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.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
CHS -- Trees on Boyston Street
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.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
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.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
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?
Monday, September 13, 2010
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.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
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.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Soldier Ride -- Labor Day
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Construction pending in Lower Falls
Evidence that work is imminent to convert the existing rail bridge in Lower Falls to a pedestrian bridge.
The shot above is from the Wellesley side. The hay bales may be related to also impending construction on the former Grossman's site.
This is a post along the approach from Concord Street.
These are marking on Concord Street at the entrance to the approach to the bridge.
Friday, August 27, 2010
What the hell is going on?
Updated: As Universal Hub reports, the man who died was a Andrew McAffee, an emergency-room physician and epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He was, apparently, riding a scooter, not a motorcycle. The comments to the Universal Hub post include the text of an e-mail sent to hospital staff.
--
Yet another death on Newton streets on Newton-area streets. The TAB/Wicked Local reports a motorcycle rider died in a crash with a car on Beacon Street and Reservoir Road near BC.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Would a seatbelt have saved Adam London?
Updated: In a follow-on Wicked Local/TAB article, Howard London says his son was speeding:
And he was speeding—I know he was speeding—and he was told not to.
My heart goes out to the London family. I don't think there is anything harder or sadder than burying a child. And, I admire the hell out of Howard London for, so soon after Adam's death, acknowledging that Adam wasn't wearing a seatbelt and promising to promote seat-belt use.
But, when a crash is bad enough, seat belts don't make a difference. Based on the pictures, Adam's was a horrific crash. A seat belt may not have saved him. And, if that's so, it's going to take more to prevent a repeat.
We all need to wear our seat belts. I haven't driven or ridden in a car in probably 20 years without buckling up. But, we also need to get drivers to slow down. And, we need to redesign unsafe streets to make them safer.
Monday, August 23, 2010
TWLTLs have failed on Needham Street, make room for bikes
Most of the mile of Needham Street is three-lanes: two lanes in each direction sandwiching what is called a two-way left-turn lane or TWLTL. Here's the theory behind a TWLTL. A driver wanting to turn left into one of the abundant driveways along Needham Street pulls into the center lane and waits for a gap in traffic that's going in the opposite direction. Traffic in the same direction can proceed. The turning car doesn't block traffic. And, the turning driver can wait without anxiety until a safe gap for turning appears.
It's a similar theory for a driver making a left turn into traffic. Once the driver has a safe gap in the traffic she's crossing, she can turn into the center lane. From there, she can wait for a gap in the traffic she's joining. The left turn is broken into two elements that don't require simultaneous gaps in both directions.
Great in theory. But, after years of observation on Needham Street, definitely not working in practice. So, the TWLTL is a waste of real estate, real estate that could be put to much better use for bike lanes. No, not bike lanes in the center of the street. Re-stripe to put the travel lanes together and put nice big bike lanes along the curbs.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
McDonald's drive-thru is a bellwether
What does Needham Street want to be when it grows up? Because, right now, it's not one thing or another.
For starters, the Needham Street corridor is one of the economic engines of the city and one of the few areas in the city with real growth potential. But, it is hobbled by some serious traffic issues, many of which stem from -- or are at least exacerbated by -- half-assed, piecemeal development. The city should tread carefully, as decisions made on a lot-by-lot basis may limit what can be accomplished if a vision is ever articulated.
Reasonable people might venture that the best use for Needham Street is to allow or encourage the kind of strip-mall, auto-centric development that exists now. There are already a number of uses that are distinctly auto-centric and pedestrian-unfriendly: drive-in oil-change shop*, a service station, a tire store, and a largish hardware store and lumber yard. Even the uses that could be part of a walkable commercial district are pedestrian-hostile, like the configuration of the New England Mobile Book Fair, International Bicycle Center, and Newbury Comics/Dunkin Donuts**. A drive-thru McDonald's is entirely consistent with the neighborhood.
On the other hand, with the addition of the Avalon apartments and the likely Northland mixed-use development at the west end, it's not just another stretch of strip malls. It's a residential neighborhood. It's now a place that could support -- and be revitalized by -- pedestrian-scaled, walkable commercial areas.
The whole length of Needham Street isn't going to turn into Newbury Street any time soon. But, the parcels nearest to Avalon should certainly be considered for the potential to support a retail streetscape. Adding a drive-thru would make such a streetscape all but impossible.
Again, it's a shame that there is not master plan for the corridor that would allow us to test the drive-thru against a shared vision for Needham Street.
* With another just around the corner on Winchester.
** One of the great missed opportunities in recent years was the failure to have Dunkin Donuts built with a shared parking lot with Newbury Comics. Instead, there are two separate, difficult to use lots with their own curb cuts.
