“Senior strong! Everyone belongs! Kids cross here, be aware, please don’t run us down!” With creative chants, colorful signs, and African and Japanese drumming, a large and spirited group of seniors and teenagers rallied and marched in Boston’s Grove Hall neighborhood for safer streets and pedestrian crossings. The demonstration took place as part of the Elderly Commission’s Summer Sidewalk Series celebrating the first year of Age-Friendly Boston.
Many drivers got the Grove Hall group’s message as they slowed down upon seeing the lively crowd, with some even honking their horns in support. Others however continued to speed through the crosswalks, with some clearly distracted on their phones. This highlighted a strong need for permanent built environment improvements to slow traffic down and improve walking safety.
Rachel Fichtenbaum is a mobility information specialist at MassMobility. She researches best practices in community transportation, and disseminates them to practitioners statewide, providing technical assistance to help organizations improve mobility.
Finding transportation can be a challenge for seniors and people with disabilities looking to get to medical appointments, jobs, or other destinations, especially in suburban and rural areas. While some require a ride, walking is also an important mode of travel. Over the last five years, the state’s MassMobility program – a joint initiative of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and MassDOT – has worked with transportation providers, human service agencies, and advocates in all regions of Massachusetts to identify needs and develop solutions to increase mobility for seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income commuters. Improved walkability is a recurring theme of our conversations and our work.
Walkability facilitates access to transit, getting from home to the bus route, and then from the bus stop to the destination. When the members of the Cape and Islands Regional Coordinating Council reviewed results of a survey of over 250 transit riders and potential riders, lack of sidewalks or other infrastructure along bus routes emerged as the number one barrier preventing people from using public transit. As a result, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority has partnered with regional planners on a bus stop audit to determine where improvements may be needed.
Walkability near bus stops is a particularly important issue for travel trainers, people who teach seniors and people with disabilities the skills and knowledge they need to ride transit independently and safely. Earlier this year, travel trainers from around the state convened for a presentation on intersection design from Meg Robertson, Director of the Orientation and Mobility department at the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. Using images of Massachusetts intersections to illustrate her points, Robertson presented an overview of types of intersections and challenges each type can present to pedestrians. She emphasized that street crossing involves a number of choices, and that while no travel trainer can prevent all danger, risk factors can be reduced.
Pedestrian safety is also important for people who use wheelchairs and mobility devices. AGE TRIAD, a group of public safety officials and senior centers representing the Berkshire County towns of Alford, Great Barrington, and Egremont, as well as the local Fairview Hospital, sponsored a “Be Seen, Be Safe” event at the Great Barrington Senior Center in July – all attendees received free, safety-yellow vests. Staff and volunteers gave out flags for scooters and helped attendees decorate their scooters with reflective tape. The event was spurred by a tragic crash in which a driver of an SUV hit a person using a scooter who was crossing the street from senior housing to a grocery store in Great Barrington in 2015. The driver said she never saw the pedestrian, so AGE TRIAD, at the urging of the Great Barrington Chief of Police William Walsh, decided to conduct a public awareness campaign to increase pedestrian safety and visibility.
To learn more about these or other projects, please visit MassMobility at www.mass.gov/hst, or subscribe to its monthly newsletter at www.tinyurl.com/MassMobility.
by Nicholas Bulens, Grant Writer & Researcher, Town of Weymouth
In the summer of 2014, WalkBoston partnered with the Town of Weymouth to open a conversation between municipal staff and older adults about creating a safer, more attractive walking environment. The Safe Routes for Seniors initiative was a true convergence of advocacy and policy, resulting in a set of design guidelines and program alternatives to better coordinate the town’s capital planning process with greater walkability. The initiative has helped springboard Weymouth toward a healthier approach to community design.
Weymouth is a mature suburban community situated about 12 miles southeast of Boston. The town has a strong residential character with many attributes of a walkable environment. Weymouth has four village centers, each featuring a mix of land uses that helps create a sense of place for residents. It also has a diverse open space network interspersed among many settled neighborhoods. There is also a good mix of transit services, including commuter rail and bus, which help connect Weymouth’s people and places. However, in spite of these attributes, the town has grown increasingly dependent on the automobile for transportation in the last 50 years. Simultaneously, Weymouth’s population has aged and diversified to where almost one in every four residents is over age 60.
Recognizing a need to analyze the built environment from a healthy aging perspective, Weymouth received a grant from the Massachusetts Council on Aging, in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health [MDPH], to conduct a senior pedestrian safety study. Municipal staff collected data on Weymouth’s housing, land use and pedestrian crashes. The data led the town to identify four areas of need where seniors could most benefit from improved walking conditions.
WalkBoston facilitated a public meeting between municipal staff and an audience of over 30 older adults. Residents raised important concerns about poorly maintained sidewalks, obstructed lines of sight and distressed crosswalks. WalkBoston then hit the streets with a diverse focus group of municipal staff, senior residents and local businesspeople. A wealth of observations were made, and ideas flowed freely between stakeholders.
Weymouth’s walkability investigation culminated in the publication of the Safe Routes for Seniors Design Guidelines and Planning Report. WalkBoston introduced municipal staff to new and innovative approaches to streetscape improvements, including “lighter quicker cheaper” placemaking, which could facilitate safer, more frequent foot traffic by older adults in the town’s target areas. Weymouth’s planning staff prepared the final report to summarize the initiative’s findings and recommend design guidelines for town planning moving forward.
The Safe Routes for Seniors initiative has already led Weymouth to take a number of steps toward enhancing walkability. For 2015, Weymouth’s Mayor Susan Kay has committed $150,000 to sidewalk improvements and indicated that she will budget up to $250,000 for the same purpose each year thereafter. Plans are also under way by municipal staff to develop a Complete Streets policy and apply for certification under the MassDOT’s new Complete Streets program. In addition, the town has received a technical assistance grant from the MDPH to develop a zoning action plan with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission [PVPC], a leader in the movement to design healthier communities. The PVPC will advise Weymouth on how to facilitate healthy eating and more physical activity in the community through changes to local zoning provisions, such as reduced parking requirements and site plan review.
This article was featured in our Summer 2015 newsletter. See the full newsletter & past editions here.
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The “Reimagining Railroad Avenue” planning study conducted by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and the City of Gloucester proposes infrastructure changes to improve the safety and quality of the pedestrian environment in and around Railroad Avenue. Given the large number of senior citizens located in and near the Railroad Avenue study area, the City of Gloucester pursued “Healthy Aging through Community Design” funds made available through the Massachusetts Council on Aging (MCOA) and Mass in Motion (MiM) to ensure that the speci c needs of senior residents are represented.
