Tag: Pedestrians

Letter of Support for Belchertown’s Reconstruction of Maple and State Street: Project Need

Letter of Support for Belchertown’s Reconstruction of Maple and State Street: Project Need

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Mr. Richard J. Masse, P.E.
Acting District Highway Director
811 North King St. Northampton, MA 01016

October 15, 2015

Dear Mr. Masse,

I am writing to express my support for Belchertown’s Project Need Form for the reconstruction of Maple Street and State Street. I am the Program Director at WalkBoston, a state-wide non-profit working to create more pedestrian-friendly communities across Massachusetts. We provide technical assistance to municipalities in partnership with MassDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Awareness and Enforcement program, as well as the Department of Public Health’s Mass in Motion program to promote physical activity and healthy living. We are proud to work closely with our partner and Mass in Motion grantee Healthy Hampshire to support efforts to make Belchertown more walkable.

On May 1, 2015, in partnership with Healthy Hampshire, WalkBoston conducted a walk audit of the Route 202 corridor along Maple Street and State Street to assess existing pedestrian conditions and identify potential infrastructure improvements. Eighteen Belchertown residents, as well as municipal staff from the Planning Department and Conservation Commission, attended the walk audit. The audit found a number of barriers to walking along the Route 202 corridor, including a lack of continuous sidewalks on both sides of the road, a lack of pedestrian safety facilities such as signage, pedestrian lights, raised crosswalks and detectable warning strips, and overly long crosswalks.

The pending redevelopment of the Belchertown state school on Route 202 presents a powerful opportunity to incorporate more pedestrian-friendly designs and infrastructure into this important corridor. Traffic calming techniques, continuous sidewalks and/or off-road paved paths, beautification of public spaces, and better connectivity to local trail networks will all improve the walking environment in Belchertown. Implementing these measures will enhance Belchertown residents’ access to their homes, businesses, schools and social services, as well as future economic opportunities from the state school redevelopment.

Thank you for your timely consideration of these issues. WalkBoston looks forward to working with you to advance active transportation and safe walking in Belchertown.

Sincerely,

Stacey Beuttell
Program Director, WalkBoston

School Street Walk Audit Manchester By the Sea

School Street Walk Audit Manchester By the Sea

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School Street connects Route 128 to Route 127, Manchester’s “Main Street,” and because it is one of the town’s connecting streets it carries fairly heavy traffic traveling at speeds that make walking uncomfortable. Pedestrians crossing the street feel unsafe, and many of the people who attended the walk audit had stories of cars failing to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk or waiting to cross. Because School Street provides walking access to the community’s elementary, middle and high schools there is great interest in increasing pedestrian safety along the street.

Read the full report here:
WalkBoston-School Street Safety Recommendations-ManchesterByTheSea

Coalition For Anderson Bridge Underpass Letter to Secretary Pollack

Coalition For Anderson Bridge Underpass Letter to Secretary Pollack

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COALITION FOR ANDERSON BRIDGE UNDERPASS
c/o Charles River Conservancy, 4 Brattle Street (Suite 309), Cambridge, MA 02138

April 9, 2015

Stephanie Pollack, Secretary of Transportation
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
10 Park Plaza
Boston, MA

Dear Secretary Pollack,

We are writing to let you know of our enthusiasm and support for the work underway at MassDOT to develop 25% design plans for an underpass on the Boston side of the Charles River under the Anderson Memorial Bridge, to be used by pedestrians, runners, cyclists and others. This underpass, through the bridge abutment, would add significantly to the Paul Dudley White pathway system by eliminating the need for many users to cross the busy surface intersection of the ramps from Soldiers’ Field Road and JFK/North Harvard Street.

The underpass would be an extremely important addition to the excellent surface changes now under construction at the Anderson Bridge. This combination of improving the movements – both cross-river (already underway) and along-the-river (with the addition of an underpass) – will increase safety, enhance the environment, and provide improved transportation service not only to the users of the underpass, but also to the vehicles, pedestrians and others who use the surface crossings, including the Harvard community on both sides. We believe that the evolving design is being developed in a manner that respects the historic nature of the bridge.

We strongly oppose the alternative for this project (being developed to comply with legal review as part of the current design process) that would create a boardwalk that would be located under one of the current bridge arches and occupy part of the river used by the boating community.

To maximize cost-effectiveness and maintain the momentum for the underpass project initiated when your predecessor endorsed the project in July 2014, it is our hope that the design and permitting of the underpass can be completed in time to enable its construction as part of the ongoing activities at the bridge. Expediting design and permitting consistent with all legal requirements will be required to accomplish this objective.

As advocates for the project, we have been kept informed of the progress of design work by Gill Engineering under the direction and support of the Highway Administration. We look forward to the earliest possible public meeting where this design work can be described for wide public review and participation.

We also would like to offer to you, the Department and the Highway Administration our continuing, supportive involvement as this project moves forward.

This underpass will be a major step to enhance the Charles River Parklands, one of the Boston area’s major assets, for at least the next hundred years.

Sincerely,

Katherine Blakeslee, Institute for Human-Centered Design
Greg Galer, Executive Director, Boston Preservation Alliance
Jack Glassman, Boston Society of Architects, Historic Resources Committee
Ken Kruckemeyer, LivableStreets Alliance
Wendy Landman, Executive Director, Walk Boston
Galen Mook, Boston Cyclists Union
Jon Puz, Cambridge Running Club
Renata von Tscharner, President and Founder, Charles River Conservancy
Jack Wofford, mediator and arbitrator

cc: Thomas J. Tinlin, Highway Administrator, MassDOT Michael Trepanier, Project Manager, MassDOT

Comment Letter: Improving parkways in Emerald Necklace

Comment Letter: Improving parkways in Emerald Necklace

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March 2, 2015

Department of Conservation and Recreation
Office of Public Outreach
251 Causeway Street, Suite 600
Boston, MA 02114

Re: Improving parkways in the Emerald Necklace

Dear Commissioner Murray:

WalkBoston thanks you for launching the public process to improve safety and connections for people walking, bicycling and driving the section of the Emerald Necklace parkways between Jamaica Pond and the future Casey Arborway (under construction). As well as creating new, separated paths for pedestrians and cyclists, proposed improvements include replacing Murray and Kelley Circles with new, safer “roundabouts.”

We understand that your office was initially responding to concerns of the bicycling community. However, your staff and consultants, Toole Design Group, quickly saw that the challenges facing cyclists and pedestrians in this area cannot be fixed without also solving the existing problems of confusing and dangerous vehicle circulation and chronic speeding. So, the scope and objectives were expanded to all users.

WalkBoston is happy to support this comprehensive package of improvements. The safety of people who are walking or bicycling is absolutely dependent on changing the traffic circles. We feel that the proposed plan would both provide good vehicle access and accomplish the following benefits for walkers:
Improve connections between Jamaica Pond and the Arnold Arboretum for all park visitors, whether on foot or on bike
Improve safety and reduce the number of accidents, injuries and deaths Improve quality of life for local residents
Make the movements through the roundabouts clear and understandable and prevent speeding

All of us are aware that the Arborway is unsafe. Between 2008 and 2012 alone there were 135 crashes on the Arborway, with more than 20 injuries. Murray Circle is especially dangerous because of high vehicle speeds and lack of clarity for drivers. Cars frequently jockey for openings and exits. No one wants to walk or bicycle across the roads that feed into Murray Circle!

Proposals
The process that DCR used to develop a set of “starter ideas” included both a public meeting and several meetings with local elected officials and pedestrian and bicycle advocates. The ideas presented by Toole Design at a public meeting on February 5 are impressive and promising.

  • Separate pedestrian sidewalks and bike paths would be provided in the area
  • The “circles” would be rebuilt as smaller, modern roundabouts that
    o    clarify vehicular movements
    o    make it difficult to exceed the “design speed” of 15‐20 mph
    o    provide multiple safe crosswalks (for people traveling in all directions)
  • Provide raised crosswalks to improve pedestrian visibility and slow traffic
  • Preserve the historic roads between today’s traffic circles including the allées of oak trees
  • Reduce the number of traffic signals that interrupt vehicle flow (reduced from 5 to 1)

What is strikingly innovative about the current “starter ideas” is the concept of replacing the enormous Murray Circle two smaller roundabouts, side by side, to sort and channel traffic clearly and efficiently – while providing multiple crossings for bikes and pedestrians.

In addition the plan provides local residents on both sides of the Arborway with multiple ways to access their homes, while using the outer roadways for local access only, making them safer for all users.

Naturally, a lot of details need to be worked out in the next phase of design (e.g. How will blind persons navigate the roundabouts? How will snow removal be handled?), but the big ideas are solid. Your agency’s intention is to make this area more livable for residents and park visitors alike while continuing to accommodate vehicles.

Sincerely,
Wendy Landman
Executive Director

A Walkable Olympics

A Walkable Olympics

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February 6, 2015

Boston 2024 has declared their intention to plan the most
walkable Olympics in history. This is good news – a truly walkable Olympics can
be more fun, manageable and sustainable for residents, visitors, and athletes.
Done right, the long term benefits of Olympic-related improvements for walking
will make Massachusetts residents healthier, local stores and Main Streets
livelier, our communities greener and our streets more accessible for all.

Neither Massachusetts nor Boston has ever
had a grand scheme for investing in and improving walking. Creating the bid for
the Olympics presents us with that opportunity. That’s why, as we start an
intensive and accelerated discussion of just how the Olympics should be
designed, operated and paid for, it is crucial to step back and consider how
the Games can have a lasting positive impact on walking and transportation in
Boston and beyond –in downtowns and
neighborhoods serving many of Massachusetts’ residents.

From Dorchester to Allston, from Lowell to
Brockton, and from Worcester to Foxborough, let’s add great sidewalks and paths
to connect the Olympic venues to transit. Since all of the Games’ spectators
will be directed to use transit, we should also use the Olympics as the
opportunity to improve walking and accessibility to all of the MBTA’s stations
– so that access to transit from the beginning of the trips to the Games is
also walkable. With a commuter rail system stretching from Newburyport to
Fitchburg, from Worcester to Providence and Plymouth – the transit system
encompasses more than 75% of Massachusetts’ population.

We need to consider what will happen well
before the Olympic flame is lit and long after the last Olympic Marathon
competitor crosses the finish line on Charles Street. Let’s start the conversation
right away and create a special Olympics Walking Advisory Group.  This will provide an independent voice for ensuring that
the Games and their legacy are truly walkable and that they are the impetus to
inspire the mix and level of private, local, state and federal investment
needed to make a great stride in connecting our communities to transit.

Let’s really plan and spend wisely on
walking – from creating interconnecting paths and greenways across the city; to
making new smartly-designed walking connections to rail, subway and bus stops.
We need to improve the nitty gritty details that make it safer and easier for
everyone to cross every street such as ensuring that traffic signals are timed
correctly for walkers, and that traffic on city streets moves at a pace that
works for pedestrians.

Massachusetts is already one of the nation’s
leaders in pedestrian safety, and has among the nation’s highest proportion of
people who walk for their daily transportation needs. Let’s seize the Olympic moment and create walking connections
that will move the hordes of Olympic visitors for two weeks – and Massachusetts’ residents and visitors for decades to
come.

Wendy Landman
Executive Director, WalkBoston

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