Tag: street crossings

Springfield Schools Walk Audits

Springfield Schools Walk Audits

Between April, 2013 – June, 2016 WalkBoston conducted 6 walk audits of elementary and community schools in Springfield, Massachusetts to assess the safety and walkability of the areas surrounding the schools. Read those walk audits here:

WalkBoston-BolandElementarySchoolWalkAudit-Springfield

WalkBoston-DormanElementarySchoolWalkAudit-Springfield

WalkBoston-EliasBrookingsElementarySchoolWalkAudit-Springfield

WalkBoston-GermanGerenaCommunitySchoolWalkAudit-Springfield

WalkBoston-LincolnElementarySchoolWalkAudit-Springfield

WalkBoston-MiltonBradleyElementarySchoolWalkAudit-Springfield

Downtown Cultural District Walk Assessment Springfield

Downtown Cultural District Walk Assessment Springfield

Springfield Massachusetts is a city of approximately 153,000 people located about 90 miles west of Boston. The third largest city in the Commonwealth, Springfield is the cultural and commercial center of the Pioneer Valley.

This walk assessment occurred in the Metro Center neighborhood of Springfield, which has been called the business, government, and cultural center of the city. Bounded by Route 291 to the north, Union and Howard Streets to the south, Federal Street to the east and the Connecticut River to the west, Metro Center is home to historic residential streets, high-rise apartment and office buildings, and a downtown retail district. The neighborhood contains several cultural institutions, including the Springfield Armory, Symphony Hall, and the Quadrangle, which houses several world-class museums and the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden.

Read the full report here:
WalkBoston-DowntownCulturalDistrictWalkAssessment-Springfield

Taunton Walk Assessment

Taunton Walk Assessment

Taunton, founded in 1639, has a dense development pattern with narrow streets, and therefore is quite walkable. Many of the two lane streets have mature trees and flowerbeds, and several assessment attendees, including the WalkBoston team, commented on how attractive and clean the streets were, with the exception of portions of Adams Street. Hospital employees said that they were able to take a one-mile walk on their break without having to cross Broadway, a more heavily traveled street. Attendees also noted that cars were traveling at moderate speeds.

Read the full report:
WalkBoston-WalkAssessement-Taunton

Codman Academy Walk Audit

Codman Academy Walk Audit

In 2014, a student was struck and seriously injured on Epping Street, a one block, one lane roadway bordering the Codman Academy. The 9th grade student got off an MBTA bus and started walking across Epping Street and was hit by a car. The student was hospitalized.

Epping Street is a one-way street used by drivers to avoid traffic signals at Norfolk and Talbot. This usage represents safety hazards for the students and faculty at Codman Academy. This report looks at the safety benefits of closing Epping Street.

Information for this report was collected and analyzed by 10th grade students at Codman Academy as part of their physics and math classes in the fall and winter of 2014-2015. They were assisted in this effort by staff from WalkBoston, a non-profit walking advocacy organization.

Read the full report here:
WalkBoston-CodmanAcademyReport-Dorchester

Brightwood Neighborhood Walk Assessment

Brightwood Neighborhood Walk Assessment

A safe walking environment is a critical need for the Brightwood community, as 34 percent of neighborhood residents lack access to cars (compared to 18 percent of residents for the City of Spring eld as a whole). As a result, they are heavily dependent on walking or sporadic PVTA bus service to access food stores and other goods and services on nearby West and Main Streets. However, pedestrian connections to local bus stops and destinations outside the neighborhood are severely lacking and unsafe, and walking conditions within Brightwood are often poor as well.

Read the full report here:
WalkBoston-BrightwoodNeighborhoodWalkAssessment-Springfield