@JimMorrisonTAB also reported these points from Ward 8 Alderman Cheryl Lappin:
…[Lappin] who voted against the reconfiguration in June 2012 but implored her fellow aldermen to join her in voting to revert back to the old design, pointed out the there are five Newton schools totaling
5564approximately 5000 students –or 40% of NPS students- traveling through this over-congested intersection on their way to and from school, many by car or bus
Where do these figures come from? Elementary district lines run right through the Newton Centre intersection. Some number of Oak Hill and Brown students must traverse the intersection, and an even smaller number of South students, generally from the Mason-Rice district. That’s a long way from 5,564. If only more of those children were on buses, perhaps there would be less traffic. What we do know is that many parents who do drive their children to these three schools, after dropping off their children, travel through this intersection as part of their commute. The same is probably true of Bowen and other elementaries in the area. So one might draw a connection between the individual vehicle trips to the school and the traffic, but, of course, not every one of these children must be driven to school everyday.
Also, according to the June 20, 2012 Public Facilities committee meeting report, Ald. Lappin, along with only Ald. Salvucci “voted in opposition as they are not in favor of the installation of raised devices in the City’s roadways.” The raised device at Beacon & Centre makes it possible for pedestrians to cross without signalizing traffic. (Has anyone even noticed this device? It went in last week.) The report made no mention of objections to the Centre/Cypress reconfiguration or fears of traffic backups which caused the public outcry.
I should point out that Alderman Lappin called me this morning to tell me I misheard her. The number she used last night was about 5000.
She’s still off by several thousand, by my estimates, at least when it comes to students in the car.
The “device” is a raised crosswalk.
Why are they fixated on this route and not thinking of ways to make alternative routes more attractive?
@Hoss — I don’t know that there are many alternative routes to make more attractive. Looking at Google maps, the usable north-south corridor streets look like:
– Highland-Needham-Centre
– Winchester-Centre
– Dedham-Parker-Cypress/Dedham-Walnut
– Hammond Pond Parkway/Hammond Street
– (North of Rt. 9 only) Langley Road
– Centre, Cypress and Langley all converge in Newton Centre.
dulles — For one thing, if you made certain streets one-way, those streets would immediately be twice as wide. Just wondering what else they are considering
@Hoss — if we’re allowed to think outside the box …
If we cut a new road through the open space to connect Brandeis & Dudley directly. And then built an over/underpass at Rt. 9 to re-connect north/south sides of Dudley. Then Langley/Jackson/Dudley would become a viable second north-south artery for school traffic. I’m not judging the merits of such a plan, just looking at the map and tossing a theory out there.
Hoss, assuming that the schools are generating most of the traffic (still a pretty big assumption) one solution would be to reduce the number of people driving to the schools. The alternate route would be from their homes directly to work, and not necessarily in the same 15-minute window anymore. Perhaps license plate analysis along with data from no school or early release days might help figure out where all the traffic is coming from.
Adam, Evan Allen from the Boston Globe emailed this article to Ald. Yates after he cited it in his comments. Enjoy responsibly.
Newton Centre might more aptly be called Newton Crossroads. Its value as traffic processor diminishes its value as a destination. A sad state of affairs compared to vibrant, pedestrian filled European village centers.