It saddens me that I am the only person in Newton with the insight and vision to either identify the problems on Adams St. or propose solutions. But, at least the singularity of my analytic abilities explains and excuses the failure to act by folks who could have done something.
JK*, as the kids say. JK. This is easy stuff and has been well understood for well over a decade. Newton has just lacked the political and executive will.
Backing up a bit, there are some things in Newton that are getting better in terms of street design. There has been some focus on the disasters in our village centers. The results are uneven. Newton Centre changes have been very good, if incomplete. Auburndale is not nearly as good as it could be. West Newton looks pretty promising. But, at least it has been understood that the existing car-centric design is failing us and change is required.
There has been some effort to think about safe street design and reconstruction in the context of school building projects. Unfortunately, the starting point for discussion has been uniformly car-centric design and the effort to change designs to be people-centric has been laborious and not wholly successful. But, there are some promising signs that School Committee members are beginning to understand what’s at stake.
And, there have been some successes with high-profile intersections. For instance, the planned work for the intersection(s) of Nahanton, Dedham, Brookline, and Carlson is quite encouraging.
But, the city fails year after year after year to take a thoughtful approach to routine repaving work.
The model could be quite simple. The city has a list of proposed repaving for the next few paving seasons. Like any project backlog, it’s something of a work-in-progress, but that’s fine. With sufficient lead time ahead of the scheduled paving, the city could begin a process with public meetings to solicit input about the projects on the top of the backlog. Staff or consultants could design changes that reflect the input, adhere to the city’s Complete Streets policy, and fulfill the universal desire for reduced design speeds. Have another round of public meetings to gain public feedback and support. Tweak the designs. Repave and reconstruct.
Is adding process a burden to reconstruction? Sure. But, the process doesn’t need to be heavyweight for most streets. A few years ago the mayor’s Transportation Advisory Group (TAG), of which I am a member, prototyped the process. We held a public meeting to solicit input on a few upcoming street projects. The response was great. Attendees had valuable insights and professional staff shared some terrific design ideas. But, DPW took over the process and never held the promised follow-up meetings. There is no indication that the community input is reflected as changes to the roads.
Is doing full-blown redesign on every paving project worth it? Absolutely. We were sold an override on the promise of safer streets for all users. Our existing streets are not safe streets. Our existing streets do not discourage speeding. Our existing streets do not encourage walking and biking. The only way to deliver on the promise of the override is to redesign just about every road in Newton. Certainly we should redesign roads like Adams St., where the deficiencies of the existing design are so obvious and there are such promising design options.
We cannot continue to repave the carpath.
I have heard from some who would know that there were neighborhood meetings about Adams St. and that neighbors were anxious to get a crummy road repaved. They worried that a design cycle would delay repair for too long. Setting aside jokes about potholes being the best traffic calming, it’s not fun to live on a street with longstanding (long-sinking?) potholes. I know. And, there were concerns from neighboring streets that discouraging speeding down Adams St. would push cut-through seekers to their streets.
But, none of that excuses the city’s failure. TAG has been promoting early design review of repaving projects from almost its first meeting, seven years ago. Other groups were asking for it before then. The political problem of displaced traffic has been thoroughly understood in this city for over a decade. There are lots of options, among them to calm traffic on adjoining streets in tandem. The city has had an endless supply of talented traffic engineers and other professionals inclined to create the kind of streets Newton says it wants.
We’ve just lacked the political will to make safe streets a real priority, not just an empty promise. The mayor hasn’t empowered his staff to do the little that would be required. And, the city council has wholly failed to insist on it.
Currently, Boston mayor Marty Walsh is getting raked over the coals for repaving the carpath on Congress St. between City Hall and Faneuil Hall. Boston has city policy and design guidelines that provide clear guidance on how to make Congress St. a Complete Street. Walsh has staff who know how to do the job right. And, there are a bunch of possible interventions that could have been done cheaply during repaving. He just didn’t make it a priority.
Adams St. is Newton’s Congress St.
* Just kidding.
I agree with you that Newton needs coordination between City Hall and residents. I also agree with you that repaving is a great opportunity to explore alternatives instead of just repave; maybe: make sidewalks bigger? add a bike lane? plant more trees? bury utilities? add slowing elements?
Transparency/ common sense seems to be a problem. For instance, why were only Beacon Street residents notified of pending work but not the residents of side streets whose property fronts Beacon St? Why were notices on threatened trees not explicit about potential recourse from their being cut (or unclear that the trees did not have to come down)?
Why did some of us get a robot call about night work on our street (not Beacon) but have no idea what the work is going to be (apart from squiggly black lines visible the next morning)? Do they mean that the street will be completely dug up and/or that the City found a way to force National Grid to fix gas leaks?
Why is DPW parking its bulldozers and other heavy equipment under mature trees? Don’t they know that the City Tree Warden has ruled it is bad for tree roots and trees may not survive ?
Coordination and dialogue, please. Of course, I could just ask my Ward Councillor to find out for me, while I have one!
It’s frustrating that we do we not have clear protocols for a “complete street” project in place more than 5 years after the Transportation Advisory Committee report, after hundreds of hours of staff and volunteer time and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants.
There is disconnect between best practices, Transportation Advisory Group recommendations, the consultants report and how DPW actually operates.
This will be a priority for me with the next Administration.
I think it was helpful to the Waban residents who came to the Waban Area Council meeting several months ago to discuss the imminent removal of 29 trees. There was a process outlined that we could follow, involving letter writing to the Tree Warden, calls to our Ward Councilors (May they long survive!), and a subsequent meeting called by DPW and attended by the concerned citizens and City Officials who listened and heard. The tree removal was reduced to 3 trees! And the City now has written language to follow about tree removal when a street is being repaved. Vigilance and involvement in City business by interested citizens is imperative.