should be restored to the project and built on the same timeline as the rail crossing. 

If that is deemed unachievable at this time, please commit to advancing the design and construction plans as well as a funding plan for this important pedestrian/bike connection during the 8-year construction timeline for what is now solely a train drawbridge. 

WalkMassachusetts would like to remind the MBTA, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and MassDOT that the North Bank bridge which connects Cambridge and Charlestown and passes underneath the Zakim Bridge was also dropped at one point roughly 20 years ago. At the time, officials were sympathetic, but said the holdup was simply due to lack of funding. As we now know, that bridge is a heavily used, beautiful and well-loved part of the Charles River Reservation.

We should not make the mistake of leaving out the connection between the North Point Park and North Station which will also become a heavily used, and well-loved part of MassDCR’s Charles River Reservation.

Thank you,

Brendan Kearney
Co-Executive Director, WalkMassachusetts

North Station Drawbridge Replacement / Draw One Project Comment Letter

North Station Drawbridge Replacement / Draw One Project Comment Letter

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June 14, 2024
Re: North Station Drawbridge Replacement / Draw One Project
Sent via email: drawone@mbta.com
Dear project team,

My name is Brendan Kearney, and I’m co-executive director of WalkMassachusetts, a statewide pedestrian advocacy organization previously known as WalkBoston. We have followed the slow progression and implementation of the New Charles River Basin Master Plan for decades. I’m commenting on the removal of the pedestrian river crossing as part of the North Station Draw 1 Bridge Replacement.

The drawbridge crosses over the Charles River directly behind North Station. It currently has two moveable spans with four tracks. Existing piers are supporting the spans already in place. The new drawbridge will have three moveable spans with additional tracks. We are concerned that the current draft of the design for the bridge does not include a pedestrian path, the 2nd of three important pedestrian connections within the Master Plan. This crucial pedestrian and bicycle connection was a commitment by the Commonwealth as part of the Central Artery project mitigation. It should be restored to the project and built on the same timeline as the rail crossing. 

WalkMassachusetts would like to remind the MBTA, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and MassDOT that the North Bank bridge which connects Cambridge and Charlestown and passes underneath the Zakim Bridge was also dropped at one point roughly 20 years ago – at the time, officials were sympathetic, but said the holdup was simply due to lack of funding. As we now know, that bridge is a heavily used, beautiful and well-loved part of the Charles River Reservation.
We should not make the mistake of leaving out the connection between the North Point Park and North Station which will also become a heavily used, and well-loved part of the Charles River Reservation.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Brendan Kearney
Co-Executive Director, WalkMassachusetts

WalkBoston Comments on Memorial Drive Phase III – 25% Design

WalkBoston Comments on Memorial Drive Phase III – 25% Design

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July 21, 2022

Commissioner Doug Rice
Department of Conservation and Recreation
251 Causeway Street
Boston, MA 02114
 Attn: Jeff Parenti, Deputy Chief Engineer; Dan Driscoll, Director of Green Transportation

RE: Memorial Drive Phase III – 25% Design  

Dear Commissioner Rice:

WalkBoston is Massachusetts’ primary pedestrian advocacy organization, working across the Commonwealth to make it safer and easier for people to walk for all activities of daily living such as access to transit, school and jobs. We are writing with comments about the 25% design for the 0.8-mile section of Memorial Drive from Eliot Bridge east to the intersection of Memorial Drive and John F. Kennedy Street near Harvard Square. We are happy to see this project continuing to move forward.

We are very pleased that DCR is committed to implementing a road diet for this portion of Memorial Drive and to several key elements of the project including:

  • Paying close attention to providing a walking path that is separated from the paved shared use path. Converting the existing 6.5-foot-wide path to a 10-foot shared use path paired with a 5-foot wide stabilized gravel path for people walking and running will help reduce conflicts. 
  • Adding mid-block crossings in two locations (although further attention is needed to make these crossings safe under the current roadway design, such as adding speed tables and mini bump-outs).
  • Taking special care of the Plane trees and carefully designing refurbished planting and landscaping of the Reservation. 

Our comments and concerns are centered on the design speed that underlies the specific roadway design and thus will not yield the very significant safety benefits that slower speeds would make possible. There is definitive evidence that in order to slow traffic, roads must be designed with that purpose. We strongly urge DCR to work internally and with the City of Cambridge to revise the design speed of 35 mph and to reduce that speed to 25 mph. The nearby and heavily traveled Alewife Brook Parkway is posted for 25 mph, as are many other DCR parkways. 

DCR should be designing a road for what is needed, and not repeating roadway designs of the past that allow people to drive fast, especially at off peak times. MassDOT Safe Speeds Guidance specifically addresses this issue, and certainly DCR as a parks and recreation agency, should be leading the way for slower speeds and safer conditions for people walking and biking.

Memorial Drive should be posted and designed for 25 mph.

The slower design speed would reflect the roadway’s setting within a park, would  match the speed limit of Cambridge, and would significantly enhance the safety of the tens of thousands of pedestrians and bicyclists who are drawn to the Reservation and its pathways. In addition to the direct safety benefits of a reduced design speed (and thus reduced actual driving speed) additional benefits of a lower design speed include:

Allowing the reduction of the pavement width from 26’ – comprising two ten-foot lanes and two three-foot shoulders. Narrowing the shoulders to 12-18” would provide a number of important benefits:

  • Adding more park space and creating more distance between the roadway and the allee of Plane trees
  • Reducing impervious surface and runoff from the roadway, which would improve the health of the Reservations’s trees and other plants
  • Shortening crossing distances for pedestrians, thus possibly limiting the need for substantial traffic calming at the mid-block crossings

We also request that DCR remove the right turn slip lane to Hawthorn Street that seems unnecessary from an operating standpoint, would increase the speed of right-turning vehicles and this section of roadway adds unnecessary paving within the Reservation.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the 25% design, and we look forward to continuing to work with you on this important and exciting project. 

Stacey Beuttell, AICP

Executive Director, WalkBoston

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, June 2022

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, June 2022

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Each month, we post about the fatal crashes in Massachusetts from the previous month, and share any trends that we see. For the full list of monthly posts, head here. Earlier this year, we released a year in review for 2021 to highlight common issues.

Last month, we took a look at ten fatal crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in May. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in June 2022. The information in the chart below is compiled from news reports, and was checked against the MassDOT Crash Portal Dashboard “Fatal Crash Information.” The Google Street View images included below use the address listed in the crash portal.

  • Of the 44 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in June in the MassDOT Crash portal, five were identified as people walking.
  • The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in June was 51.5. (One person’s age has not been released.)
Date 6/1/2022, 10:09 AM
Location 72 King St.
Town Northampton
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 75
Sex M

WWLP reported that a person was struck by the driver of a vehicle on King Street in Northampton. We could not find any additional news coverage of this crash. If you have any information, please let us know.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under local jurisdiction. There is one travel lane in each direction, street parking on each side, and sidewalks on both sides. The speed limit is 25mph.

Date 6/3/2022, 11:30 PM
Location 235 Alewife Brook Parkway
Town Cambridge
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 63
Sex M

We could not find any news coverage of this crash. If you have any information, please let us know.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under MassDCR jurisdiction. A short section of the rotary is also under MassDOT jurisdiction. There are two travel lanes and a shoulder as the roadway approaches the rotary, a divided median, two travel lanes as it leaves the rotary, and sidewalks on both sides. The speed limit is 30mph.

Date 6/4/2022, 1:03 AM
Location Storrow Dr. EAST, west of Leverett Cir.
Town Boston
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 22
Sex M

Lynn’s Daily Item reported that 22 year old Brandon Jennings was struck and killed by Miguel Rodriguez, 36, who was driving on Storrow Drive near the ramp to the Tobin Bridge and Interstate 93 north. Rodriguez fled the scene. Another person driving on Storrow Drive at the time witnessed the crash and followed the driver to Lynn, reporting the location and license plate number to police.

Rodriguez has been charged with motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of liquor, operating under the influence of liquor, leaving the scene of a crash that resulted in injury or death, and failure to stop or yield.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, sections of this part of the road are under local jurisdiction while others are under MassDOT jurisdiction. There are three or four travel lanes in each direction, a divided median, and sidewalks on both sides. The speed limit is listed at 30mph.

Date 6/22/2022, 3:57 AM
Location 1576 State St.
Town Springfield
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 46
Sex F

We could not find any news coverage of this crash. If you have any information, please let us know.

State Street was the deadliest street in Springfield for pedestrians in 2021. In early June 2022, WWLP reported that the City of Springfield initiated a pilot effort to slow drivers down on the section of State Street near the library:

Those temporary improvements will include narrowing the roadway from two lanes on each side of the road down to one with traffic cones and barricades in order to study the effect of the changes to pedestrian safety.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under local jurisdiction. There are two travel lanes in each direction and sidewalks on both sides. The speed limit is 30mph.

Date 6/24/2022, 9:55 PM
Location I-95 NORTH, MM 20.6
Town Walpole
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age
Sex UNK

We could not find any news coverage of this crash. If you have any information, please let us know.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under MassDOT jurisdiction. There are three travel lanes on the north side, a shoulder, and a divided median. The speed limit is 65mph.

Updates

If you have an update about a community member who was killed in one of these crashes, please contact Brendan so we can update our 2022 list. WalkBoston has maintained a list each year since 2016, pulling the information from news reports, social media, and from people like you that share the information with us.

Yearly trackers:  |  ||||| 2022

Report: Fatal Pedestrian Crashes in MA (2021)

Reminder about the data from the MassDOT portal

MassDOT makes no representation as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, availability or completeness of the crash records or the data collected from them and is not responsible for any errors or omissions in such records or data. Under no circumstance will MassDOT have any liability for any loss or damage incurred by any party as a result of the use of the crash records or the data collected from them. Furthermore, the data contained in the web-based crash report tool are not an official record of what transpired in a particular crash or for a particular crash type. If a user is interested in an official copy of a crash report, contact the Registry (http://www.mass.gov/rmv/). The City of Boston Police Department may be contacted directly for official copies of crash reports and for crash data pertaining to the City of Boston. In addition, any crash records or data provided for the years after 2018 are subject to change at any time and are not to be considered up-to-date or complete. As such, open years’ of crash data are for informational purposes only and should not be used for analysis. The data posted on this website, including crash records and other reports, are collected for the purpose of identifying, evaluating or planning the safety enhancement of potential crash sites, hazardous roadway conditions or railway-highway crossings. Under federal law, this information is not subject to discovery and cannot be admitted into evidence in any federal or state court proceeding or considered for other purposes in any action for damages that involves the sites mentioned in these records (see 23 USC, Section 409).

Action Alert: Contact your Legislators to Support a Safer Route 16

Action Alert: Contact your Legislators to Support a Safer Route 16

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WalkBoston is proud to support the Route 16 Coalition, a project of Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets, a group made up of resident advocates, local and state legislators, and other community groups organizing for a safer Route 16 from Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge to Main Street in Medford.

This section of Route 16 is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation and Recreation and is made up of Alewife Brook and Mystic Valley Parkways, and was originally designed to be a “pleasure road” for taking in the beautiful scenery of the surrounding parkland. Today it is a high-speed roadway with some of the highest crash rates in the region that acts exactly opposite to its original intent: it is a dangerous barrier that impedes access of local residents to parkland, nearby amenities and businesses, and negatively impacts the Alewife Brook and Mystic River waterways and climate.

The coalition is asking members to call or email their state and local legislators to ask them to support an earmark of ~$750,000 for a traffic study that is necessary to move forward with much-needed safety improvements on Route 16 in Cambridge, Somerville and Medford. The timing is immediate as the earmark is being discussed this week (week of March 7th) in the Ways and Means Committee. This is important for residents of Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Arlington, Belmont and Watertown and for anyone who travels through this dangerous corridor.

Find your state legislators and their contact information here:https://malegislature.gov/search/findmylegislator

For more information on this effort or if you’re interested in joining the coalition, email somervillesafestreets@gmail.com