Tonight at its 7:00 meeting, Traffic Council is going to hear a proposal (TC33-18) to slow traffic on Waltham St. and Crafts St. by narrowing the travel lanes, adding bike lanes, and configuring parking to create chicanes — minor changes in the line of travel so that the travel lanes are not dead straight. The chicanes are achieved by alternating stretches of parking on one side and then switching parking to the other side.
Chicanes — or horizontal deflection as they are referred to by traffic engineers — slow traffic by causing drivers to have to make periodic small changes to their driving line.
It is a thoughtful plan that is not too radical. While chicanes can be created by changing the curb geometry, this plan doesn’t change the current curb line. It’s all paint and parked cars!
The plan has been presented to neighbors and has widespread support. It’s before Traffic Council because the plan reconfigures parking and removes spaces. The new configuration removes about half the spaces to create the chicanes, but even with the reduction should easily accommodate all the current parking demand.
I have every confidence that Traffic Council will adjudicate the requested change wisely and fairly. (I’ll be attending the meeting just to be sure!) But, is it right to put the burden for parking changes on those asking to reduce parking? Is it right that current parking capacity should be the starting point for discussion?
No.
As a general matter, we have a massive oversupply of parking. Globally, nationally, and locally. And, the oversupply has terrible impacts. It creates sprawl, encourages driving, often requires driving, and contributes substantially to climate change.
But, given our woefully car-centric transportation infrastructure and land-use, it’s not realistic to eliminate parking wholesale. There will continue to be legitimate arguments for parking, including on-street parking. But, those arguments should be made on a case-by-case, block-by-block basis.
When we look at a wholesale redesign of a stretch of Newton roads, we should start from scratch. We should assume nothing by default. What kind of travel lanes do we need? What kind of bike accommodations? What are the real, legitimate parking needs? Where safety concerns like the desire to slow traffic on Waltham St. and Crafts St. or a need for bike lanes conflict with parking, we should give appropriate weight to all factors. But, the future supply of parking should not be based on current supply, but on actual demand.
Ideally, we’d have a formal process by which the Mayor’s office could identify a stretch of road for study and proposed redesign. By identifying such a project, all relevant current parking regulations would sunset within some reasonable period. The task going forward would be to consider all users, weighted by favored uses, and specify a design, including exactly the parking that would be needed.
There’s no reason to keep parking by default.
In general, I agree with you that we have too much parking. If you travel up Waltham Street between the Crafts/ Waltham/ Harding intersection and W. Newton Square you find that there is ample “parking” on the street that of mostly unused. Meanwhile, parents biking with kids tend to jostle with pedestrians on the small sidewalk.
All that said, in this case, parking is being used as a method of slowing traffic and in that sense, it’s a positive. Because this is a repaving, not a full redesign, there is only so much that can be done.
More from the radical biker gang. Hopefully they will be aggressively ignored by everyone city hall.
Cars are here to stay. They are central to the lives of the vast, vast majority of Newton’s citizens. Perhaps they can be better used. Maybe more electric. Maybe ownership is not needed. Perhaps in the distant future they will be self driving. But to seek in any way shape or form their removal by city government is an affront.
Mr. Roche certainly has the right to stand on a street corner and espouse these views. Their presence on this private forum only serves to further devalue what could otherwise be a constructive place to share views. Wingnut central is alive and well.
Whooh Elmo, was to stir the pot! Two points: Bike riders have the same rights as taxpayers, voters and citizens as the rest of us. Also, every car driver who decides to bike on any given day because they feel it’s safe enough to do so, is one less car between you and that red light your stuck behind and one less car taking up that parking space you’re looking for. So even for purely selfish reasons, you should be championing any effort that gets folks out from behind the wheel.
A great point. Sometimes parking is part of the solution
^^Bike riders also have the same rights as car drivers, to complete that thought.
As for Waltham St, it hadn’t occurred to me that there is existing legal parking there. I travel it all the time and rarely see a car there, and would be nervous about parking on that Street.
My nervousness speaks to the speeds with which people typically drive on that road (had a jeep almost rear-end me the other day after I made a left turn, as it apparently hadn’t occurred to the driver to slow down in traffic) – all this being unscientific observation, I’ll add the question- might traffic-calming with the new design actually encourage use of parking currently not used? That’s some warped-math thinking, but really just my 2 rubles.
At the risk of feeding the troll…..
If you stood on the street corner of Waltham and Crafts along with Sean (and myself) you’d see a lot of cyclists coming through in the morning heading off to work and school. These are parents, students, grandparents, residents, commuters, taxpayers and voters.
The road belongs to cyclists as well as drivers.
This is a critical route for students biking to Day middle school, Fessenden, the Boys & Girls Club, Horace Mann, & Franklin. The proposed treatment prioritizes road safety for our most vulnerable users. As a parent I want my kids to have the same ability I had growing up to bike safely to school and develop healthy, active skills and habits, and mobility independence.
Having PARKING “creates” sprawl, encourages driving, often requires driving, and contributes substantially to climate change? I don’t think so. The causes of all of those problems are having a crappy public transportation system, lack of bike lanes, and having neighborhoods with poor quality or missing sidewalks. Reducing parking without making those improvements first isn’t going to help.
Also, I bike/walk/drive on Waltham Street often and I usually don’t see many cars parked there, if any. It wouldn’t even dawn on me to park there.
MMQC,
It’s not either/or. Our parking glut is a symptom of a culture that heavily subsidizes car use, directly and indirectly. The flip side of the car-centricity is decades of neglect of other modes, particularly public transit.
Too much parking does promote driving AND public transportation is crappy.
The City’s plan for Waltham Street is not about putting in bike lanes, though bike lanes are part of the plan. It’s about making a remarkably dangerous road safer. I am amazed at how many stories I’ve now heard about cars plowing into people’s yards, or driving into Cheesecake Brook, or randomly hitting stuff. A man was horribly injured this winter crossing the street up by the Highlander, again because of bad driver behavior.
A road so close to so many schools and recreational facilities should be one of our safest, not this crazy thing we have. I feel like the north side of Waltham is almost another world, split apart by a highway. It doesn’t have to be that way.
This plan is a modest step towards trying to reign in the chaos that affects travelers and the entire community. I appreciate that some people are concerned about any change in parking, no matter how infrequently it is used. The City is working to mitigate any impacts, please talk to them.
If we don’t to this now, it will be a decade before we have another shot. And that will probably hold true for other traffic calming projects in the city.
MMQC. The biggest obstacle to more bike lanes is it usually means removing onstreet parking. When bike lanes are installed they are will have landscapers, friends and delivery trucks parked in them,rendering the bike lanes less safe. Parked cars in many areas of the city spill out onto sidewalks and go across crosswalks creating unsafe situations for pedestrians. Parked cars in the bus stops force the bus to stop in the road. Slowing boarding times. So yes parking has definate effects on walking, biking and transit use.
I’m all for creating safer roads but staggered parking and/or haphazard jut outs such as proposed will greatly reduce visibility. Not a good mix with tons of kids nearby. We should improve the field of vision especially for our newly licensed high school drivers/athletes going solo to & from hockey practice/games at the Fessy Rink & baseball, soccer, football at Albemarle, swim meets at the pool, etc.
Also, ever try navigating the long lines of large SUVs waiting to pick up their kids from Day Middle or the Fessy summer camps? Reconfiguring Waltham St. and Crafts St. into narrow obstacle courses is not the answer. It will only create gridlock & limit traffic throughput. Hopefully, I’m thinking of the wrong section.
I really wish the “traffic engineers” would spend their time on something constructive that would reap immediate tangible benefits, i.e. getting traffic signals in sync. How about fixing the EXISTING cameras at intersections so that cars don’t have to sit idly by at red lights when there is NO traffic in either direction?
Elmo on the “car is king thing”. There are many people in our fair city that do not drive and rely on walking, biking and public transportation for them and their families to get around. These people may not be able to afford a car, have a medical condition that precludes them from driving, they are too young or too old to drive or they simply don’t want to drive. We owe it to these people who are also residents to make a city that works for them. Not just because it is the right thing to do as compassionate people, but because driving is VERY expensive to society (roads, pollution, gas, crashes) while walking and biking SAVES society money (inexpensive infrastructure, lower health costs) and public transportation is about breakeven. Walking, biking and transit can move more people in less space.
mr office, the staggered parking is in the residential section of Waltham from the City line (past the commercial block) town to where Waltham bears off. There are kids there, but neighborhood kids who have probably been trained to look for cars launching into their front yard 🙂
We have a commitment for more enforcement (probably advisory at first) once the changes take effect in places where there are problems.
And in this case, traffic engineers (not “traffic engineers” — they really are engineers, stamps and everything, and they do traffic) did what you’d hope them to: they thought beforehand about whether painting the road the same way it’s always been done is really the best way.
That’s smart, and makes the best use of our limited tax money.
I am happy to report that Traffic Council has approved, by a 5-0 vote, the changes to parking that this plan requires. At the meeting, several people spoke with questions and initial skepticism and concern, but no one present expressed strong opposition. The several City Councilors present voiced support for the plan.
Chair David Koses noted the Council had received several letters expressing objections to the plan. In full disclosure, Traffic Council votes can be appealed by members of the public, which then brings the matter before the City Council sometime after the summer.
If anyone reading this opposes this project, or knows someone who does, I would urge you to reach out to Nicole Freedman and Jason Sobel in Transportation, or the City Councilor of your choice, before you file an appeal. You, we, deserve a street that is safer than today’s Waltham St. There are limited options for improving the street. This one uses paint to create a traffic design widely used in the US. It isn’t radical or experimental. It can be implemented quickly. If it produces bad results, paint can be ground off and repainted to correct local problems. If you speak up, Nicole and Jason may be able to address your concerns in the design right now without slowing the whole project down.
The road has already been paved, with temporary markings. An appeal without a strongly compelling rationale will have the primary effect of delaying pavement markings well into the fall, making a bad situation worse.
Please, ask questions, state your opinions, and have your voice heard. People are listening. But this is a good plan. Let’s not leave things hanging without a compelling reason. Thanks to everyone who contributed, and I sincerely mean that. This project has been made better by open communication and collaboration.
Has the city looked into temporary/removable bike lanes?
Looks to be a low cost way to please everyone. Put them in place during summer, during pilot studies and just remove if its making things worse.
https://bicycletimesmag.com/if-you-build-it-they-will-ride-pop-up-bike-lanes-prove-that-demand-exists/
https://www.fastcompany.com/40459179/these-temporary-bike-lane-barriers-let-cities-experiment-with-better-biking-infrastructure
Trial roadway configurations have merit for some pilot studies. But changes to roadway configuration always bring some amount of initial confusion and chaos. Which means the trials are inaccurate. I could only imagine a Newton where the street striping changed frequently.
But this isn’t a bike lane project. It’s a traffic calming project that includes bike lanes and other techniques. It’s a widely used design, not experimental. No travel lanes are being removed. Bike lanes aren’t going to “make things worse”.
The only real issue in play on Waltham St is that some residents will lose parking right in front of their homes. Houses here have driveways, there are side streets, and the parking alternates sides so no one side is completely affected. Parking on this street is extremely infrequent, and residents have reported having their cars totaled when parked.
“See if it works” on a street like this is only a recipe for indecisiveness and confusion. You can always change paint. Put down the best design you can.