The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, in collaboration with the Cities of Cambridge and Watertown, will host a final public meeting relative to the Mt. Auburn Street Corridor Study on Tuesday, January 31, from 6 – 8 PM at the Shady Hill School Assembly Hall, located at 56 Coolidge Avenue, Cambridge. The meeting space is fully accessible and can be accessed by MBTA bus routes 71 and 73. In the event of a snow emergency, the makeup date will be Thursday, February 2 at the same time and location.
The purpose of this meeting is to gather feedback from the Cambridge and Watertown communities on the Mount Auburn Street Corridor Study. The project team will present long and short term improvement options, benefits and traffic analysis associated with each, as well as changes made as a result of community feedback from the last public meeting. They will also collect the community’s comments, concerns, and ideas related to the final concepts before submitting the final report.
Questions, concerns, or requests for information can be directed to: Mary Catherine McLean, DCR, at (617) 626-1443 or [email protected]
Visit the project website for background details and materials from previous stakeholder and public meetings.
As a resident and frequent cyclist in this area with two daughters who walk and bike to school, I greatly appreciate efforts to improve this area. I am very concerned about the danger presented by Fresh Pond Parkway, which has frequent accidents, presents a real danger to pedestrians and cyclists, and is a dangerous barrier between neighborhoods.
The State Police report that it is too dangerous to enforce the speed limits on this section of Fresh Pond Parkway – we clearly need additional measures. I strongly support the following remedies proposed by the study:
1. The study has proposed a raised intersection at Huron Ave and Fresh Pond Parkway.
This intersection is residential and marks the beginning of a long stretch that is purely residential where forty some odd driveways open on to the Parkway.
Even though signalized, this intersection encourages aggressive driving and speed – there have been pedestrian injuries and fatalities at this intersection. So the presence of a signal does not make this a safe intersection, a traffic table would.
2. The study has proposed a raised crosswalk with a pedestrian-operated signal at Larch Road and Fresh Pond Parkway.
This sort of traffic table would slow traffic to the legal limit, without the need for police enforcement.
Right now one cannot cross safely anywhere between Huron Ave and Brattle St.
It would tie the neighborhood together and make it safer for our children.
The presence of a pedestrian operated signal would halt the traffic to enable a safe crossing.
The concern that the curve of the road doesn’t allow requisite sight-lines can be easily overcome with an additional synchronized sign stating “crosswalk occupied.”
Thank you
Carol Lee Rawn
59 Larchwood Dr Cambridge MA 02138
I’m greatly concerned that the presentation materials make no mention of air quality impact when evaluating the various options. I consider that vital, yet ignored.
The concept of evaluating options by counting people instead of vehicles is interesting, but they fail to apply it consistently. They need to apply it also to bicycle and pedestrian modes to better decide if a bus-only lane or bike lane serves more people, for example.
They seem to apply different yardsticks when convenient to work against the dominant mode, passenger automobile. For example the graphs of wait times for vehicle occupants vs. pedestrians use different scales to appear equal, while pedestrians actually have far shorter waits.
I hope others attend and sort them out with these failings.
I agree. Whatever fits best, they use. There need to be clearer logistics. The entire complete streets state process seems to be a random kit of parts