Update on October 25
Night paving progress has been slower than hoped. During the week of October 26, paving will continue between Waverley Square and Cushing Square. Because of falling temperatures, paving activities will shift to the day as of October 26 with resulting traffic disruptions. This will work will coincide with Concord Avenue paving during the same week, increasing the potential for congestion.
The text of the original post on October 9 appears below.
Expect the following over the next few weeks along the Belmont Street and Trapelo Road Corridor:
- Cushing Square will be milled (surface layer scraped off) — now planned for October 13.
- Cushing Square will get a first layer of new asphalt — now planned for October 15.
- Trapelo Road from Waverley Square through Cushing Square will get final layer of asphalt — now planned for night work starting in the week of October 19.
- Final pavement markings will go down between Waverley and Cushing — now planned for night work starting in the week of October 26.
Especially during the major night paving activities, there could be road closures. The timeline could slip if weather is unfavorable — wet or too cold.
As to signals, the status is as follows:
- In Waverley Square, synchronization of the new signals should happen shortly (if it hasn’t happened already) — this should ease congestion along Trapelo.
- In Cushing Square, signals are more or less in their final configuration after a false start with a new approach.
- East of Cushing Square, towards School and Grove Streets, final signals have not been installed. The contractor is waiting for Verizon to move some wires on the polls.
Final completion of the segment east of Cushing Square will wait until next season. For additional information, please see this thread of posts or visit the town of Belmont’s page of design drawings. If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to post them as comments on this below or contact Will Brownsberger by email.
Any word on when the trolleybus service will resume? Sounds like it’ll have to wait till next summer, since they’ll still be working in the spring. On that note: any word from the MBTA about how this will tie in with their project to refurbish the overhead wire system for the trolleybuses? Will the reinstalled wires on the 73 be built with new parts, and allow for faster speeds and fewer dewirements? It would be a shame if they put the old wires back up only to take them back down in a year for replacement.
Your guess sounds right on timing. The T really wants its diesel buses back though, so there is a lot of pressure to get the project done to a point where we can reinstall the catenary. I’m quite sure they cannot reuse the old catenary and as I recall the budget for taking them down was between $1 and $2 million, so I assume it included new parts.
Hello Will,
Perhaps this is planned, but I’d like to request a sign be installed at the corner of Harriet and Bartlett, after the fire hydrant to the effect of “No parking here to corner”. At the corner there is a new crosswalk and about 10 feet further the fire hydrant. A car is typically parked there all day into the early evening (perhaps a commuter), in violation of both the 20′ from curb and 10′ from hydrant regulations. The parked car obstructs the right lane for cars turning right onto Bartlett, in addition to being able to see pedestrians(and strollers) in the crosswalk when coming to a stop on Bartlett.
Thank-you for your attention to this matter.
Regards,
Cara Noferi
34 Alma Ave.
Hi Cara,
I’ll send this on to the Town Engineer — parking signs are a Town call.
/w.
Looks like you’re doing some nice work on the road.
Those traffic lights should stand up to any hurricane.
Any plans for bike lanes up and down this busy corridor?
Cheers, Peter
Yes! Bike lanes will absolutely be part of the final striping!
I guess you just answered my second concern.
congrats to the people of belmont for getting newly-paved roads… taxes should always be spent on wealthy communities first! in the meantime, those of us who traverse mt. auburn st. towards watertown sq. still have our brains scrambled as we avoid holes in the road and bounce along very uneven pavement. a few broken axels here and there… but who cares?
It took 15 years from start of discussions about the corridor until now to get this done. Looking forward to supporting Watertown when it gets to the time to push for funding!
thanks for the hopeful remark… i hope i live to see the day when watertown main roads are repaired. in the meantime is there any chance of amending the watertown law of banning street parking for the winter months? there are few snowstorms a year, as it is. the streets are wide enough to allow one-sided parking if there’s a storm warning… banning cars (when some households have as many as 3 per household) from the street adds a burden to people who work night shifts and have to scramble to get up early to move their cars from public property. this extended parking ban seems unreasonable and should be re-examined to make life easier for taxpayers.
thank you for considering this topic for discussion. tamara
HI Tamara,
This is a Watertown call. It’s a tough issue. I’d suggest speaking to your district town councilor — Cecelia Lenk — or your incoming district town councilor — Lisa Feltner. If you aren’t sure how to reach them, ping me offline and I’ll send you their contact information.
Surely I not the only person who cannot see the new overhead traffic signals while in my car. It is particularly difficult when the sun visor is down. The lights are hung so high now that they are out of the normal line of sight.
You are right. The signals really are high. We’ll have to work to make them as visible as possible, but they are going to stay high.
I have noticed that when drivers are looking up at the light, they dont see cyclists. They seem to be trying to drive and look at an angle that they dont see the whole road.
This is a real concern. The lights are what they are now though.
I don’t understand why the road work is done at the same time on the two main thoroughfares of Belmont. People who use Belmont to get to other communities have other alternatives and can avoid Belmont altogether, unlike the citizens of Belmont, just trying to get to work, schools, or even shopping or their local doctors.
It’s crunch time before it gets too cold to pave. It is typical for road projects to pave at this time of year. Difficult, but at this stage, unavoidable.
I agree with Ms. Tapper. It’s almost impossible to see the lights on Trapelo. I can’t imagine how difficult it will be when the sun is in your eyes too. It’s also difficult to see the Slade street sign when you’re driving westbound on Trapelo.
Dear Will,
I am flummoxed by the central raised parts and the narrowed roadway, especially in front of the Oakley country club, where there is a bus stop. So when the bus stops, all the cars must line up behind with no possibility of overtaking? What are those pink raised centrals? A new-fangled idea? What will happen when snow falls and covers them? So many accidents waiting to happen and so many tax dollars wasted.
Hi Nayla,
The pink raised areas will be flush with the final coat of asphalt. It will all make more sense for people once the final pieces are in place — I hope!
I hope so too. Thank you Will.
What about the bicycle lane that was planned to go in. Cars use what should be a safe lane for bicycle commuters as a second lane for passing on the right.
You found the answer below, but I’ll repeat it here: Bike lanes will be part of the final striping which didn’t quite get done before the weather got cold.