Pedestrian circulation at Chestnut Hill Square

There are eight potential points of connection between Chestnut Hill Square and its neighbors and various issues of internal pedestrian connectivity. I'm going to address each separately and then update this post with links.

The connection points:

• On Boylston St. at the east side (A)
• To the Milton's property on the east (B)
• On Florence St. at the east side (C)
• On Florence St. on the midpoint of the property (D)
• On Florence St. at the west side (E)
• To the Capital Grille building on the west side (F)
• On Boylston St. at the west side (G)

Internal circulation can be considered in the following terms:

• Between the residential building and the other buildings (H)
• Between the residential building and the various connection points listed above (H)
• Between the two commercial buildings (I)
• Along Boylston St. (J)

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More car on pedestrian crime

Reports that a pedestrian hit an eighth-grader was crossing Beacon at Hancock (no crosswalk). An older driver didn't see him. The boy ended up with a broken nose.

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Bike on pedestrian crime

A 24-year-old woman on a bike hit a 61-year-old man on foot and in a crosswalk on Beacon (presumably) near BC. Presumably because the Wicked Local Bike Blog (didn't even know there was one) says the cyclist was in a crosswalk in Newton.

There is no excuse for a cyclist hitting a pedestrian in a crosswalk, especially when traffic has stopped for the pedestrian. The kinetic energy of a cyclist can mean serious injury to a pedestrian. Cyclists have to take care to make sure that they don't put pedestrians in jeopardy -- or even cause anxiety with close calls.

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An irony that never gets old

New England Development insists on the necessity for two left-turn lanes to handle traffic volumes, but publishes a picture of Boylston Street with just five westbound cars and six eastbound cars along the entire length of the development.

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CHS Pedestrian Plan -- on NED's terms

An analysis of pedestrian accommodations really ought to start with New England Development's own Pedestrian Circulation plan. The picture does not tell a good story. Assuming that all the planned pedestrian circulation is high-quality (it's not), on its own terms the pedestrian circulation plan is inadequate.

The picture above is NED's own submission to the city. (I added the letters A-E.) Click on it for a larger version. Go here for NED's original, without the letters.

Neighbors from the south and east are essentially not provided for. The pedestrian path stops ominously at the edge of a huge parking lot. See A. And, surprisingly, there is no accommodation at the point on Florence St. closest to the grocery store building. See B.

What's really disappointing -- and odd -- is the failure to connect the planned residential building with the rest of the development. NED itself is saying that there is no direct pedestrian connection between the residential building and Retail C (the building along Boylston St./Rte. 9). See C. If someone who lives in the residential building wants to walk to a store or restaurant in the Retail C building, she's expected to cross two drives to get to Retail B and then cross a big parking lot to get to Retail C. Another oddness, there is a raised crosswalk from the parking lot to the residential building, apparently to satisfy handicap parking requirements, but not otherwise integrated into the pedestrian circulation. See D.

And, there's no pedestrian connection to the Capital Grille building at all. See E. If integration is going to mean anything, then there needs to be integration to all of CHS's neighbors. Certainly, we would hope and expect that people who work in the Capital Grille building would eat in the CHS restaurants, use the CHS health club, and shop in the CHS shops. They need to be able to walk.

This is not good pedestrian circulation. It's not good integration. And, the story gets even worse when you look at the quality of the pedestrian connections.

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Road diet in Cambridge

While we're considering adding lanes to turn a portion of Boylston St. (Rte. 9) into a super-highway, Cambridge is taking a lane out of Galileo Way in Cambridge. Earlier this year, Boston took travel lanes out in and around Kendall Square to make way for bike lanes.

Sure Newton is heading in the right direction on this?

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CHS -- Trees on Boyston Street

As planned, the sidewalk between Boylston Street (Route 9) and the proposed Chestnut Hill Square is inadequate. There is not enough separation between pedestrians and cars. The sidewalk is too narrow and there isn't a buffer of street trees. And, there's an opportunity to provide a cycle-track*.

This one should be easy to solve. It's a simple question of math. The sidewalk needs to be 6-10 feet wider. There are fourteen columns (north/south) of parking between the front building along Boylston Street and the other buildings on the interior of the lot. Move the front building 6 feet closer to the interior buildings and you eliminate 14 parking spaces. A more than fair trade: street trees for parking spaces. (There is almost certainly too much parking already.)

Another trade: take one lane out of the proposed roadway widening. Again, another fair trade: space for people on foot or on bikes for lanes for people in cars.

As the various issues with Chestnut Hill square go, this one ought to be easy.

* A grade-separated path dedicated for bicycles.

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Newton/Brookline comity Land Use style

Notwithstanding the rude treatment the owner of a Newton business got from Brookline selectfolks, Aldercritter Ted Hess-Mahan and his Land Use colleagues were very gracious to and solicitous of the concerns of Brookline neighbors of the proposed Chestnut Hill Square development, particularly on the point of access to Florence Street.

The big surprise was the lack of neighborhood unanimity on the point.

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What safety means

One way to reduce pedestrian-related incidents is to discourage pedestrians from, well, pedestrian-ing.

From this Boston.com article, it appears that the conditions on a stretch of Perkins St. near Jamaica Pond are so pedestrian-unfriendly that people are no longer crossing. While this reluctance to cross undoubtedly reduces the potential for car/pedestrian conflicts, it's hardly a good safety outcome.

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Brookline/Newton comity

From the Brookline TAB, this nugget regarding a recent Brookline selectmen meeting and a proposal to move a liquor store from 1327 Beacon St. to 1198 Boylston St.:

There was some shouting at the meeting, as Selectwoman Jesse Mermell tried to allow a Newton business owner to speak, and was cut off by Selectwoman Nancy Daly.

“I have to object. Hearing from a Newton business, that they don’t want competition from Brookline, is offensive to me,” said Daly.

Is this really the precedent you want to set when Newton aldermen are about to take up a the Chestnut Hill Square proposal? And, Boston's going to consider a proposal to develop the former Circle Cinemas site?

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Parking at Newton North

Converting the demolished old Newton North High School to a parking lot is a bad idea. The current parking constraint (240 spaces shared by faculty and students, and restricted street parking), will drive better student commute choices, which would stick, except for the undermining effect of a big new parking lot. A community garden, park, or outdoor classroom would be a far better use of space than more pavement.

And the policy for issuing student parking permits should not be 'first come, first served' as it is currently. Students should have to justify the need to drive a car by demonstrating that walking, biking or taking a bus is not practical. Incentives for student carpooling should be created. Exceptions should be made for disability, but those who drive for sheer convenience should pay for the luxury and cost to the neighborhood.

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Legacy Place: not pedestrian friendly

Hiking in the Blue Hills and looking over Dedham, a new friend volunteered (totally unprompted): "Legacy Place isn't very pedestrian friendly."

Interesting to us in Newton because Legacy Place is the closest example of what is planned for Chestnut Hill Square: come off a main route into a big parking lot surrounded by retail. To the developer's credit, New England Development has planned some tree-lined pedestrian paths through the parking lot, but those are a weak compromise compared to more urban, more village center-like model where there is curb-side parking and more parking behind and to the side of retail. (Obviously, Newton Centre is the exception.)

It's not clear who the party truly responsible for the proposed layout of Chestnut Hill Square is, there are a number of candidates, but the combination of a very long blank wall on Boylston Street/Route 9 and retail surrounding a big parking lot is going to be a design we are all going to regret.

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Child hit by car on Parker Street

The TAB/Wicked Local Newton reports that, on Friday, a twelve-year-old boy was hit by a car on Parker St., between Ridge Rd. and Glenwood Ave. We'll have to wait for the police report to know what happened, but some thoughts and observations ...

Inevitably, someone's going to say that Parker St. is too dangerous to be crossed by a twelve-year-old. As made clear by this incident, that's a fair observation. But, the question is whether it should be. A twelve-year-old ought to be able to cross Parker or Beacon or Washington or Walnut or ...

We should not be forfeiting streets to cars only. Streets can connect or divide neighborhoods. Kids on both sides of Parker go to the same schools. It shouldn't require an adult -- and particularly not a ride from an adult -- to visit a middle-school friend.

Another likely response is to request a crosswalk at Parker and Browning. The address noted in the article as the site of the incident is about 1,000 feet from a crosswalk at Cypress and about 600 feet from a crosswalk at Daniel St. (rough estimates using Google maps to measure). It's simply not reasonable to expect that pedestrians are going to walk 1200 to 2000 ft out of their way to avail themselves of the protection of a crosswalk. Especially not tweens and teens.

But adding a crosswalk is not necessarily the right answer. We already have a cross-walk compliance problem in the city. The crosswalk at Parker and Daniel is heavily used, but you can stand there and wait for up to ten cars to pass before one stops. Adding another crosswalk, which would be lightly used, will just lead to more non-compliance.

The real problem is design. From end-to-end, Parker St. is a ram-rod straight invitation to speed. There is routine police presence nabbing speeders at Parker and Daniel St., but the speeds are high nonetheless. Only traffic calming interventions are going to make a meaningful difference.

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Just for fun -- the horse bike

Riding a bike with these horse accessories wearing full spandex kit will probably make heads explode.

I may wait for the unicorn version.

From Gizmodo.

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New bike lanes -- thank you and more please

This is the north-bound version of new bike lanes on Walnut Street between Homer Street and Commonwealth Avenue, right in front of City Hall.

They are terrific. Any bike lanes, especially on already well-traveled bike routes, are terrific. So, we bike advocates ought to be thankful. We also need to continue the campaign for more bike lanes.

This is a very short stretch on an important north/south corridor. Walnut between Homer and Beacon already has nice wide shoulders, which could be converted to official bike lanes. South of Beacon is a long-contested stretch. The stretch north of Comm. Ave. leads to Newton North, and should be made as bike-friendly as possible to encourage students to ride to school. Homer between Walnut and Centre is being repaved, and should be a candidate for bike lanes. &c.

So, thanks. And more, please.

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