Tag: Haverhill

where we’ve been lately – May 2021 update

where we’ve been lately – May 2021 update

As summer approaches, we’ve been ramping up our work all over the Commonwealth!

Here are a few places we’ve been working with people lately, either in person or virtually, to help make their community more walkable:

  1. Blandford
  2. Boston
  3. Brockton
  4. Cambridge
  5. Chelsea
  6. Concord
  7. Cummington
  8. Egremont
  9. Haverhill
  10. Huntington
  11. Medford
  12. New Bedford
  13. Quincy
  14. Springfield
  15. Worcester
Strengthening Connections to Community and Transit in Gateway Cities

Strengthening Connections to Community and Transit in Gateway Cities

Since September 2020, WalkBoston has conducted a series of walk audits in Gateway Cities across the Commonwealth as part of our “Gateway Cities: Social Infrastructure and Walkability” project in partnership with MassINC and with support from the Solomon Foundation. We’re hosting walk audits in five Gateway Cities, in the area around each city’s downtown commuter rail station, in order to advance better connections to transit-oriented development (TOD) zones and public amenities in these communities.

WalkBoston and MassINC created interactive maps for participants in each community, noting the walking route, and highlighting the sites of pedestrian-involved crashes, social/gathering spaces, and the vast amount of the study area occupied by parking infrastructure. Click here to go to the interactive Google map.

This project not only assesses the neighborhoods’ walking conditions but also looks at the availability of spaces that foster gathering and social connection, such as parks, plazas, community centers, and cafes. Through virtual discussions, as well as sharing written and visual observations, we’re working with residents, municipal staff, and other community members to identify assets and opportunities, and develop program, infrastructure, and policy recommendations based on participants’ visions for the area. In addition to effecting change at the local level, WalkBoston and MassINC will produce policy papers based on the findings from these walk audits to inform state policy and budgetary investment in Gateway Cities.

So far, we’ve completed virtual walk audits in three cities as part of this project: SpringfieldFitchburg, and Brockton. Over the past year, the desire to live in a community with comfortable walking paths, open space, and street activity has dramatically increased as people spent more time at home and in their neighborhoods. The walk audits we’ve already completed have demonstrated that there is a lot of energy and enthusiasm to create more walkable, vibrant public spaces in our partner communities. In Fitchburg, participants are forming a bike/ped committee to advance the walk audit’s findings. In Brockton, residents looking for ways to get more involved in decision-making in their community used the walk audit to connect with municipal staff and each other and learn about joining committees, boards, and task forces.

Next, we’re kicking off our Haverhill walk audit tonight, Thursday, May 27th. This will be the first walk audit in the Gateway Cities series to include an in-person group walk option – we’re excited to get back to walking together again!

Walk Assessment Haverhill

Walk Assessment Haverhill

The City of Haverhill identified several high-priority intersections that are particularly dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. With input from the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, City officials and the Haverhill Police Department, WalkBoston established a walking route that incorporated several of these key intersections in the Downtown and Acre neighborhoods.

Read the full report here:
WalkBoston-WalkAssessment-Haverhill

Comments on Haverhill Walkway

Comments on Haverhill Walkway

September 15, 2014

Secretary Maeve Vallely Bartlett
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)
Attn: Anne Canaday
100 Cambridge St., Suite 900
Boston MA 02114

RE: Comments on the Environmental Notification Form for the Haverhill Boardwalk Project
MEPA# 15238

Dear Secretary Vallely Bartlett:

WalkBoston has reviewed the ENF and we offer the following comments about its impacts on walkers.

The proposed project is quite small – about 450 feet long and 16-17 feet wide with wood decking for the boardwalk, totaling about 46,200 square feet (about 1.1 acres). It is part of the city’s long-range plan for a walkway loop around the downtown portion of the riverbanks, accessed via paved parking areas and public alleys that are adjacent to occupied buildings in downtown Haverhill.

When completed, the boardwalk will link to already-completed walks and become part of a 1,200 foot long walkway. It will also be part of a longer-range Merrimack River Walkway connecting to other cities. In this riverside setting, the project will include utility work, piles for boardwalk support, lighting on the boardwalk deck, benches and planting boxes and two stairways on the riverside floodwall to accommodate a future residential gangways and dock systems in the river.

The size of the project cannot reflect the extraordinary amount of diligence and patience it takes to build small increments of a larger plan. We applaud the city for its work in constructing this facility, and wish it well in further efforts to build the pathway.

We do have a few concerns that we hope can be addressed as the project moves forward.

• The design appears to call for on-land piles that raise the walkway about 7 feet above grade. Since the walkway is some 16-17 feet wide, we wonder about the space under the walkway. The space may become worrisome if it is left open for easy access, and if no alternative uses can be found for it. Is there a plan for enclosure of the space under the walkway to keep it safe and secure and to minimize maintenance problems that might arise?

• We wonder how this small portion of the path will help to encourage people to use the new and existing riverfront walkway until the full pathway can be constructed. The city should explore ways of marketing the boardwalk while the full project still lies in the future.

• Our understanding of the project is that it will connect to an existing walkway on its west end that has ramps leading toward the grade of Merrimack Street. There appears to be no such connection on the east end. We found a reference to a “Merrimack Place landward access stairway” on page 7 of the ENF, but saw no plans of how it would be sited in relation to the walkway. Will the elevated walkway – some 7’ above grade level and still elevated at Merrimack Place –have stairway or ramp access at its east end?

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this interesting and important project.

Sincerely,

Robert Sloane
Senior Planner

Haverhill-Merrimack River Walkway Comment Letter

Haverhill-Merrimack River Walkway Comment Letter

October 1, 2007

Secretary Ian Bowles
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114

RE: Expanded Environmental Notification Form (EENF)
Haverhill-Merrimack River Walkway
MEPA # 14097

Dear Secretary Bowles:

WalkBoston is the Commonwealth’s leading advocate for pedestrians and safe walking. We work throughout the state – encouraging walking, helping with advocacy for pedestrian improvements and sponsoring walks. We have extensive experience in helping residents and local government with pedestrian issues, safe routes to school and safer street crossings and sidewalks. We have reviewed the ENF for the Haverhill- Merrimack River Walkway proposed by the City of Haverhill, and offer the following comments.

The proposal calls for a 2.5 mile walkway circling the Merrimack River on both banks between the Upper County/Comeau Bridge and the Basiliere Bridge in the center of Haverhill. The proposal will provide access to the river in areas where the downtown area is visually and physically walled off from the river by the seawall built in 1935. The proposed walkway connects to the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority bus station, downtown bus stops and the Haverhill MBTA commuter rail station. It is consistent with Haverhill’s ongoing efforts to improve the riverfront and with the discussions generated by the EOEEA’s UrbanRiver Visions Charette, held in Haverhill in March 2007. The project is also consistent with the Merrimack Valley Regional Planning Commission 2006 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), and the 2006 Priority Regional Economic Development Actions List.

The proposed walkway will take advantage of the improvements to the river water quality resulting from intensive pollution abatement efforts. It also builds on increased public awareness of and interest in the river. On the north side of the river, the walkway will begin at the existing Riverfront Park walkway and will extend it, with a limited portion at grade and behind a 3-high seawall, and an extension by means of a 12-foot wide boardwalk atop the seawall, cantilevered 10 feet over the water. On the south side of the river, the walkway will be a 10-ft paved pathway with a 2-ft gravel border on each side to allow storm water infiltration. The south side walkway may be located on an abandoned rail line, which the city is negotiating to purchase.

WalkBoston heartily salutes the city for undertaking this project that will help make downtown Haverhill a destination for recreational walkers. The project is imaginative in its proposal to cantilever construction over the river. The project, to be built in stages, will ultimately provide a valuable resource to the city and the region. This is precisely the type of project that should be copied throughout the Commonwealth.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposal.

 

Sincerely,

Robert Sloane
Senior Planner