Around Town

MassDOT Expects Busy Memorial Day Weekend, Encourages Travelers to Plan Ahead

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The following information was provided by MassDOT:

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is encouraging individuals who plan to travel during the Memorial Day holiday weekend to plan, expect increased travel volumes, utilize MassDOT’s “real time” travel tools and resources, and take public transportation as much as possible to help get to planned destinations.   

“We are expecting a very busy travel weekend for this upcoming Memorial Day,” said Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver. “Traffic congestion is expected to grow on Thursday afternoon and will be much heavier than normal early Friday afternoon. Drivers should leave extra time when making travel plans, consult MassDOT resources, and always drive sober and undistracted. We at MassDOT wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend.” 

Construction operations for the Sumner Tunnel Restoration Project are not occurring this weekend. The tunnel will remain open for travel during the weekend of Friday, May 24 through Monday, May 27.  

Using traffic data, MassDOT has created a traffic forecast for the holiday weekend.

Around Town

Hear from the State Transportation Secretary at Charles River Chamber Event

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Hear about addressing the region’s transportation needs when the Charles River Chamber hosts host a conversation with MassDOT Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt in Watertown. The event will take place on Tuesday, May 14, 9:30-11 a.m. at the Hampton Inn & Suites, 25 Bond Street, Watertown. Cost is $10 for members, $15 for nonmembers

The Chamber provided the following information:

It’s not possible to meet our region’s housing, climate, and workforce challenges without a safe, reliable, and accessible transportation system that meets the needs of all users whether they walk, bike, take public transit, or drive. Join us for a conversation with Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Monica Tibbits-Nutt for an overview of the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s plans for improving the state’s transportation system and the role we all must play in supporting this effort. 9:30 a.m.: Registration and Networking

10 a.m.: A Conversation with Secretary Tibbits-Nutt

Tickets are nonrefundable but may be transferred to another guest. 

RSVP HERE

City Council

City Wants to Change Location of Required MBTA Multifamily Zone

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Watertown City Hall

Legislation recently passed on Beacon Hill requires communities with MBTA service to create an area where dense housing projects would be allowed in locations near transit hubs. Watertown officials say, however, the area of the City designated by the state does not make sense and should be moved closer to the center of town. Each of the 175 MBTA communities must designate an area of at least 50 acres where multi-family projects with up to 15 units per acre would be allowed by right, so the City could not deny approval based on density. These zones are supposed to be within half-a-mile of a transit station. In Watertown’s case, the bus hubs in Watertown Square and the Watertown Yard do not qualify because they do not have a building available to passengers, acting Deputy City Manager Steve Magoon said at the Feb.

Around Town

Solar Powered Info Kiosks Coming to Watertown

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The electronic information kiosk, made by Soofa Sign, was recently installed near Town Hall. New digital signs have started popping up on the streets of Watertown that will provide emergency messages, bus schedules, information about local government and more. The information kiosks are called Soofa Signs and are the creation of a startup run by MIT grads. They are solar powered and use e-ink. One has been put up near Town Hall/Saltonstall Park.

Bus

OP-ED: Sen. Brownsberger on MBTA Bus Bunching

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An MBTA bus in Watertown. The following piece was provided by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston:

I often get complaints about bunching and related gaps in service on MBTA buses.  Sometimes you’ll see 4 buses go through together and sometimes you might wait 30 minutes for a bus that is supposed to come every 5 or 10 minutes. Bunching is a perennial challenge for MBTA bus operations, especially on the trolley lines (71 and 73) where buses cannot pass each other.  I recently sat down with senior bus operations managers at the MBTA to get an update on their efforts to keep service properly spaced. Current technology is a major barrier to addressing the bunching problem.  Other than the farebox, everything on the bus is run by a system originally procured almost 20 years ago called “Transit Master.”  Transit Master keeps records on who is driving the bus, displays the route signs on the bus, provides radio communications, makes the stop announcements, counts passengers and, most importantly, tells the driver in real time whether the bus is ahead or behind schedule. When the driver sits down in the bus at the start of their shift and logs in to the system, a schedule is loaded for their whole shift.  That schedule doesn’t change dynamically to reflect traffic conditions.  Congestion is built into schedules, but traffic is not entirely predictable and when traffic is especially bad, buses fall behind schedule.   Even if a bus is running behind schedule and the trailing bus has caught up, the trailing bus driver is being told by the system to keep pressing to stay on schedule, even if that means staying right behind the lead bus.

MBTA

See How MBTA Projects Will Impact Subways, Trains in 2020

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The following piece was provided by the MBTA and MassDOT:

Today the MBTA announced its plans to accelerate infrastructure projects for several subway lines and the Commuter Rail during calendar year 2020 to improve service, safety, and reliability on a faster timeline. These projects will include additional diversions of weekend service on all rapid transit lines and several Commuter Rail lines. In addition to a number of weekend diversions on the Green Line, the MBTA is planning for two one-month shutdowns on the Green Line: the C Branch in July and the E Branch in August. 

The 2020 Infrastructure Acceleration Plan will deliver these projects eight years faster than originally planned, and will result in track replacement, upgraded intersections, and station improvements. In 2019, the MBTA executed a plan to expedite projects for customers, delivering projects 2.2 years faster than originally planned across the Red, Orange, and Green Lines. Much of this work was completed through ten weekend shutdowns on the Red and Orange Lines through the core of downtown Boston. During those shutdowns, the MBTA was able to accelerate improvements by expanding traditional work windows and increasing the number of work activities that took place.

Government

Sen. Brownsberger Hosting Town Halls on Transportation, the Census

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State Sen. Will Brownsberger

The following announcement was provided by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston:

Senator Brownsberger is hosting a series of Town Halls for each community in January – February 2020. These town halls will focus on Transportation, as well as the 2020 Census. Logistics about the upcoming town hall taking place in your community can be found below:

Watertown

Date: Tuesday, January 28thTime: 6:00PMLocation: Watertown Free Public Library (123 Main St, Watertown, MA 02472), Savings Bank Meeting Room

Fenway & Back Bay

More information about the January 22nd Town Hall can be found here: https://willbrownsberger.com/january-22-back-bay-transportation-2020-census-town-hall/

Brighton & Allston

Date: Tuesday, February 4thTime: 6:00PMLocation: Presentation School Foundation Community Center (640 Washington St, Brighton, MA 02135)

Belmont

Date: Tuesday, February 11thTime: 6:00PMLocation: Belmont Public Library (336 Concord Ave, Belmont, MA 02478, USA), Assembly Room

Letters

OP-ED: Raising Our Rate of Investment in Transportation

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Buses like this one on the 71 bus will get priority heading toward Harvard Square on Mt. Auburn Street in the new Cambridge-Watertown Bus Priority Pilot program. The following piece was provided by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, D – Belmont, who also represents Watertown and parts of Boston:

The MBTA’s Board heard a presentation last week from leaders of Toronto’s regional rail system. What was really stunning was how rapidly Toronto has been investing in all forms of transit improvement and expansion. 

Since 2008, Toronto’s regional leadership has been engaged in a series of transit expansions which will add up to a total investment of approximately $60 billion by 2028. Annual spending has reached a level over $4 billion in some years. Four billion dollars in well-managed transit investments within one year represents staggering progress. In Massachusetts, we have struggled to raise our annual investment to $1 billion per year on transit. In private and public meetings officials ask constantly whether we can move more quickly, but again and again the answer has been that we don’t have the planning and management capacity to do so.