Instead of polluting the planet while sitting in their SUVs, these complainers should try walking! Or take the T!
Oh wait, there have never been any sidewalks on Nahanton St. Or any remotely practical MBTA bus routes that come nearby.
Joanne
on February 26, 2015 at 8:04 am
Until the Mayor surrounds himself with people that understand the issues and act swiftly and appropriately – things will never change.
Charles Shapiro
on February 26, 2015 at 8:09 am
Great story. Thanks NECN.
Just imagine if we built tons of housing at Wells Ave. Another well-meaning but bad idea.
NativeNewtonian
on February 26, 2015 at 9:09 am
Can’t even imagine what it is like during drop off and pick up at the Solomon Schechter Day School…
Blueprintbill
on February 26, 2015 at 9:27 am
There is one solution that has recently been advanced, take away the Health club, ( it only delays ones departure anyway ) and add 350 apartment units . As workers try leaving for home , other workers would be coming home.
tomsheff
on February 26, 2015 at 9:29 am
I have a great idea, let’s put a 300 unit 40B project in the mix here, I think that would solve the problem. And then we can call the people who oppose the project anti- affordable housing advocates!!!!
The problem with this newscast is that they make it sound like this traffic is unusual due to the weather, etc. This is what the traffic looks like normally during 8-10am and 4-6pm, it’s not unusual.
Thanks, Village 14, for posting this! As a daily sufferer of this utterly needless situation … Yes, the narrowing of the bridge and ineffectual traffic direction at Kendrick over 128 is a problem. But there are major, solvable problems within the park itself. The combination of huge, unremoved snowbanks and on-street parking reduces what is normally 2 travel lanes with 2 parking lanes to 1.5 or 1.25 lanes where cars are parked. This creates two-way gridlock, especially during the hours that office workers are leaving and math genius parents and Schecter parents and BSC workout people are coming in. You know Newton — no one will ever stop to let you into traffic or let you pass them on the street.
The city should a) ban on-street parking immediately, today, on Wells Avenue and b) deploy loaders to remove the snow to the curb to restore 2 full travel lanes and 2 full parking lanes along all of Wells Avenue. Landlords should be cited and fined for un-plowed and un-shovelled sidewalks in numerous locations. Longer term, the lanes should be reconfigured where Wells meets Nahanton Street to allow for a much longer right-turn lane approaching Nahanton to flush more traffic out of the park. People turning left and heading up to Needham via Nahanton/Kendrick will still have to contend with the disastrous bridge narrowing and ineffectual traffic control up there, but you’d flush far more traffic out of the park and reduce overall gridlock with a better right turn out of the park.
Finally, not to sound like a rich, whiny, entitled Newton elitist, but I did some research on the Newton assessors database, and the 21 for-profit property owners on Wells Avenue (I am leaving out Newton Wellesley, Shechter, the hospice and a government building) pay the city $3.44 million a YEAR in property taxes. That is fully 1 percent of the entire city budget coming from one street alone in Newton. I think for an area that pays that much of the city’s budget, we do in fact deserve some intelligent attention from Mayor Warren’s administration and the city public works and police and traffic departments to solve this utterly solvable traffic nightmare that is affecting hundreds of workers, students, parents, and taxpayers every day. Thank you! Peter
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 9:44 am
How about the city come up with some sort of a plan to address this? I’ve been going up and down Nahanton St. for close to 40 years and in that time, the only thing the city has done is put in the atrociously-engineered traffic light at Wells Av. and the JCC. The traffic jams have gotten longer and longer every year, but nothing has been done. I generally try to walk on Nahanton St. in order to avoid the mess, but as I’ve mentioned numerous time, that street has never, in its history, had any sidewalks. And it’s over a mile long!
As I’ve also mentioned too many times, the 52 bus is worse than useless, running once every two hours and not at all after 7pm or on the weekends. And it’s not even practical to take the 52 to Wells Av., since the nearest stop, up by the Newton Community Farm, is inaccessible to pedestrians (no sidewalks).
Big kudos are in order for the city, which evidently isn’t aware that there are any neighborhoods south of Route 9.
How about some real foresight offering a holistic transportation plan for Nahanton St.? Is that too much to ask?
Adam
on February 26, 2015 at 9:46 am
300 cars is insignificant. Just wait until the highway exit opens. Imagine what that will do to the demand for Nahanton Street and the existing signal.
Adam
on February 26, 2015 at 9:50 am
Nahanton and Wells is a good place for a roundabout. MassDOT should pay for it.
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 10:13 am
Adam, that’s an interesting idea but I’m not aware of a roundabout design that offers safe passage for pedestrians or cyclists. I’ve got a pretty high tolerance for having my life endangered by cars, but for example, I’ve never been able to safely make my way on foot or on bike around the Newton St./Hammond Pond Pkwy./Hammond St. rotary in Brookline. Given the volumes that will be added to Nahanton St. once the 128 offramp comes online, and since it’s basically on the same commuting path from Boston to points southwest, I think we’d be faced with a similar scenario at Wells Av.
That Brookline particular rotary is ridiculous, because its radius is far too big and the Brookline DPW thought it would be a great idea to recently add an express lane for northbound traffic so it doesn’t have to stop – but even with modifications, it would still be a deathtrap for pedestrians and cyclists.
The only place I’ve seen smaller-radius rotaries work is in Germany and Switzerland, but their functionality is contingent upon the motorists stopping on a dime for pedestrians and cyclists, which they do there, but would never do here.
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 10:23 am
Adam, I read the link you recommended but I’m skeptical that rotaries are safer for pedestrians. The claim that traffic is slower than it would be at a traditional intersection is only true for the traffic entering the the rotary – and I’d agree that a pedestrian has a better shot at survival when crossing in front of that traffic.
But traffic exiting the rotary has to pay attention to too many traffic vectors, and any pedestrian crossing in front of the exiting traffic is at much greater risk than they would be when trying to cross at a crosswalk protected by red lights. IMHO.
Anyway I’m just being selfish because I walk and bike Nahanton St. more often than I drive it – but on balance for all of the road users, a rotary might not be a bad idea.
The situation at Wells Ave is unacceptable and it has taken too long to address. As NECN reported, the two problems are narrow streets from the snow and cars parked on the street and from construction along Kendrick Street.
But the comments here about the proposed housing project at 135 Wells Ave. reflect a misunderstanding about that project.
1. The target market for these apartments were for young innovation-economy employees who work in this area. So a portion of the residents there would likely walk or bike to work. Also remember, folks in that sector don’t work 9-5 jobs so travel would be staggered.
2. The developer was going to fund a shuttle bus which would have also been available to the companies in the park for their employee use.
3. The developer was offering to put more than $1 million into traffic mitigation, including new traffic lights at Wells and Winchester, plus improvements at Dedham Street, all of which would help traffic backups that exist year round.
(They were also going to fund sidewalk improvements, streets lighting etc.)
6. And don’t forget there’s a health club at that location now with certainly many hundreds of members. All those cars make round trips in and out of the park (often right after work) and would no longer be part of the gridlock.
Eric
on February 26, 2015 at 10:30 am
@blueprintbill – couldn’t agree more.
@Tomsheff – you’re assuming that all cars associated with the housing would be ADDITIONAL, when if fact they would not be. BSC generates a ton of traffic moving in the same direction as all those cars you see in the video. Traffic from housing moves in the opposite direction, so those cars would actually ALLEVIATE congestion (think about it: people leave their homes in the morning, when commuters are entering Wells to arrive at their workplace, and visa versa in the evenings).
It’s frustrating because the developer at 135 Wells offered to put OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS into the Wells/Nahanton intersection, as well as HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS into the Winchester/Nahanton intersection. Their proposed improvements would completely overhaul those two intersections. Everyone keeps asking “where’s the plan?” As you see in the video, Newton has no plan. All the “red tape” mentioned in the video could’ve been avoided by their private funding.
I’ve been working on Wells Ave for many years now and traffic continues to be an issue. Employers will start moving out of Wells Ave if nothing is done. When the developer (Cabot, Cabot & Forbes) first came forward with their proposal, I’ll admit I was skeptical, but after further review, I become a strong supporter — they offered to complete the infrastructure work BEFORE building the project, pay for a WELLS AVE SHUTTLE TO THE MBTA (Newton Highlands?), and do some additional work to give the office park a “facelift.”
Instead of creating a PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, as so many other City’s have done, Newton decided to deny their permit and now the developer is in court wasting money on litigation when they could’ve spent it on these MUCH NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS.
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 10:37 am
+1 for Eric’s and Blueprintbill’s comments.
That project would have allowed for an affordable housing development devoid of any complaining neighbors to inevitably block it, and served as an impetus to improve the infrastructure and transit situation on Nahanton St. Far from adding to the traffic problem, it could have been one of the things that would have helped solve it.
Eric
on February 26, 2015 at 10:45 am
@Peter J. Howe — check out ATTACHMENT H in the link below for all the offers CC&F made to the City for Wells Avenue.
Can anyone tell me anything that’s wrong with this.. because I can’t!
Hi, Eric. That looks like an excellent plan! I think the only problem with it is it is attached to a housing development plan that has generated major controversy in Newton ;-D The second way out at Winchester Street and shuttle to Newton Highlands would be especially helpful.
I also want to apologize to Solomon Schechter Day School for accidentally misspelling “Schechter” earlier.
Also, I want to pleasantly and agreeably disagree with Tom Sheff. The traffic mess here in the last week is NOT normal. I’ve been driving in and out of 160 Wells Avenue five or six days a week since April 2008, and it has never before this taken people 45, 50, or even 60 minutes to get from 160 Wells Avenue to Nahanton Street as it has in recent nights. Outside of a couple of active snowstorm situations, we’ve never had two-way solid gridlock going both ways on the Wells Avenue loop as we have lately. The combination of the badly managed and ineffectually policed Kendrick Street bridge work, inadequate snow removal on Wells Avenue and at the Wells-Nahanton intersection, and on-street parking on narrowed Wells Avenue reducing the street to less than two lanes for travel have taken what is always a congested situation around 8 am and 5:30 pm and turned it into a traffic nightmare and frightening threat to life and property if the Fire Department ever had to get in here during those hours for a fire, gas leak, medical emergency, or anything else.
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 11:23 am
Just a little problem about the “second way out” – the area of the proposed second roadway is currently home to wetlands and a forest with many very beautiful old trees. Rather than dumping more traffic out onto Nahanton, a connection between Mt. Ida and Wells Av. would be a much better solution. But that would probably never happen.
Joanne
on February 26, 2015 at 11:27 am
Don’t you think NECN which is also in the location is upset too with the traffic mess that they have to deal with.
This is clearly a Public Works and Mayor Warren Issue. But until the Mayor directly deals with these issues nothing will change.
So WE should not complain when businesses move to another city. This is unacceptable that it takes one hour to drive what should take 5 minutes. So where has Public Works been removing snow from – Just Washington Street?
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 11:44 am
Peter, I’d like to agreeably disagree, and say that the fix will require more than snow removal and parking regulations. That may eliminate the two-way gridlock within Wells Av., but we’ll continue to have two-way gridlock on Nahanton St.
So the bigger issue, one with which all Newtonites and Needhamites should be concerned, is finding a real long-term transportation solution for the entire Nahanton St. and Wells Av. corridor., which is beyond dysfunctional at this point.
Michael, I fully agree, and with a lovely disposition. My objection was to Tom Sheff calling the recent traffic situation “not unusual” and, by extension, labelling NECN’s reporting dishonest and inaccurate.
Adam Peller
on February 26, 2015 at 12:25 pm
Michael, roundabout, not rotary. You’ve highlighted some of the major differences between traffic circles and rotaries vs. newer roundabouts — this would be MUCH different than the high-speed, multi-lane Horace James circle in Brookline, for example. You will find some modern roundabouts in the area, mostly at malls (IKEA, Natick) also in Dedham, but it’s true roundabouts most popular in Europe and the pacific NW. Still, you’re right that roundabouts might be challenging for peds and cyclists (google bicycle and roundabout and you’ll see dutch designs that accommodate everyone) though properly constructed, the speed reduction and angle of entry is supposed to slow speeds enough to make that possible (and also prevent high-speed, t-bone accidents you’d have at an intersection) Also, there are fewer points of conflicts for drivers. With a single lane roundabout, they are only concerned with merges, and there’s no conflict when exiting, so they could in fact focus on peds (in theory)
Where pedestrian demand is low, roundabouts makes sense. If pedestrian demand is high, that could cause gridlock, but I don’t see that happening here. There’s also some concern that gridlock could result from other signals nearby, but still I hope it’s something that’s considered. A roundabout could move traffic much more efficiently and also provide some much needed calming once that interstate exit opens.
NewtonMom
on February 26, 2015 at 12:32 pm
That was an amazing news article. Mayor Warren needs to address the City of Newton (article in tab, email to residents and business). The Mayor needs to say that the City did not address the weather to the best of its ability (needs to appoligize, better than Fleischman did last year), and then address what went wrong specifically, what they learned and what the city is going to do differently in the future. Without all these pieces, the city will never improve. The aldermen and the DPW chief need to be all in agreement and we need to find a better way of doing things. There are bad winters, and this is a bad one. We have had them before and we will have them again. By not plowing correctly the first time, the city made things go from bad to worse.
I am shocked by how much in taxes this one neighborhood raises for the city. If these businesses sit vacanat because Needham offers BETTER DPW and services, Newton is in big trouble.
AND if we allow housing back there? The back ups will be worse. NO ONE is NOT going to have a car who lives there. How will you get any where (the promises of public transportation – I am not believing).
Of course it was better last week. People were on vacation. Schecter was closed. And the gymnastics studio and indoor soccer were on vacation schedule and not regular schedules. I can’t believe the City didn’t figure this out (the woman from the city who was interviewed did not look intelligent when talking about this).
In fact the WHOLE CITY looks like this. A parking ban would be WELCOME by me. Every street is a nightmare, and if one car parks on the street, it creates a major hazard for all others on the road. Not to mention, how a fire engine would ever get there. I am astonished that people park on the road, and block others (has happened to me). Start going down a street, and have to find a driveway to turn around because the street isn’t passable.
People parking in lots – they park in spaces that block in others.
I was supposed to have a meeting at my house this weekend, but had to cancel. It would not be responsible of me to host a meeting and have 10 cars park in my neighborhood. I haven’t hosted company for dinner, because we have NO parking on our street (and our driveway has room for our two cars and that is it and no garage).
I dread merging onto Route 9 and getting off Route 9 on the side streets.
I dread the weekend joggers. Last weekend an oil truck was heading north, when I was heading south. He didn’t fit on his side, so I moved to the right, stopped next to the snow bank, and let the oil truck pass by. The jogger coming at me, swore at me, because I was in her space. What? I was supposed to put my vehicle in the way of an oil truck to save her joggning space? I was STOPPED and she banged on my hood and gave me the finter. Was I supposed to hit her? My kid was in the car and asked why she banged on our hood! What was I supposed to do in her mind?
School buses show up 30-40 minutes late to school. They get stuck in traffic, behind parked cars and get stuck in snow banks.
This city is waiting for an accident. Of course this state is one warm day away from flooded basements.
Thank you – I will get off the soap box now.
Julie Lamie
on February 26, 2015 at 12:35 pm
I completely agree with Peter Howe above. I believe there has been a huge increase in the number of students attending the Russian School of Mathematics. Their website says there are 2400 students coming weekly to this location. The traffic was wonderful during school vacation last week, and completely horrific again starting on Monday. Here’s a link to all of their classes held on Wells Avenue. http://www.russianschool.com/location/newton/schedule
On Tuesday night Feb. 24th, Wells Avenue was completely gridlocked at 5:50 PM, but once I got out onto Kendrick, it was wide open. That means you cannot blame the traffic on the Kendrick St. Bridge construction, at least on that night.
Adam Peller
on February 26, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Appendix H actually included a mini-roundabout within the office park. Cool. I like the trail extensions also. The connection to the 52 bus in OHP is probably more meaningful than the shuttle, which only a handful of people typically take. Interesting that the proposed Winchester Street extension goes right through conservation land…
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 12:48 pm
Adam, thanks for setting me straight on the difference between rotaries and roundabouts – I guess I was just referring to roundabouts as “smaller-radius rotaries.”
The Amsterdam design in your link is present in most of the Protestant areas of continental Europe (for whatever reason) and I’m definitely sold on it, although I still maintain that you’ll rarely see an American driver stop for anybody or anything once they’ve gotten inside or are exiting the roundabout.
Nevertheless, it’s probably the best solution for this intersection. I hope the city would seriously consider something like this.
Rena Loring
on February 26, 2015 at 1:18 pm
I’ve only been in the city for about a year , but I know to stay away from that entire area (Needham St) during rush hour. What shocked me about this story is the interview with the COA! Her remarks and demeanor came off as “making excusing” and not in charge/take charge – so disappointing.
NewtonMom brings up a great point- while the problems at Wells Ave are bad with or without snow, the snow issue is a huge problem throughout the city. Getting by on any but the main streets has been a lesson in patience (except for that jogger apparently).
I’ll wait for the ‘How is the Flooding on Your Street? post that should be up sometime in the next few weeks, as the climate warms.
tomsheff
on February 26, 2015 at 2:25 pm
I wouild like to agreeably disagree with those who disagree with me (tomsheff).
1. I never called out NECN for being dishonest, I don’t know anything about them to make that claim.
2. I am 52 years old and have lived my entire life within a mile of that intersection. 20 years ago I worked in that park. I have been stuck in that traffic for (what seemed like hours) for a very very long time during the summertime. While I agree that the snow has made it worse, I can say it’s always been a major issue in my commute. (I belong BSC I belonged to the previous 2 health clubs dating back 40+ years). I know that intersection.
3. Let’s use some common sense. You put a 300 unit development in that park and you are asking for a world of hurt. If you’re common sense tells you that everyone in that development will be going against the traffic during the bad traffic hours, I don’t know what to say to you. You must be working for the developers or something. As greg says, not everyone is 9-5ers and you can expect kids going to and from school, etc. People aren’t robots where you can program when the traffic gets good and bad, this is where you need common sense.
4. Until proven otherwise, I will be expecting more traffic due to add a lane. But time will tell on that issue.
I respectfully disagree with the disagreers.
Josh
on February 26, 2015 at 4:11 pm
I think the short term solution is easy, ban parking for the day or two it takes to remove the snow back to the curbs creating the full 2 lanes instead of the 1.5 currently.
The long term solution is a bit more complicated. The Wells Ave project would have invested more than 1.5 million dollars into upgrading that whole corridor by redesigning the Wells/Nahanton intersection and adding a new access point and a signal at Winchester/Nahanton. That is how you fix things. You create a private/public relationship with someone who is willing to invest the kind of money the city does not have to fix these huge problems. Yes, adding 300 units would add some additional traffic – but the developer was willing create a net positive by investing into the infrastructure.
I can ASSURE you the traffic design team looked at a roundabout at that intersection and it was either too costly, didnt increase the level of service, or needed too much land they didnt own to make it work. They wouldnt be doing their job if they didnt. With the amount of volume that goes through that intersection it would have had to be a 2 lane roundabout to work.
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 5:07 pm
Josh, Nahanton St. only has one travel lane in either direction, so I can’t envision what would be gained by having a two-lane roundabout (or rotary, as the case may be).
And when it comes to requiring too much land, I agree that a traditional New England rotary would take up a lot of space, but the intersection could certainly accommodate the type of roundabout that Adam has highlighted.
Ultimately, I’d be very surprised if any traffic consultants in New England had given any serious consideration to the model of a European roundabout on public roads. But if we were dealing with some progressive thinkers from beyond their time, and the real obstacle turned out to be cost, then I’m disappointed that CCF wouldn’t be willing to make a long-term investment.
Speaking of requiring land, I’m a bit skeptical of how they would have constructed the second exit through the wetlands and forest that are currently on the south side of the Winchester/Nahanton intersection. A better solution would have been to extend Carlson Ave. westward, which would then connect Wells Av. to Route 9 via Brookline St., as well as VFW Parkway.
Jane Frantz
on February 26, 2015 at 5:25 pm
Is using flex time as a strategy a possibility to alleviate the congestion, or at least make things more manageable for those whose family situation allows them to come in early or stay late? There may be some businesses or individuals within a business who would be willing to change their hours in order to avoid the traffic. Some extended family members have used this approach to deal with traffic tie-ups during rush hour in Boston.
newton mom
on February 26, 2015 at 5:43 pm
Companies have allowed flex time and work from home
However how long should they do this and some
Things need to be done in the office.
How likely will they renew the lease?
Adam Peller
on February 26, 2015 at 6:04 pm
Michael, besides needing Mt. Ida’s cooperation for your proposal, I think there’s a steep change in elevation between Wells Ave and Carlson to worry about.
Josh, it would be nice to know if a roundabouts on Nahanton were explicitly ruled out, as the consultants did include one elsewhere in the design. Alas, we’ll never know. Roundabouts are costly to construct, but there’s significant savings not having to install a signal and operate it.
Newton’s traffic engineer did consider a roundabout during recent discussions to fund a signal at Winchester & Nahanton, prompted by Alderman Lappin. It was ruled out specifically because it would need a slice of land with a conservation restriction to the south — the same conservation land Michael is talking about needed by the CCF proposal.
Marti
on February 26, 2015 at 6:08 pm
It’s really hard to believe how completely clueless our chief administrative officer is about the traffic and roads in Newton. She doesn’t know why? They didn’t factor in school vacation! That’s just irresponsible. Newton police just said “no” without checking out the situation. As mentioned, we will lose even more businesses if something isn’t done.
Also I agree that the majority of roads in Newton are still in terrible shape and we’ve had plenty of decent weather since the last big snow to widen roads and clear corners. It’s not just the side streets.
One company said it was using flex time and trying out working from home but it couldn’t with everyone. These companies are paying a lot of taxes. Asking them to change their hours because the city isn’t doing their job would be ridiculous.
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 6:24 pm
Adam, your remark about the steep change in elevation is very true – I often try to cut between Mt. Ida and Wells Av. on foot and it’s difficult. But there is some space for a ramp in the back of where the proposed development would be. It would probably be quite costly, but I think it would beat the proposed alternative of plowing a new road through 800 feet of wetlands and forest.
I’m very encouraged to hear that Newton’s traffic engineer considered a roundabout for Winchester St. – I stand corrected in that there are in fact traffic people ahead of their time. I’m just trying to think of an example of a European roundabout having been successfully implemented on a true public way (i.e. not in a shopping area) in Massachusetts. The only one I can think of that comes close is the one that they put in on Needham St. in Dedham over by the Riverdale School, but that’s a far cry from anything in northern Europe.
My NECN colleague got this e-mail from Mayor Warren’s office a little before 5:30 p.m. Thursday, and I wanted to share it with you:
February 26, 2015
To All Interested in the Traffic Problems at Wells Avenue:
I am writing to update you on the current serious traffic issues on Wells Ave. and Nahanton St. We realize this is a very serious problem for Newton and Needham. Our communities are working to improve traffic flow. A group from Newton including myself, the CAO, Chief of Police, and DPW Commissioner met this morning in Needham with two Selectmen, the Town Manager, Chief of Police, head of DPW, and several others. The two communities are working with the MA Dept. of Transportation. We are committed to snow removal from Wells Ave./Nahanton St. area. We will update you within 24 hours on specific solutions. If you have any questions, please contact Dori Zaleznik, CAO at [email protected].
We know how traffic congestion has adversely affected those who travel to and from the Wells Ave. office park and are doing all we can to ameliorate the problems.
Setti Warren, Mayor
I’m still bewildered that Greg Reibman still thinks that Newton should build a gaudy, 334 unit 40B monstrosity on Wells Ave when traffic there already sucks. It’s bad enough that such a development will privatize profits for the developer and socialize costs to Newton taxpayers in the form of higher school enrollments. Having to deal with the increased traffic is adding insult to injury.
Greg claims that the housing is geared to single professionals in the innovation economy. Isn’t that what AvalonBay said 10-12 years ago about their Needham Street development?
Marti
on February 26, 2015 at 8:50 pm
Well, as long as their doing all they can.
I don’t know enough about the housing development being discussed to know if it’s a good idea or not, but I do know that no matter what the discussion concerns, housing, education, traffic, somehow it’s “privatizing profits and socializing costs to Newton’s taxpayers.” On this thread it’s development; on the SAT thread it’s education and calling out a comment by an intelligent NNHS graduate because his parents are democrats. We are all taxpayers and it takes taxpayers paying private enterprise for goods and services for them to make a profit so such a generalization really makes no sense. Whether it’s through our taxes or with our income we help companies privatize profits, I thought that was the way you liked it.
Joanne
on February 26, 2015 at 8:59 pm
@ Newton Mom – “I can’t believe the City didn’t figure this out (the woman from the city who was interviewed did not look intelligent when talking about this).”
The Woman is Dori Zaleznick – she is an MD and is now CAO of the City. She was chair of the SC and then in charge of the Health Dept – probably more in her field.
I am not quite sure what her qualifications are that she would be the Citys CAO.
I agree with you – she doesn’t seem that she is well equipped to be the CAO – that interview made that point pretty clear.
Michael
on February 26, 2015 at 9:21 pm
Can somebody who’s more familiar with the system than I am, explain this to me? Was the example of Avalon Newton Highlands really a net loss to the city?
Avalon Newton Highlands assessment FY15: $73.4 million
taxed at residential rate of $11.61
=tax collection of $852,500
Increased student enrollment: 98 students
* expenditure of $17,141 per pupil
= $1.68 million
Ratio of educational expenditure to tax collections: 1.97
I would have thought that state aid would have made up some of the difference, but as near as I can tell, Massachusetts Chapter 70 aid was only about $20 million, or $1,600 per pupil.
I guess you could also compare this to an example where a family of four moves into a house assessed at $900,000 – they’ll pay $10,500 in taxes, but the cost to the city for schooling their two children will be $34,282. In that case, the ratio of educational expenditure to tax collections would be 3.26, making Avalon look pretty good.
But I suspect I’m missing something big, and I’m too unfamiliar with the educational funding system in this state to figure out what. Anyone anyone Bueller anyone?
Adam
on February 26, 2015 at 10:53 pm
Michael, makes one think of the old joke, “I’ll sell at a loss but make it up in volume!”
Alan
on February 27, 2015 at 3:57 pm
A housing project, 40B or otherwise would make Wells Ave impassable. Those of you that think driving in and out of Wells Ave won’t be catastrophically impacted by additional cars from a housing project are being disingenuous. Snow removal is a core services residents and business depend on the city to provide. If removal of snow from a main street is difficult now, how can we expect it to get better with more cars, density and pedestrians? I wonder if the Mayor would be interested in moving his office to Wells Ave. for the remainder of his term.
Mayor Warren sent the below letter to the Wells Ave community this morning.
February 26, 2015
To All Interested in the Traffic Problems at Wells Avenue:
I am writing to update you on the current serious traffic issues on Wells Ave. and Nahanton St. We realize this is a very serious problem for Newton and Needham. Our communities are working to improve traffic flow. A group from Newton including myself, the CAO, Chief of Police, and DPW Commissioner met this morning in Needham with two Selectmen, the Town Manager, Chief of Police, head of DPW, and several others. The two communities are working with the MA Dept. of Transportation. We are committed to snow removal from Wells Ave./Nahanton St. area. We will update you within 24 hours on specific solutions. If you have any questions, please contact Dori Zaleznik, CAO at [email protected].
We know how traffic congestion has adversely affected those who travel to and from the Wells Ave. office park and are doing all we can to ameliorate the problems.
Setti Warren, Mayor
Marti
on February 27, 2015 at 6:57 pm
Well, as long as they are doing all they can. Hasn’t it been 24 hours. Does anyone have their update to post?
To All Interested in the Traffic Problems at Wells Avenue:
I am sending today’s update on measures that we have planned to improve the serious traffic issues on Wells Ave. and Nahanton St. The work I am describing will take place weather permitting. Bulfinch, Normandy, Intrum Corp and Wingate Companies have contracted for snow removal on Wells Ave., Nahanton St. over the bridge and into Needham with its surrounding roads this weekend. We are grateful to these companies for stepping forward, and the City of Newton will share the cost of the Newton portion of the snow removal.
In addition, we have arranged to have the Kendrick St. bridge connecting Newton and Needham over the Charles River restriped to have two lanes traveling west and one lane east. This work is scheduled to take place on Monday before the afternoon rush hours out of the Wells Ave. office park, again weather permitting. The road changes will allow two lanes of traffic to turn left on Nahanton St. and continue on into Needham. We hope that snow removal and road configuration changes will result in greatly shortening the time it takes to exit from the office park.
If you have any questions, please contact Dori Zaleznik, CAO at [email protected].
Setti Warren, Mayor
This sounds definitely encouraging, and, if I can do it while still being an objective and unbiased newsman, I’d like to express gratitude to Mayor Warren and his administration for stepping up with some solutions and leadership. Thank you.
Alan
on February 27, 2015 at 8:22 pm
The sign of a strong leader is when he/she does things because they are the right things to do, not because they are pressured to do so. This action, while welcome is far overdue.
Joanne
on February 27, 2015 at 9:34 pm
Exactly Alan – if NECN had not done that piece – The Mayor NEVER would have done anything. Maybe Peter Howe can have NECN – drive around to some of the Newton Schools at which snow was not removed such as Horace Mann on Watertown Street or try to drive down Linwood Ave during AM drop off at Day.
The Mayor has been very lucky that a child has not gotten hurt. He had them spend days on Washington Street when it was already Wide Enough. I guess the only way to get something done is to Shame the city into it.
The businesses on Wells Ave – Really needs to say a BIG Thank you to NECN.
Ron
on February 27, 2015 at 10:16 pm
“Share the cost” If I am reading the mayor’s response correctly, in addition to paying taxes for city services, private companies are contributing money for snow removal on city streets. I’m not sure this enhances the business–friendly image for Newton that some on this blog wish for.
Alison Haran
on February 27, 2015 at 11:08 pm
Wells Ave historically was an office building complex but in recent years there have been several schools that have taken up residency in there. Off the top of my head I can think of Dance Fever, The Russian School, The Pschology College that just opened plus several athletic type facilities including a gymnastic school and soccer place and BSC. These types of businesses bring in a lot more traffic to the development than would a traditional office park. I notice that Trip Advisor has its own vans that pick up their employees from public transportation sites and drive them to their current headquarters on Needham Street. Perhaps some of the landlords in Wells Ave could pool their resources and get a. Company like Local Motion to offer a shuttle service to Wells Ave from the Newton Highlands train station for employees and clients of Wells Ave businesses.
Cabot Cabot & Forbes had offered to fund a shuttle bus as part of their 135 Wells Ave project.
Lisa
on February 28, 2015 at 7:57 am
I have lived less than a mile from this mess for over 20 years.
The snow has only exacerbated this issue, not caused it.
The traffic backup in this area extends beyond nahanton and into Dedham street and
Parker. In the last year in the am and pm the backup on Dedham has gone clear to vfw
Parkway
The 128 exit and any 300 plus housing decelopment is going to make it worse
Don’t assume high tech younger workers want to live there or dont drive cars
Cutting roads through valuable conservation land
Is stupid and counterproductive
This is all taking backward steps
Public transportation in this whole area needs to be addressed but encouraging
People to actually use it is an even bigger issue
How many people will actually take a bus to pick up their kids
At private schools in newton?
Also, if you don’t really either know or live in this area don’t make assumptions
About impact by development or promises to mitigate it by developers
Come on over and enjoy the green space but you’ll suffer in the commute on the way over!
Until Newton reconciles how it wants to deal with
‘affordable housing’
Lisa
on February 28, 2015 at 8:06 am
Finishing my comment
Until newton figures out more creative solution to
Affordable housing ( which btw the city does not need 40bs because
Newton has gone over the 1.5 percent land area threshold of required
Affordable housing by the state) we should stop being seduced by developers
Eager to build more luxury housing on the backs of
The few People who would benefit from reasonably priced housing
How about saving naturally affordable housing stock, repurposing etc etc rather than
Bulldozing willy nilly. And if Avalon brings in 900k in taxes and wells ave businesses currently
Bring in over 3 million, newton will LOSE tax revenue
Does that make sense?
Alison Haran
on February 28, 2015 at 9:54 am
Excellent comment Lisa! Good to know Greg!I own homes in this area and I cannot believe how bad the traffic has gotten. If I need to go to Fedex which is located near there I wait until 8pm to try and access it. If I were a tenant who was paying $50 per square foot or more for luxury office space in Wells Ave I would be looking to get out of Dodge once my lease expired and move somewhere with less traffic issues. Any tenant that signs a long term lease in Wells Ave going forward will have to consider shuttle buses and possibly satellite parking areas for their employees if they want their employees to come to work. I also wonder what the benefactors of the JCC think about this traffic debacle? It must be effecting them and their members as well? Although it is nice having Angino Farm there maybe in the future the City might have to consider turning Angino Farm into a satellite parking lot for Wells Ave businesses, schools and restaurants (there is one of those in there) in the future? They could put a walkover from that land to Wells Ave fairly reasonably.
Michael
on February 28, 2015 at 10:13 am
Great idea!!! Replace the Newton Community Farm with a parking lot!
Alison Haran
on February 28, 2015 at 10:31 am
Michael do you know if the staff of that farm is on the City’s payroll with benefits etc? How can I find that out? Does that farm turn a profit or is it just for fun ?
City bought with CPA funds, so there’s a conservation restriction on it to keep as open space and active farming. (I’m presuming the parking lot suggestion earlier was a touch of sarcasm.) Non-profit runs the farm operation; no city funds for the staff. (And I think staff is just the one farmer who lives there with his family, I believe the rest of the labor is volunteers.)
Alison Haran
on February 28, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Thank you Julia and Peter for that information. I look forward to reading about that farm and yes there was a touch of sarcasm in my comment. I think that the landlords in Wells Ave should be more careful about the businesses and venues that they are renting too if they want to keep that complex as a viable office park. Like everything with big business you seem to have to hurt them in their pocket books before they will act in an altruistic or community minded manner and make necessary changes to improve traffic there. Public shaming sometimes helps to prod them in the right direction as well that is why the more we talk about the pain that we are all feeling with this traffic crisis the better.
Blueprintbill
on February 28, 2015 at 12:22 pm
First its 334 units of housing , then stoplights, roundabouts european or not, new cloverleaf at 128, and now we’re going to pave over Angino Farm to add some more parking, to solve what problem I’m not sure.
Density is the problem, and to the extent we can decrease or at least stabilize densification in our town so much the better. Population in MA is increasing at less than 1% per year. Why must Newton densify, add people at a greater rate and in the process despoil our city scape ?
tomsheff
on March 1, 2015 at 2:22 pm
I hyeard Newton once had over 100,000 people in it and it also had roughly 25-30% commercial tax base…today we have roughly just over 10%. Why could we hold all those residents with I presume less space (and I assume less density) than we can today?
This is a serious question for me…why could we carry more business’s and residents than in the past.
Michael
on March 1, 2015 at 5:52 pm
I’ll go with: an average household size in the past that was significantly larger than the current 2.5?
Instead of polluting the planet while sitting in their SUVs, these complainers should try walking! Or take the T!
Oh wait, there have never been any sidewalks on Nahanton St. Or any remotely practical MBTA bus routes that come nearby.
Until the Mayor surrounds himself with people that understand the issues and act swiftly and appropriately – things will never change.
Great story. Thanks NECN.
Just imagine if we built tons of housing at Wells Ave. Another well-meaning but bad idea.
Can’t even imagine what it is like during drop off and pick up at the Solomon Schechter Day School…
There is one solution that has recently been advanced, take away the Health club, ( it only delays ones departure anyway ) and add 350 apartment units . As workers try leaving for home , other workers would be coming home.
I have a great idea, let’s put a 300 unit 40B project in the mix here, I think that would solve the problem. And then we can call the people who oppose the project anti- affordable housing advocates!!!!
The problem with this newscast is that they make it sound like this traffic is unusual due to the weather, etc. This is what the traffic looks like normally during 8-10am and 4-6pm, it’s not unusual.
Thanks, Village 14, for posting this! As a daily sufferer of this utterly needless situation … Yes, the narrowing of the bridge and ineffectual traffic direction at Kendrick over 128 is a problem. But there are major, solvable problems within the park itself. The combination of huge, unremoved snowbanks and on-street parking reduces what is normally 2 travel lanes with 2 parking lanes to 1.5 or 1.25 lanes where cars are parked. This creates two-way gridlock, especially during the hours that office workers are leaving and math genius parents and Schecter parents and BSC workout people are coming in. You know Newton — no one will ever stop to let you into traffic or let you pass them on the street.
The city should a) ban on-street parking immediately, today, on Wells Avenue and b) deploy loaders to remove the snow to the curb to restore 2 full travel lanes and 2 full parking lanes along all of Wells Avenue. Landlords should be cited and fined for un-plowed and un-shovelled sidewalks in numerous locations. Longer term, the lanes should be reconfigured where Wells meets Nahanton Street to allow for a much longer right-turn lane approaching Nahanton to flush more traffic out of the park. People turning left and heading up to Needham via Nahanton/Kendrick will still have to contend with the disastrous bridge narrowing and ineffectual traffic control up there, but you’d flush far more traffic out of the park and reduce overall gridlock with a better right turn out of the park.
Finally, not to sound like a rich, whiny, entitled Newton elitist, but I did some research on the Newton assessors database, and the 21 for-profit property owners on Wells Avenue (I am leaving out Newton Wellesley, Shechter, the hospice and a government building) pay the city $3.44 million a YEAR in property taxes. That is fully 1 percent of the entire city budget coming from one street alone in Newton. I think for an area that pays that much of the city’s budget, we do in fact deserve some intelligent attention from Mayor Warren’s administration and the city public works and police and traffic departments to solve this utterly solvable traffic nightmare that is affecting hundreds of workers, students, parents, and taxpayers every day. Thank you! Peter
How about the city come up with some sort of a plan to address this? I’ve been going up and down Nahanton St. for close to 40 years and in that time, the only thing the city has done is put in the atrociously-engineered traffic light at Wells Av. and the JCC. The traffic jams have gotten longer and longer every year, but nothing has been done. I generally try to walk on Nahanton St. in order to avoid the mess, but as I’ve mentioned numerous time, that street has never, in its history, had any sidewalks. And it’s over a mile long!
As I’ve also mentioned too many times, the 52 bus is worse than useless, running once every two hours and not at all after 7pm or on the weekends. And it’s not even practical to take the 52 to Wells Av., since the nearest stop, up by the Newton Community Farm, is inaccessible to pedestrians (no sidewalks).
Big kudos are in order for the city, which evidently isn’t aware that there are any neighborhoods south of Route 9.
How about some real foresight offering a holistic transportation plan for Nahanton St.? Is that too much to ask?
300 cars is insignificant. Just wait until the highway exit opens. Imagine what that will do to the demand for Nahanton Street and the existing signal.
Nahanton and Wells is a good place for a roundabout. MassDOT should pay for it.
Adam, that’s an interesting idea but I’m not aware of a roundabout design that offers safe passage for pedestrians or cyclists. I’ve got a pretty high tolerance for having my life endangered by cars, but for example, I’ve never been able to safely make my way on foot or on bike around the Newton St./Hammond Pond Pkwy./Hammond St. rotary in Brookline. Given the volumes that will be added to Nahanton St. once the 128 offramp comes online, and since it’s basically on the same commuting path from Boston to points southwest, I think we’d be faced with a similar scenario at Wells Av.
That Brookline particular rotary is ridiculous, because its radius is far too big and the Brookline DPW thought it would be a great idea to recently add an express lane for northbound traffic so it doesn’t have to stop – but even with modifications, it would still be a deathtrap for pedestrians and cyclists.
The only place I’ve seen smaller-radius rotaries work is in Germany and Switzerland, but their functionality is contingent upon the motorists stopping on a dime for pedestrians and cyclists, which they do there, but would never do here.
Adam, I read the link you recommended but I’m skeptical that rotaries are safer for pedestrians. The claim that traffic is slower than it would be at a traditional intersection is only true for the traffic entering the the rotary – and I’d agree that a pedestrian has a better shot at survival when crossing in front of that traffic.
But traffic exiting the rotary has to pay attention to too many traffic vectors, and any pedestrian crossing in front of the exiting traffic is at much greater risk than they would be when trying to cross at a crosswalk protected by red lights. IMHO.
Anyway I’m just being selfish because I walk and bike Nahanton St. more often than I drive it – but on balance for all of the road users, a rotary might not be a bad idea.
The situation at Wells Ave is unacceptable and it has taken too long to address. As NECN reported, the two problems are narrow streets from the snow and cars parked on the street and from construction along Kendrick Street.
But the comments here about the proposed housing project at 135 Wells Ave. reflect a misunderstanding about that project.
1. The target market for these apartments were for young innovation-economy employees who work in this area. So a portion of the residents there would likely walk or bike to work. Also remember, folks in that sector don’t work 9-5 jobs so travel would be staggered.
2. The developer was going to fund a shuttle bus which would have also been available to the companies in the park for their employee use.
3. The developer was offering to put more than $1 million into traffic mitigation, including new traffic lights at Wells and Winchester, plus improvements at Dedham Street, all of which would help traffic backups that exist year round.
(They were also going to fund sidewalk improvements, streets lighting etc.)
6. And don’t forget there’s a health club at that location now with certainly many hundreds of members. All those cars make round trips in and out of the park (often right after work) and would no longer be part of the gridlock.
@blueprintbill – couldn’t agree more.
@Tomsheff – you’re assuming that all cars associated with the housing would be ADDITIONAL, when if fact they would not be. BSC generates a ton of traffic moving in the same direction as all those cars you see in the video. Traffic from housing moves in the opposite direction, so those cars would actually ALLEVIATE congestion (think about it: people leave their homes in the morning, when commuters are entering Wells to arrive at their workplace, and visa versa in the evenings).
It’s frustrating because the developer at 135 Wells offered to put OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS into the Wells/Nahanton intersection, as well as HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS into the Winchester/Nahanton intersection. Their proposed improvements would completely overhaul those two intersections. Everyone keeps asking “where’s the plan?” As you see in the video, Newton has no plan. All the “red tape” mentioned in the video could’ve been avoided by their private funding.
I’ve been working on Wells Ave for many years now and traffic continues to be an issue. Employers will start moving out of Wells Ave if nothing is done. When the developer (Cabot, Cabot & Forbes) first came forward with their proposal, I’ll admit I was skeptical, but after further review, I become a strong supporter — they offered to complete the infrastructure work BEFORE building the project, pay for a WELLS AVE SHUTTLE TO THE MBTA (Newton Highlands?), and do some additional work to give the office park a “facelift.”
Instead of creating a PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, as so many other City’s have done, Newton decided to deny their permit and now the developer is in court wasting money on litigation when they could’ve spent it on these MUCH NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS.
+1 for Eric’s and Blueprintbill’s comments.
That project would have allowed for an affordable housing development devoid of any complaining neighbors to inevitably block it, and served as an impetus to improve the infrastructure and transit situation on Nahanton St. Far from adding to the traffic problem, it could have been one of the things that would have helped solve it.
@Peter J. Howe — check out ATTACHMENT H in the link below for all the offers CC&F made to the City for Wells Avenue.
Can anyone tell me anything that’s wrong with this.. because I can’t!
http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/61721
Hi, Eric. That looks like an excellent plan! I think the only problem with it is it is attached to a housing development plan that has generated major controversy in Newton ;-D The second way out at Winchester Street and shuttle to Newton Highlands would be especially helpful.
I also want to apologize to Solomon Schechter Day School for accidentally misspelling “Schechter” earlier.
Also, I want to pleasantly and agreeably disagree with Tom Sheff. The traffic mess here in the last week is NOT normal. I’ve been driving in and out of 160 Wells Avenue five or six days a week since April 2008, and it has never before this taken people 45, 50, or even 60 minutes to get from 160 Wells Avenue to Nahanton Street as it has in recent nights. Outside of a couple of active snowstorm situations, we’ve never had two-way solid gridlock going both ways on the Wells Avenue loop as we have lately. The combination of the badly managed and ineffectually policed Kendrick Street bridge work, inadequate snow removal on Wells Avenue and at the Wells-Nahanton intersection, and on-street parking on narrowed Wells Avenue reducing the street to less than two lanes for travel have taken what is always a congested situation around 8 am and 5:30 pm and turned it into a traffic nightmare and frightening threat to life and property if the Fire Department ever had to get in here during those hours for a fire, gas leak, medical emergency, or anything else.
Just a little problem about the “second way out” – the area of the proposed second roadway is currently home to wetlands and a forest with many very beautiful old trees. Rather than dumping more traffic out onto Nahanton, a connection between Mt. Ida and Wells Av. would be a much better solution. But that would probably never happen.
Don’t you think NECN which is also in the location is upset too with the traffic mess that they have to deal with.
This is clearly a Public Works and Mayor Warren Issue. But until the Mayor directly deals with these issues nothing will change.
So WE should not complain when businesses move to another city. This is unacceptable that it takes one hour to drive what should take 5 minutes. So where has Public Works been removing snow from – Just Washington Street?
Peter, I’d like to agreeably disagree, and say that the fix will require more than snow removal and parking regulations. That may eliminate the two-way gridlock within Wells Av., but we’ll continue to have two-way gridlock on Nahanton St.
So the bigger issue, one with which all Newtonites and Needhamites should be concerned, is finding a real long-term transportation solution for the entire Nahanton St. and Wells Av. corridor., which is beyond dysfunctional at this point.
Michael, I fully agree, and with a lovely disposition. My objection was to Tom Sheff calling the recent traffic situation “not unusual” and, by extension, labelling NECN’s reporting dishonest and inaccurate.
Michael, roundabout, not rotary. You’ve highlighted some of the major differences between traffic circles and rotaries vs. newer roundabouts — this would be MUCH different than the high-speed, multi-lane Horace James circle in Brookline, for example. You will find some modern roundabouts in the area, mostly at malls (IKEA, Natick) also in Dedham, but it’s true roundabouts most popular in Europe and the pacific NW. Still, you’re right that roundabouts might be challenging for peds and cyclists (google bicycle and roundabout and you’ll see dutch designs that accommodate everyone) though properly constructed, the speed reduction and angle of entry is supposed to slow speeds enough to make that possible (and also prevent high-speed, t-bone accidents you’d have at an intersection) Also, there are fewer points of conflicts for drivers. With a single lane roundabout, they are only concerned with merges, and there’s no conflict when exiting, so they could in fact focus on peds (in theory)
Where pedestrian demand is low, roundabouts makes sense. If pedestrian demand is high, that could cause gridlock, but I don’t see that happening here. There’s also some concern that gridlock could result from other signals nearby, but still I hope it’s something that’s considered. A roundabout could move traffic much more efficiently and also provide some much needed calming once that interstate exit opens.
That was an amazing news article. Mayor Warren needs to address the City of Newton (article in tab, email to residents and business). The Mayor needs to say that the City did not address the weather to the best of its ability (needs to appoligize, better than Fleischman did last year), and then address what went wrong specifically, what they learned and what the city is going to do differently in the future. Without all these pieces, the city will never improve. The aldermen and the DPW chief need to be all in agreement and we need to find a better way of doing things. There are bad winters, and this is a bad one. We have had them before and we will have them again. By not plowing correctly the first time, the city made things go from bad to worse.
I am shocked by how much in taxes this one neighborhood raises for the city. If these businesses sit vacanat because Needham offers BETTER DPW and services, Newton is in big trouble.
AND if we allow housing back there? The back ups will be worse. NO ONE is NOT going to have a car who lives there. How will you get any where (the promises of public transportation – I am not believing).
Of course it was better last week. People were on vacation. Schecter was closed. And the gymnastics studio and indoor soccer were on vacation schedule and not regular schedules. I can’t believe the City didn’t figure this out (the woman from the city who was interviewed did not look intelligent when talking about this).
In fact the WHOLE CITY looks like this. A parking ban would be WELCOME by me. Every street is a nightmare, and if one car parks on the street, it creates a major hazard for all others on the road. Not to mention, how a fire engine would ever get there. I am astonished that people park on the road, and block others (has happened to me). Start going down a street, and have to find a driveway to turn around because the street isn’t passable.
People parking in lots – they park in spaces that block in others.
I was supposed to have a meeting at my house this weekend, but had to cancel. It would not be responsible of me to host a meeting and have 10 cars park in my neighborhood. I haven’t hosted company for dinner, because we have NO parking on our street (and our driveway has room for our two cars and that is it and no garage).
I dread merging onto Route 9 and getting off Route 9 on the side streets.
I dread the weekend joggers. Last weekend an oil truck was heading north, when I was heading south. He didn’t fit on his side, so I moved to the right, stopped next to the snow bank, and let the oil truck pass by. The jogger coming at me, swore at me, because I was in her space. What? I was supposed to put my vehicle in the way of an oil truck to save her joggning space? I was STOPPED and she banged on my hood and gave me the finter. Was I supposed to hit her? My kid was in the car and asked why she banged on our hood! What was I supposed to do in her mind?
School buses show up 30-40 minutes late to school. They get stuck in traffic, behind parked cars and get stuck in snow banks.
This city is waiting for an accident. Of course this state is one warm day away from flooded basements.
Thank you – I will get off the soap box now.
I completely agree with Peter Howe above. I believe there has been a huge increase in the number of students attending the Russian School of Mathematics. Their website says there are 2400 students coming weekly to this location. The traffic was wonderful during school vacation last week, and completely horrific again starting on Monday. Here’s a link to all of their classes held on Wells Avenue. http://www.russianschool.com/location/newton/schedule
On Tuesday night Feb. 24th, Wells Avenue was completely gridlocked at 5:50 PM, but once I got out onto Kendrick, it was wide open. That means you cannot blame the traffic on the Kendrick St. Bridge construction, at least on that night.
Appendix H actually included a mini-roundabout within the office park. Cool. I like the trail extensions also. The connection to the 52 bus in OHP is probably more meaningful than the shuttle, which only a handful of people typically take. Interesting that the proposed Winchester Street extension goes right through conservation land…
Adam, thanks for setting me straight on the difference between rotaries and roundabouts – I guess I was just referring to roundabouts as “smaller-radius rotaries.”
The Amsterdam design in your link is present in most of the Protestant areas of continental Europe (for whatever reason) and I’m definitely sold on it, although I still maintain that you’ll rarely see an American driver stop for anybody or anything once they’ve gotten inside or are exiting the roundabout.
Nevertheless, it’s probably the best solution for this intersection. I hope the city would seriously consider something like this.
I’ve only been in the city for about a year , but I know to stay away from that entire area (Needham St) during rush hour. What shocked me about this story is the interview with the COA! Her remarks and demeanor came off as “making excusing” and not in charge/take charge – so disappointing.
NewtonMom brings up a great point- while the problems at Wells Ave are bad with or without snow, the snow issue is a huge problem throughout the city. Getting by on any but the main streets has been a lesson in patience (except for that jogger apparently).
I’ll wait for the ‘How is the Flooding on Your Street? post that should be up sometime in the next few weeks, as the climate warms.
I wouild like to agreeably disagree with those who disagree with me (tomsheff).
1. I never called out NECN for being dishonest, I don’t know anything about them to make that claim.
2. I am 52 years old and have lived my entire life within a mile of that intersection. 20 years ago I worked in that park. I have been stuck in that traffic for (what seemed like hours) for a very very long time during the summertime. While I agree that the snow has made it worse, I can say it’s always been a major issue in my commute. (I belong BSC I belonged to the previous 2 health clubs dating back 40+ years). I know that intersection.
3. Let’s use some common sense. You put a 300 unit development in that park and you are asking for a world of hurt. If you’re common sense tells you that everyone in that development will be going against the traffic during the bad traffic hours, I don’t know what to say to you. You must be working for the developers or something. As greg says, not everyone is 9-5ers and you can expect kids going to and from school, etc. People aren’t robots where you can program when the traffic gets good and bad, this is where you need common sense.
4. Until proven otherwise, I will be expecting more traffic due to add a lane. But time will tell on that issue.
I respectfully disagree with the disagreers.
I think the short term solution is easy, ban parking for the day or two it takes to remove the snow back to the curbs creating the full 2 lanes instead of the 1.5 currently.
The long term solution is a bit more complicated. The Wells Ave project would have invested more than 1.5 million dollars into upgrading that whole corridor by redesigning the Wells/Nahanton intersection and adding a new access point and a signal at Winchester/Nahanton. That is how you fix things. You create a private/public relationship with someone who is willing to invest the kind of money the city does not have to fix these huge problems. Yes, adding 300 units would add some additional traffic – but the developer was willing create a net positive by investing into the infrastructure.
I can ASSURE you the traffic design team looked at a roundabout at that intersection and it was either too costly, didnt increase the level of service, or needed too much land they didnt own to make it work. They wouldnt be doing their job if they didnt. With the amount of volume that goes through that intersection it would have had to be a 2 lane roundabout to work.
Josh, Nahanton St. only has one travel lane in either direction, so I can’t envision what would be gained by having a two-lane roundabout (or rotary, as the case may be).
And when it comes to requiring too much land, I agree that a traditional New England rotary would take up a lot of space, but the intersection could certainly accommodate the type of roundabout that Adam has highlighted.
Ultimately, I’d be very surprised if any traffic consultants in New England had given any serious consideration to the model of a European roundabout on public roads. But if we were dealing with some progressive thinkers from beyond their time, and the real obstacle turned out to be cost, then I’m disappointed that CCF wouldn’t be willing to make a long-term investment.
Speaking of requiring land, I’m a bit skeptical of how they would have constructed the second exit through the wetlands and forest that are currently on the south side of the Winchester/Nahanton intersection. A better solution would have been to extend Carlson Ave. westward, which would then connect Wells Av. to Route 9 via Brookline St., as well as VFW Parkway.
Is using flex time as a strategy a possibility to alleviate the congestion, or at least make things more manageable for those whose family situation allows them to come in early or stay late? There may be some businesses or individuals within a business who would be willing to change their hours in order to avoid the traffic. Some extended family members have used this approach to deal with traffic tie-ups during rush hour in Boston.
Companies have allowed flex time and work from home
However how long should they do this and some
Things need to be done in the office.
How likely will they renew the lease?
Michael, besides needing Mt. Ida’s cooperation for your proposal, I think there’s a steep change in elevation between Wells Ave and Carlson to worry about.
Josh, it would be nice to know if a roundabouts on Nahanton were explicitly ruled out, as the consultants did include one elsewhere in the design. Alas, we’ll never know. Roundabouts are costly to construct, but there’s significant savings not having to install a signal and operate it.
Newton’s traffic engineer did consider a roundabout during recent discussions to fund a signal at Winchester & Nahanton, prompted by Alderman Lappin. It was ruled out specifically because it would need a slice of land with a conservation restriction to the south — the same conservation land Michael is talking about needed by the CCF proposal.
It’s really hard to believe how completely clueless our chief administrative officer is about the traffic and roads in Newton. She doesn’t know why? They didn’t factor in school vacation! That’s just irresponsible. Newton police just said “no” without checking out the situation. As mentioned, we will lose even more businesses if something isn’t done.
Also I agree that the majority of roads in Newton are still in terrible shape and we’ve had plenty of decent weather since the last big snow to widen roads and clear corners. It’s not just the side streets.
One company said it was using flex time and trying out working from home but it couldn’t with everyone. These companies are paying a lot of taxes. Asking them to change their hours because the city isn’t doing their job would be ridiculous.
Adam, your remark about the steep change in elevation is very true – I often try to cut between Mt. Ida and Wells Av. on foot and it’s difficult. But there is some space for a ramp in the back of where the proposed development would be. It would probably be quite costly, but I think it would beat the proposed alternative of plowing a new road through 800 feet of wetlands and forest.
I’m very encouraged to hear that Newton’s traffic engineer considered a roundabout for Winchester St. – I stand corrected in that there are in fact traffic people ahead of their time. I’m just trying to think of an example of a European roundabout having been successfully implemented on a true public way (i.e. not in a shopping area) in Massachusetts. The only one I can think of that comes close is the one that they put in on Needham St. in Dedham over by the Riverdale School, but that’s a far cry from anything in northern Europe.
My NECN colleague got this e-mail from Mayor Warren’s office a little before 5:30 p.m. Thursday, and I wanted to share it with you:
February 26, 2015
To All Interested in the Traffic Problems at Wells Avenue:
I am writing to update you on the current serious traffic issues on Wells Ave. and Nahanton St. We realize this is a very serious problem for Newton and Needham. Our communities are working to improve traffic flow. A group from Newton including myself, the CAO, Chief of Police, and DPW Commissioner met this morning in Needham with two Selectmen, the Town Manager, Chief of Police, head of DPW, and several others. The two communities are working with the MA Dept. of Transportation. We are committed to snow removal from Wells Ave./Nahanton St. area. We will update you within 24 hours on specific solutions. If you have any questions, please contact Dori Zaleznik, CAO at [email protected].
We know how traffic congestion has adversely affected those who travel to and from the Wells Ave. office park and are doing all we can to ameliorate the problems.
Setti Warren, Mayor
See problem solved
I normally don’t agree with Charlie Shapiro, but when he’s right, he’s right, and I got to give him my props for his post.
http://village14.com/newton-ma/2015/02/traffic-debacle-at-wells-ave/#comment-54236
I’m still bewildered that Greg Reibman still thinks that Newton should build a gaudy, 334 unit 40B monstrosity on Wells Ave when traffic there already sucks. It’s bad enough that such a development will privatize profits for the developer and socialize costs to Newton taxpayers in the form of higher school enrollments. Having to deal with the increased traffic is adding insult to injury.
Greg claims that the housing is geared to single professionals in the innovation economy. Isn’t that what AvalonBay said 10-12 years ago about their Needham Street development?
Well, as long as their doing all they can.
I don’t know enough about the housing development being discussed to know if it’s a good idea or not, but I do know that no matter what the discussion concerns, housing, education, traffic, somehow it’s “privatizing profits and socializing costs to Newton’s taxpayers.” On this thread it’s development; on the SAT thread it’s education and calling out a comment by an intelligent NNHS graduate because his parents are democrats. We are all taxpayers and it takes taxpayers paying private enterprise for goods and services for them to make a profit so such a generalization really makes no sense. Whether it’s through our taxes or with our income we help companies privatize profits, I thought that was the way you liked it.
@ Newton Mom – “I can’t believe the City didn’t figure this out (the woman from the city who was interviewed did not look intelligent when talking about this).”
The Woman is Dori Zaleznick – she is an MD and is now CAO of the City. She was chair of the SC and then in charge of the Health Dept – probably more in her field.
I am not quite sure what her qualifications are that she would be the Citys CAO.
I agree with you – she doesn’t seem that she is well equipped to be the CAO – that interview made that point pretty clear.
Can somebody who’s more familiar with the system than I am, explain this to me? Was the example of Avalon Newton Highlands really a net loss to the city?
Avalon Newton Highlands assessment FY15: $73.4 million
taxed at residential rate of $11.61
=tax collection of $852,500
Increased student enrollment: 98 students
* expenditure of $17,141 per pupil
= $1.68 million
Ratio of educational expenditure to tax collections: 1.97
I would have thought that state aid would have made up some of the difference, but as near as I can tell, Massachusetts Chapter 70 aid was only about $20 million, or $1,600 per pupil.
I guess you could also compare this to an example where a family of four moves into a house assessed at $900,000 – they’ll pay $10,500 in taxes, but the cost to the city for schooling their two children will be $34,282. In that case, the ratio of educational expenditure to tax collections would be 3.26, making Avalon look pretty good.
But I suspect I’m missing something big, and I’m too unfamiliar with the educational funding system in this state to figure out what. Anyone anyone Bueller anyone?
Michael, makes one think of the old joke, “I’ll sell at a loss but make it up in volume!”
A housing project, 40B or otherwise would make Wells Ave impassable. Those of you that think driving in and out of Wells Ave won’t be catastrophically impacted by additional cars from a housing project are being disingenuous. Snow removal is a core services residents and business depend on the city to provide. If removal of snow from a main street is difficult now, how can we expect it to get better with more cars, density and pedestrians? I wonder if the Mayor would be interested in moving his office to Wells Ave. for the remainder of his term.
Mayor Warren sent the below letter to the Wells Ave community this morning.
February 26, 2015
To All Interested in the Traffic Problems at Wells Avenue:
I am writing to update you on the current serious traffic issues on Wells Ave. and Nahanton St. We realize this is a very serious problem for Newton and Needham. Our communities are working to improve traffic flow. A group from Newton including myself, the CAO, Chief of Police, and DPW Commissioner met this morning in Needham with two Selectmen, the Town Manager, Chief of Police, head of DPW, and several others. The two communities are working with the MA Dept. of Transportation. We are committed to snow removal from Wells Ave./Nahanton St. area. We will update you within 24 hours on specific solutions. If you have any questions, please contact Dori Zaleznik, CAO at [email protected].
We know how traffic congestion has adversely affected those who travel to and from the Wells Ave. office park and are doing all we can to ameliorate the problems.
Setti Warren, Mayor
Well, as long as they are doing all they can. Hasn’t it been 24 hours. Does anyone have their update to post?
The mayor sent this out Friday afternoon…
To All Interested in the Traffic Problems at Wells Avenue:
I am sending today’s update on measures that we have planned to improve the serious traffic issues on Wells Ave. and Nahanton St. The work I am describing will take place weather permitting. Bulfinch, Normandy, Intrum Corp and Wingate Companies have contracted for snow removal on Wells Ave., Nahanton St. over the bridge and into Needham with its surrounding roads this weekend. We are grateful to these companies for stepping forward, and the City of Newton will share the cost of the Newton portion of the snow removal.
In addition, we have arranged to have the Kendrick St. bridge connecting Newton and Needham over the Charles River restriped to have two lanes traveling west and one lane east. This work is scheduled to take place on Monday before the afternoon rush hours out of the Wells Ave. office park, again weather permitting. The road changes will allow two lanes of traffic to turn left on Nahanton St. and continue on into Needham. We hope that snow removal and road configuration changes will result in greatly shortening the time it takes to exit from the office park.
If you have any questions, please contact Dori Zaleznik, CAO at [email protected].
Setti Warren, Mayor
This sounds definitely encouraging, and, if I can do it while still being an objective and unbiased newsman, I’d like to express gratitude to Mayor Warren and his administration for stepping up with some solutions and leadership. Thank you.
The sign of a strong leader is when he/she does things because they are the right things to do, not because they are pressured to do so. This action, while welcome is far overdue.
Exactly Alan – if NECN had not done that piece – The Mayor NEVER would have done anything. Maybe Peter Howe can have NECN – drive around to some of the Newton Schools at which snow was not removed such as Horace Mann on Watertown Street or try to drive down Linwood Ave during AM drop off at Day.
The Mayor has been very lucky that a child has not gotten hurt. He had them spend days on Washington Street when it was already Wide Enough. I guess the only way to get something done is to Shame the city into it.
The businesses on Wells Ave – Really needs to say a BIG Thank you to NECN.
“Share the cost” If I am reading the mayor’s response correctly, in addition to paying taxes for city services, private companies are contributing money for snow removal on city streets. I’m not sure this enhances the business–friendly image for Newton that some on this blog wish for.
Wells Ave historically was an office building complex but in recent years there have been several schools that have taken up residency in there. Off the top of my head I can think of Dance Fever, The Russian School, The Pschology College that just opened plus several athletic type facilities including a gymnastic school and soccer place and BSC. These types of businesses bring in a lot more traffic to the development than would a traditional office park. I notice that Trip Advisor has its own vans that pick up their employees from public transportation sites and drive them to their current headquarters on Needham Street. Perhaps some of the landlords in Wells Ave could pool their resources and get a. Company like Local Motion to offer a shuttle service to Wells Ave from the Newton Highlands train station for employees and clients of Wells Ave businesses.
Cabot Cabot & Forbes had offered to fund a shuttle bus as part of their 135 Wells Ave project.
I have lived less than a mile from this mess for over 20 years.
The snow has only exacerbated this issue, not caused it.
The traffic backup in this area extends beyond nahanton and into Dedham street and
Parker. In the last year in the am and pm the backup on Dedham has gone clear to vfw
Parkway
The 128 exit and any 300 plus housing decelopment is going to make it worse
Don’t assume high tech younger workers want to live there or dont drive cars
Cutting roads through valuable conservation land
Is stupid and counterproductive
This is all taking backward steps
Public transportation in this whole area needs to be addressed but encouraging
People to actually use it is an even bigger issue
How many people will actually take a bus to pick up their kids
At private schools in newton?
Also, if you don’t really either know or live in this area don’t make assumptions
About impact by development or promises to mitigate it by developers
Come on over and enjoy the green space but you’ll suffer in the commute on the way over!
Until Newton reconciles how it wants to deal with
‘affordable housing’
Finishing my comment
Until newton figures out more creative solution to
Affordable housing ( which btw the city does not need 40bs because
Newton has gone over the 1.5 percent land area threshold of required
Affordable housing by the state) we should stop being seduced by developers
Eager to build more luxury housing on the backs of
The few People who would benefit from reasonably priced housing
How about saving naturally affordable housing stock, repurposing etc etc rather than
Bulldozing willy nilly. And if Avalon brings in 900k in taxes and wells ave businesses currently
Bring in over 3 million, newton will LOSE tax revenue
Does that make sense?
Excellent comment Lisa! Good to know Greg!I own homes in this area and I cannot believe how bad the traffic has gotten. If I need to go to Fedex which is located near there I wait until 8pm to try and access it. If I were a tenant who was paying $50 per square foot or more for luxury office space in Wells Ave I would be looking to get out of Dodge once my lease expired and move somewhere with less traffic issues. Any tenant that signs a long term lease in Wells Ave going forward will have to consider shuttle buses and possibly satellite parking areas for their employees if they want their employees to come to work. I also wonder what the benefactors of the JCC think about this traffic debacle? It must be effecting them and their members as well? Although it is nice having Angino Farm there maybe in the future the City might have to consider turning Angino Farm into a satellite parking lot for Wells Ave businesses, schools and restaurants (there is one of those in there) in the future? They could put a walkover from that land to Wells Ave fairly reasonably.
Great idea!!! Replace the Newton Community Farm with a parking lot!
Michael do you know if the staff of that farm is on the City’s payroll with benefits etc? How can I find that out? Does that farm turn a profit or is it just for fun ?
http://newtoncommunityfarm.org/support/thank-you/
@Alison, here’s info on the Community Farm:
http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/planning/bc/afcomm/default.asp
City bought with CPA funds, so there’s a conservation restriction on it to keep as open space and active farming. (I’m presuming the parking lot suggestion earlier was a touch of sarcasm.) Non-profit runs the farm operation; no city funds for the staff. (And I think staff is just the one farmer who lives there with his family, I believe the rest of the labor is volunteers.)
Thank you Julia and Peter for that information. I look forward to reading about that farm and yes there was a touch of sarcasm in my comment. I think that the landlords in Wells Ave should be more careful about the businesses and venues that they are renting too if they want to keep that complex as a viable office park. Like everything with big business you seem to have to hurt them in their pocket books before they will act in an altruistic or community minded manner and make necessary changes to improve traffic there. Public shaming sometimes helps to prod them in the right direction as well that is why the more we talk about the pain that we are all feeling with this traffic crisis the better.
First its 334 units of housing , then stoplights, roundabouts european or not, new cloverleaf at 128, and now we’re going to pave over Angino Farm to add some more parking, to solve what problem I’m not sure.
Density is the problem, and to the extent we can decrease or at least stabilize densification in our town so much the better. Population in MA is increasing at less than 1% per year. Why must Newton densify, add people at a greater rate and in the process despoil our city scape ?
I hyeard Newton once had over 100,000 people in it and it also had roughly 25-30% commercial tax base…today we have roughly just over 10%. Why could we hold all those residents with I presume less space (and I assume less density) than we can today?
This is a serious question for me…why could we carry more business’s and residents than in the past.
I’ll go with: an average household size in the past that was significantly larger than the current 2.5?