Greetings Councilors:
Are you aware of the many resident concerns being voiced about the excessive size of the sidewalk bump outs along the Mount Auburn Street Corridor? Someone is certainly monitoring the negative feedback.
Note the most recent Mount Auburn Street Project Updates for the week of Aug. 3rd. The City’s Project Team clearly places the onus of the design concept on the 07/10/2018 endorsement vote of the Town/City Council.
Talk about passing the buck. Since when did Councilors become project engineers?
“The Rehabilitation of Mt Auburn Street Concept Plan, which was endorsed by the Watertown City Council on July 10, 2018, established guidelines for rebalancing the roadway to better accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, motorists, and adjacent businesses. One key component of the project is providing sidewalks that meet or exceed current accessibility standards, including maintaining a minimum clear pedestrian path of travel, accommodating individuals using mobility devices, and improving the overall pedestrian network along the corridor. So you may be seeing wider sidewalks or updated grading in some areas, and those are to be more accessible to all residents and visitors.”
https://mailchi.mp/a2e50f64982d/mount-auburn-work-week-of-january-26-30-8337248?e=dcc33c9014
Councilors: I stood my ground in 2018, against the project as presented; as I will do today. I was the lone dissenting vote on July 10, 2018 and Nov. 13, 2018.
My statement was read into the record as follows:
“Although the Concept Project is still a work in progress; after the vote of the Town Council on July 10, 2018 for the 25 Percent design plans, the General Concept Design is finite. After long and careful consideration, at this time, I cannot support the Mount Auburn Street Project in its entirety as submitted. Thank you.”
In my opinion: the Mount Auburn Street reconfiguration will adversely challenge all users of the public way. I can only hope that all of us will have safe journeys when we traverse the roadways in Watertown.
Yasas, (Literally meaning “health to you”)
Angie
Angeline Maria B. Kounelis
Retired Watertown District A, East End, City Councilor
I agree with Angie. It’s hard enough to navigate our overcrowded roads. Adding more restrictions, narrower roads more apartments. Is NOT the solution.
Hi Angie,
I’m struck by how bucolic that concept picture is of Coolidge Square…no bustling activity and people with shopping bags and people who seem to have all the time in the world to stroll. If this is truly what we’re aiming for, we might as well say good-bye right now to our Coolidge Square businesses.
I’m guessing that these plans were in the works before we lost our main branch post office. This being one of our two alternatives left in Watertown to access this necessary public service, I can’t understand why they would remove the parking spaces in front of the East End Post Office. It’s hard enough gaining access to this branch without making it even more difficult for people with mobility issues.
Wrong then, wrong now. These bumpouts are no more “excessive” than ones you’d encounter even elsewhere in Watertown. The lane widths and turning radii are within the national standards.
If people that can’t safely navigate their cars in this configuration, which is nothing out of the ordinary in the metro area, it’s probably time they give up the keys to their car and consider other arrangements.
I agree. First there are parts of Mt Auburn that have been really bad for walking. As a walker and driver, I think the bumpouts would help prevent people from getting run over. At the lower end of Mt. Auburn, pedestrians are visible from a good distance but as soon as you drive up to St. Stephen’s that changes. This would help both populations. Plus the new design is more efficient for traffic flow; changes in the number of lanes just slows one down, and better signal timing would really help.
Bottom line, it has to work for all in the community including people with physical limitations. In a previous article on the park renovation, there are complaints about lack of accessibility. Here there are complaints of too much accessibility. I guess opinions vary by degree and type of limitation.
I disagreed with the design from the get go and sent questions. I also thought if the goals were: to get as many people efficiently from Watertown Sq to Harvard or other way, along with better cross walks(agree we do need some better cross walks but we also need to balance with parking ..especially in the retail zones) and bike lanes..then why not just keep one lane as a BUS/bike lane ONLY (plastic dividers thin ones you see elsewhere or small curb) with some bump outs strategically placed for cross overs? This would allow for more dynamic ‘as need’ changes down the road too possibly BUS/bike lane in AM and PM only or as needed etc. Do we really need a couple left turn lanes into our neighborhoods or a full BUS/bike lane(I don’t even ride the bus much but that seems like the obvious answer).
The goal is not to move “as many people efficiently” as possible. If it were, then a highway would be the answer. The goal is to move people safely, and allow people to be in and move around this area on foot. There is copious off-street parking around this area, that’s a false choice.
I agree, shared bus-bike lanes can work well, though they are not often used in Massachusetts.
Ray,
I would think that a fast bus ride from Watertown Sq to Harvard(and subway) would be a good goal, no? This is what I meant by getting as many folks back and forth to public transport(the next mile) aka efficiently. Moving folks safely is implied IMO(for any scenario), fast bus ride with no waiting in traffic to Harvard SQ sounds like a win to me but that is off the table from when I asked many years ago. Many cross-walks do need to be reconfigured(as stated originally) but I believe this could occur and most of the road could be dedicated bus/bike lane.