Find Out About Improvements to Public Transit Planned for Mt. Auburn Street

The Town of Watertown will host a public meeting on planned improvements to public transit on Mount Auburn Street, including new technology for traffic signals and piloting a bus-only lane for the 71 and 73 buses on a stretch of the street. The Department of Public Works sent out the following information:

Please join the Town of Watertown for a Mount Auburn Street project meeting to discuss bus transit planning along the corridor. We will also discuss potential technologies and amenities that could be incorporated into the project to improve bus service and reliability for the more than 5,000 daily riders. At the meeting, we will touch upon an exciting joint bus rapid transit (BRT) pilot project with the City of Cambridge and the MBTA to improve Route 71/73 service between Belmont Street and Fresh Pond Parkway. Although the pilot project will proceed independent of our Mount Auburn Street Complete Streets project, we hope to use the results and data collected from the pilot to inform our design.

Public Sees Visions for Renovation Coolidge Square, Weighs In on Project

Town officials invited the public to come give its ideas for how to redesign and improve Mt. Auburn Street in the area of Coolidge Avenue, while making the area more efficient for motor vehicles, buses, bicycles and pedestrians. Currently, the street has two lanes of traffic in each direction and parking on both sides of the street, but no dedicated bike lanes. Some ideas for changing the street include cutting the number of lanes of traffic to one each way with left turn lanes at intersections, adding bike lanes and making sidewalks wider in some places to allow easier crossings for pedestrians. Planning for all modes of transportation is known as Complete Streets.

Public Invited to Meeting About Redesigning Mt. Auburn Street

Find out about the redesign of Mt. Auburn Street and give your input during a joint meeting of the Town Council’s Public Works subcommittee and the Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee. 

The meeting will be held on Monday, June 19, 2017 at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers in Town Hall, 149 Main Street, Watertown. The project got mixed reviews when it was discussed in December 2016. The Department of Public Works sent out the following information:
The Watertown Department of Public Works will provide an update focusing on options for bicycle accommodations on Mount Auburn Street. The project team will welcome public comments on the bicycle accommodations before we refine the preliminary design of the project.