Tag: Massachusetts

HANDOUT: A More Robust DCR

HANDOUT: A More Robust DCR

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This is an informational handout that was part of the 2014 Bike/Walk Summit presented by MassBike and WalkBoston.

The Issue – The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) owns and manages off-road paths and on street facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians throughout the Commonwealth. These facilities serve as essential active transportation corridors for local residents. As bicycling and walking continue to grow statewide, more residents are utilizing these facilities year-round and not just during warmer months.

DCR has been an active and positive partner in recent conversations with the advocacy community about how to bring agency policies around maintenance and snow removal into alignment with the use of their facilities as essential corridors for non-motorized transportation.

DCR’s budget has been cut by approximately 20% since 2008. These deep budget cuts have led to park closures, unstaffed campgrounds and unmaintained facilities.* DCR has committed to making bicycle and pedestrian transportation a priority on their facilities year-round, but the agency needs additional resources and investments to make this commitment a reality.

Ensuring that bicyclists and pedestrians can utilize our on- and off-road transportation infrastructure year-round is an essential component of achieving statewide mode shift goals.

The Ask – Funding decisions for the FY15 budget are being made right now, and we need our legislators to make sure that DCR has the resources to maintain its facilities in a manner suitable for year-round transportation.

Please ask your legislator to support increased funding for DCR parks in the FY15 budget, and urge them to provide DCR with adequate funding for its day-to-day operations and seasonal staffing so Massachusetts residents can safely use on- and off-road paths and parkways.

If you use a DCR path or parkway for your daily transportation or recreational needs, tell your legislator how increased funding for DCR would improve your ability to safely and conveniently access your destinations throughout the year.

*Source: Environmental League of Massachusetts (http://environmentalleague.org/)

HANDOUT: Gas Tax Indexing is Necessary for Meeting Mode Shift Goals

HANDOUT: Gas Tax Indexing is Necessary for Meeting Mode Shift Goals

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This is an informational handout that was part of the 2014 Bike/Walk Summit presented by MassBike and WalkBoston.

The Issue – The Transportation Finance Bill (H. 3535), passed during the current legislative session, includes a provision for indexing gas tax to inflation – meaning that the gas tax will allow for continued funding of transportation investments by rising incrementally with inflation.

A group called “Tank the Gas Tax” has qualified a question for the November 2014 ballot that would repeal the indexing of gas tax to inflation. The referendum proponents have incorrectly stated that the indexing money goes to the General Fund, rather than for transportation.

Without indexing, we will lose over $1B in the next 10 years.* Construction costs are expected to increase approximately 3% annually over the next several years, and we will be unable to keep up with this growth in costs without indexing. Biking and walking infrastructure is paid for through transportation funding, and without gas tax indexing it will be much more difficult for Massachusetts to reach the goal of tripling the share of trips made by biking, walking, and transit by 2030.

Losing this needed money for transportation means that we won’t have adequate resources to make the critical transportation investments that will grow jobs and the economy. For instance, if the legislature had not acted, Massachusetts could have faced losses of up to 15,000 jobs and as much as $11 billion in increased operating costs due to the deteriorating transportation network.*

The Ask – We need the support of our legislators to make sure that this significant piece of transportation funding does not get rolled back in November.

Ask our legislators to vocally oppose the repeal of gas tax indexing to preserve funding for transportation investments. As active members of the Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA) Coalition, MassBike and WalkBoston are asking legislators to join  their constituents and the 23 organizations of T4MA – representing the business sector, public health, and transportation – from across the Commonwealth who are opposed to repeal.

Bottom Line – The repeal of gas tax indexing will jeopardize bike and pedestrian projects across Massachusetts by defunding crucial transportation investments, hurt our economy, continue the cycle of deferred maintenance, reverse the momentum for investing in infrastructure, and doom efforts to reach mode shift goals.

*Source: Transportation for Massachusetts (http://www.t4ma.org/)

HANDOUT: Vulnerable Road Users, Senate 1639 & amp; Bike Lane Protection Bill, Senate 1640

HANDOUT: Vulnerable Road Users, Senate 1639 & amp; Bike Lane Protection Bill, Senate 1640

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This is an informational handout that was part of the 2014 Bike/Walk Summit presented by MassBike and WalkBoston.

Vulnerable Road Users, Senate 1639 – This bill defines “vulnerable users”, including bicyclists, pedestrians, wheelchair users, and other non-motorized road users, and will encourage motorists to exercise greater care when operating around vulnerable users. Specifically, when a motorist kills or severely injures a vulnerable user, the legislation would require them to:

  • Pay up to double the fines currently defined by statute;
  • Attend a traffic safety class;
  • Perform up to 100 hours of community service directly related to improving interactions of motorists and vulnerable users of the road.

The bill also addresses the problem of motorist harassment of vulnerable users by creating both criminal and civil liability for motorists who use their vehicle to physically harass a vulnerable user, and civil liability for motorists who engage in other forms of harassment of vulnerable users.

Co-sponsors: William Brownsberger,  Denise Provost,  David Rogers,  Jonathan Hecht,  Kay Khan,  John Scibak,  Frank Smizik,  Gailanne Cariddi,  Carl Sciortino, Jr.,  Lori Ehrlich,  James Eldridge,  Sonia Chang-Diaz,  Kate Hogan,  Carolyn Dykema,  Peter Kocot,  Kenneth Gordon,  Denise Andrews.

Bike Lane Protection Bill, Senate 1640 – This bill protects bicyclists by prohibiting motor vehicle operators from parking in on-street paths or lanes designated by official signs or markings for the use of bicycles, or placing the vehicle in such a manner as to interfere with the safety and passage of bicyclists. Motorists frequently endanger bicyclists by parking in bicycle lanes, forcing bicyclists to merge into traffic. There is currently no applicable state law, and communities are passing local ordinances that will result in inconsistent rules and enforcement unless statewide action is taken.

Co-Sponsors: William Brownsberger,  Denise Provost,  David Rogers,  Jonathan Hecht,  Kay Khan,  John Scibak,  Frank Smizik,  Patricia Jehlen,  Carl Sciortino, Jr.,  Lori Ehrlich, Kenneth Donnelly,  Elizabeth Malia,  Sonia Chang-Diaz,  James Eldridge,  Kate Hogan, Carolyn Dykema,  Peter Kocot,  Kenneth Gordon,  Denise Andrews.


Status: On March 19, 2014, both bills were extended in the Joint Transportation Committee. The bill has not been reported out, either favorably or unfavorably.

The Ask: This year’s ask is the same for both bills:

  • If the legislator you are meeting with is already a cosponsor, please thank them.
  • If you are speaking to Rep. Straus or Sen. McGee, the co-chairs of the Transportation Committee, ask them to report favorably on the bills.
  • If you are speaking to any other legislator, ask them to speak to their respective co-chair on the Transportation Committee (Rep. Straus or Sen. McGee) and ask them to report favorably on both bills.——————————————————————————————————————-
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Since 1990 when WalkBoston became the first pedestrian advocacy group in the country, people have looked to us to lead the way on walkability issues in Massachusetts and nationally. Here is our latest brochure “We Connect People to Walking” [click for pdf download of above image] which shares some of the numbers behind our work!

Comments on Notice of Project Change for the Mohegan Sun Massachusetts in Revere EEA #15006

Comments on Notice of Project Change for the Mohegan Sun Massachusetts in Revere EEA #15006

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March 7, 2014

Secretary Richard K. Sullivan, Jr.
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston MA 02114

RE:  Comments on Notice of Project Change for the Mohegan Sun Massachusetts in Revere EEA #15006

Dear Secretary Sullivan:

WalkBoston has reviewed the Notice of Project Change (NPC) for the Mohegan Sun Massachusetts project in Revere and offers the comments below.

The NPC was prompted by the shift of the project location to Suffolk Downs property that is located solely in Revere. This change will have significant impacts on pedestrian movement into and through the project. The elements of the project – two hotels, large gaming space, numerous restaurants and spa– have not changed. But, in the new location, the buildings have a substantially reduced footprint and are much closer to existing business and residential areas.

Walking Access to Transit – Beachmont MBTA Station

The principal impact of the project change for people arriving on foot is the much greater proximity of the development to transit access, now shifted to the Beachmont MBTA Station (formerly focused on the Suffolk Downs Station). The revised location for the proposed resort places the main entrance only 300 feet from Beachmont Station, and will likely shift some trips from autos to transit because of this proximity.

In order to encourage transit and walking trips, we suggest exploring several pedestrian amenities including the following:

  • A significantly wider sidewalk along Winthrop Avenue between Beachmont Station and the site of the resort.
  • An weather-protected sidewalk along Winthrop Avenue between the primary entrance and exit locations at Beachmont Station to Washburn Avenue. The canopy or arcade should connect directly to the existing MBTA station entrance which already has weather protection.
  • A weather-protected walkway from the edge of the resort property on Washburn Avenue to the main resort entrance.
  • Significant upgrades in wayfinding inside Beachmont Station and along the route to the resort to encourage transit ridership and reinforce the convenient transit access.
  • Upgrades of escalators and elevators inside Beachmont Station to adequately and safely handle greater numbers of riders using transit.
  • Signalization or signage protection for pedestrians crossing Washburn Street on the south side of Winthrop Avenue.

Traffic Mitigation

We are fearful that the project will add a great deal of traffic to an area that cannot handle it easily. Winthrop Avenue and the Revere Beach Parkway are heavily used already. Improvements to the interchange with Route 1 will only add to the use of these streets, which cannot easily accommodate them.

Better access might be provided via Tomesello Way, from Route 1A the Suffolk Downs Racetrack parking areas, which will have greater capacity for storage of vehicles and a more orderly approach to the casino. We think the proponent would be well advised to encourage use of Tomesello Way and the MBTA Blue Line for principal access points into the casino property.

In addition, the parking garage is enormous, suggesting a commitment only to vehicular access. Perhaps the proponent could save some of the construction cost of this garage through the use of thoughtful techniques of encouraging patrons not to drive – perhaps a benefit of some sort that patrons could use on the floor of the casino.

We appreciate your consideration of our comments and look forward to your responses to them.

Please feel free to contact WalkBoston with questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Robert Sloane
Senior Project Manager

Cc Massachusetts Gaming Commission
Mayor Dan Rizzo