Tag: rural walking

Hilltowns Walkability and Healthy Aging Project

Hilltowns Walkability and Healthy Aging Project

This month, WalkBoston kicked off our five-year Hilltowns Walkability and Healthy Aging project in partnership with the Hilltowns Community Development Corporation and Northampton’s Collaborative for Educational Services. This project is funded through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Healthy Aging Fund and aims to make built environment and policy changes that will make walking safer and more enjoyable in the Hilltowns. The project team has been hosting community conversations via Zoom with Hilltowns stakeholders to learn more about the walking needs and priorities of residents. We are looking forward to heading out to the Hilltowns this summer for a series of workshops and walk audits to move these conversations to action.

Town of Lenox on the move

Town of Lenox on the move

Lenox, in the Berkshires, has just over 5,000 residents.
It is largely rural with a small downtown, parks, public
art, great restaurants, Tanglewood, and The Mount/Edith
Wharton’s Home. In Lenox, you get the small-town vibe
but big-city culture.

Residents want to stay in Lenox as they age. Millennials
across the country are opting to live in traditionally
dense, accessible neighborhoods. So in the past year, Lenox has embraced walkability and adopted
a Complete Streets policy. The process started by
conducting two walk audits with WalkBoston and
working with local partners to install “pop-up” Complete
Street interventions. Working with Age Friendly
Berkshires, the town installed two temporary curb
extensions on Main Street and ordered “WalkYourCity”
signs directing residents and visitors to destinations
such as Tanglewood, Shakespeare and Co., restaurants, and playgrounds.

Getting decision makers and stakeholders into the neighborhood has been a
big “win.” Seeing is believing. The “pop-up” curb extensions were a low-cost
and very effective tool to demonstrate how to slow down car traffic and give
walkers better visibility and more ability to be seen.

During one walk audit, a Board of Selectmen member joined us. Noting an
inaccessible curb ramp, the group stopped to take a look. The Selectmen
asked the Department of Public Works Superintendent and Town Planner to
fix the ramp before the current repaving project ended. It got fixed that week.

Partnerships, walk audits, temporary, low-cost installations all make what
often seem like lofty or challenging goals and solutions, seem doable. You
leverage resources and expertise, and get feedback immediately.

We plan to submit our curb extension project as part of our Complete Streets
Tier III funding request. This project makes the street safer for all users and we
know we have support after testing and educating people about the benefits.

This effort has been positive due to the many partnerships including
WalkBoston, Mass in Motion, Be Well Berkshires, MassDOT Complete Streets
Program, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, Age Friendly Berkshires,
the Department of Public Works, and members of the Board of Selectmen.

Gwen Miller is the Land Use Director and Town Planner for Lenox, MA.
This article was featured in WalkBoston’s October 2017 newsletter.

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October 2017 Newsletter

October 2017 Newsletter

Our newsletter is out and hitting mailboxes of supporters! Thank you to all the contributors & volunteer newsletter committee who helped make it happen.

A note from the Executive Director
By Wendy Landman/Executive Director, WalkBoston
Automated Enforcement?
By Charlie Ticotsky/Policy Director, T4MA
Town of Lenox on the move
By Gwen Miller/Land Use Dir. & Town Planner, Lenox
Rural walking in Massachusetts
By Stacey Beuttell/Program Director, WalkBoston

Download the October 2017 Newsletter PDF

Rural Walking in Massachusetts

Rural Walking in Massachusetts

By Stacey Beuttell/Deputy Executive Director, WalkBoston 

WalkBoston began its work in rural communities with the publication of “Rural Walking in Massachusetts.” Historically walking was the primary mode of travel in rural areas, so town boundaries were drawn an acceptable three-mile walking distance around the town center. Today, the car has taken over as the primary mode of transportation for rural residents. As a result many roadways are now dangerous for people walking to town and development patterns add challenges.

Challenge 1: People must walk along narrow roads with no sidewalks to reach everyday destinations. The topography, drainage, and land ownership make widening roads complicated and sometimes impossible. Even if a road were wide enough, community resources may not be prioritized for walking.

To accommodate all users safely on narrow rights-of-way two design recommendations may apply:
• Pedestrian lane: pavement striping to create space for walkers on the roadway itself
• Shared roadway or yield street: an unmarked road (no lines) designed to serve people walking, biking, and driving within the roadway.

These strategies are typically used on residential streets with low traffic volumes. The Urban, Rural and Suburban Complete Streets Design Manual for the City of Northampton and Communities in Hampshire County has specific design information and graphic examples.

Challenge 2: State-owned roads are the main streets of many rural communities.
 Since many rural towns do not own these roads, the local government has limited control over design, maintenance, or speed limits on their main streets. This makes it difficult to implement infrastructure changes that slow traffic and improve pedestrian safety, goals that many of the communities we’ve worked with are hoping to achieve.

MassDOT’s Complete Streets Funding Program provides money to make short-term, low cost road improvements, but this funding cannot be used on state-owned roads. This is because all MassDOT-owned roads are already required to adopt a complete streets design approach. Municipalities are dependent on the state’s interpretation of a complete streets design for these main streets – and more significantly, improvements happen on the state’s timeline.

Despite these limitations, WalkBoston encourages communities to pass Complete Streets policies. A Complete Streets policy is an effective tool to improve pedestrian safety and community walkability. With a policy in place, cities and towns demonstrate their commitment to the approach.

As we learn of barriers to walking that are specific to rural communities, WalkBoston will continue to advocate for solutions that address these issues and allow rural communities to take advantage of the funding initiatives and legislative changes that suburban and urban communities already enjoy.

This article was featured in WalkBoston’s October 2017 newsletter.
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Congrats to this year’s Golden Shoe Award Winners!

Congrats to this year’s Golden Shoe Award Winners!

As presented at this year’s annual event on March 29, 2017

See the list of all time winners:
https://walkmass.org/events/goldenshoe-award

Alison Pultinas | Persistent, effective Mission Hill/Roxbury citizen activist
Alison Pultinas is a leading Mission Hill activist and a key member of the Friends of Melnea Cass Boulevard. Alison has been a guiding hand for the design of the Melnea Cass roadway as it has evolved from a roadway widening project to a Complete Street. Throughout the five-year advocacy effort, Alison has been persistent and effective, providing key institutional memory, recalling comment letters sent and informal decisions reached.
Alison is a strong advocate for development that is not dependent upon automobiles. She is a key ally of WalkBoston and consistently encourages WalkBoston to attend meetings and to respond to projects, like the proposed Tremont Crossing mixed-use development. She keeps watch over several of the outdoor stairways which connect walking routes on the hilly landscape of Mission Hill, cleaning and shoveling when needed. Alison is happy to report that the reconstruction of the Hayden Street Stairs, a City of Boston Public Works project, is upcoming. She also writes for the monthly community newspaper, The Fenway News, with a focus on development and historic preservation issues.

Sarah Bankert, Healthy Hampshire | Rural walking advocate in Western Massachusetts
Sarah Bankert conceived of the Route 202 – Common to Courthouse Corridor Study in Belchertown, which brought together municipal staff, Belchertown seniors, and economic development entities to work toward a shared goal of a safer, higher quality walking experience along Route 202. Sarah and her team’s efforts attracted the attention of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Design & Resiliency Team (DART) who conducted a multi-day workshop which resulted in a “Three Villages & A Farm: Belchertown Beyond” case study report. She is also leading efforts to improve health and walkability in 14 towns in Hampshire County as part of the MDPH 1422 grant.

Caitlin Marquis, Healthy Hampshire | Rural walking advocate in Western Massachusetts
Caitlin Marquis has been a committed voice for incorporating physical activity – particularly walking – into town-wide planning efforts in Williamsburg. She contributed to the formation of the Facilities Master Plan Committee, plays an advisory role with seniors at the Williamsburg Council on Aging, and promotes healthy food choices at the local town center market. Her efforts demonstrate how walkability permeates so many aspects of the daily lives of Williamsburg residents. Caitlin also works to improve health and walkability in 14 towns in Hampshire County as part of the MDPH 1422 grant.

Dillon Sussman, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission | Rural walking advocate in Western Massachusetts Dillon Sussman, a land use planner at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), has also brought walkability to the rural towns of Hampshire County. Dillon conducted a Health Aging and Community Design regulatory review in Williamsburg and directed the town’s Facilities Master Planning efforts. He also authored the adaptation of PVPC’s Healthy Community Design Tool-Kit to include age-friendly design elements that are applicable across the Commonwealth.

Michelle Wu, Boston City Council President
Boston City Council President Michelle Wu has elevated the conversation about walking (and bicycling and transit) at the City Council, in City Hall, and among many Bostonians. Her proactive efforts to reach out to WalkBoston and many of our fellow activists about the importance of making Boston safer for people walking in the City has helped keep active transportation efforts alive in Boston. Partnership with Councilor Wu is particularly powerful as we work with many City departments, grassroots organizations and residents to implement Vision Zero.

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