The predictions were dire. Anxious residents packed community meetings; panicked about endless gridlock, cars choking their quiet residential neighborhoods, a parking free-for-all on neighborhood side streets and that perception that no was listening to them.
The fear is understandable. Whenever something big moves into an underutilized site of old parking lots and vacant buildings, it’s hard to imagine how the surrounding vicinity will handle the new-found influx of new workers, residents and customers.
So it’s understandable that when Everett was being considered as a site for a massive casino/resort, that so many predicted it would be traffic Armageddon.
Finally, earlier this summer — following years of trepidation — Encore Boston Harbor Casino: with some 5,000 employees, 671 hotel rooms, 15 restaurants and bars and a massive gambling floor with 3,100 slot machines and 231 table games and no direct MBTA stop– opened.
So just how miserable has traffic there been during the height of Boston’s tourist season?
“The much anticipated traffic and congestion that Encore was predicted to cause has been pleasantly underwhelming,” Medford Mayor Stephanie Burke told Patch.
…Somerville Economic Development Director Tom Galligani said that, anecdotally, businesses at Assembly Row have not noticed a change in sales or traffic, but added that it may be too early to tell if that’s the case. He added his office has received little feedback — either positive or negative — from local shops about the casino.
We’ll never see anything the size and scope of Econore here in Newton. We just don’t have that much developable land.
But we have had our share of predictions of our own traffic Armegeddons in recent years.
Remember, when it was announced that Wegman’s was opening in Chestnut Hill and many worried that it would turn Route 9 into a parking lot?
How about those predictions about how no one would be able to find a parking space in Newtonville while the Austin Street project was being built?
And remember when the state announced the lane change on Route 9 onto I-95 and some folks in Waban predicted backups that would make entering Route 9 from Chestnut Street impossible?
Those predicted “nightmares” — as we all now know — just didn’t happen.
It takes thoughtful planning. It takes traffic mediation.
But sometimes Armageddon never arrives.
@Greg: As a frequent user of the on-ramp from Quinobequin Road to Route 9 westbound, I can attest to the fact that drivers following this path are navigating a dangerous criss-crossing of traffic, as predicted by those of us who objected to the design of that Route 9 entryway. I have found a solution to the dilemma of when to merge into the lane of right turning high speed traffic by waiting, sometimes for an inordinately long time, for the Elliot/Woodward light at Rt 9 to stop the flow and allow me to enter. I worry, though, that the drivers behind me, who are angry because I choose to wait for a safe moment, may someday assault me with more than their car horns! It is simply not a pleasant or safe experience. Is anyone following accident statistics there? Maybe Armageddon arrived and we haven’t been alerted to it!
Also…my family who used to visit Newtonville regularly, now go infrequently because there is NO PARKING available about half the time we try!
Surprisingly, Route 9 at Chestnut Hill works for us…as a reasonable pass-through east on route 9. That’s one out of three.
@Sallee: I’m sorry but the inconvenience you are experiencing entering Route 9 is pretty darn mild compared to what YOU were predicting at the time on this thread…
I live in that neighborhood too. Other than the fact that my GPS doesn’t know about the lane change, I’ve never experienced any sort of back up or unsafe feeling heading west on Route 9 to I-95 South
I’ve never had a problem parking in Newtonville either. And traveling east on Route 9 past Chestnut Hill Square is actually an improvement.
I often drive to Newtonville to pick up something quick and I’ve never had a problem finding parking on week nights around 6-7. I usually use the parking provided by 28 Austin at the end of the Star Market lot. When do you have problems finding parking?
I cannot walk distances (have a handicap placard) and am rarely able to find parking on-street or behind Brewer’s Coalition…so we continue on to other villages or Waltham to find places to enjoy dinner there. Whenever we head to Newtonville to eat, we have a back-up plan to go elsewhere if we don’t find parking!
And that sounds like more of a problem providing enough handicap spaces in Newton, rather than an overall parking shortage. Have you contacted the city about that? Here’s a contact for the ADA Coordinator:
I park in the spaces that are currently allocated in the star lot. When they are full, I park “illegally” in the star lot. So, when those spaces are taken back, we’ll see what happens….
Rick: When “those spaces are taken back” the parking at the new 28 Austin Street will be available to all.
Great piece Greg. One thing I have noticed is an occasional State Police trooper at the entrance to Wegman’s, directing traffic. Not even sure that’s needed at this point.
Also, I think Newtonville is starting to look pretty good. Can’t speak for the parking because I am usually only there evenings, weekends.
Not too interested in Encore.
Sallee:
I can solve your issue I think. There are 3 handicap spaces behind Rox diner. They are rarely if ever used (I’ve never seen more than one car in them). They are the parallel spaces along the alley.
If you have a handicap placard I think you should be all set throughout Newtonville actually. Some of the spaces are newer and you probably just didn’t know about them. I can point out the others if it would be helpful.
Hope that helped!
And I think Newtonville is coming along great Andy! The commercials spaces in Austin Street have big street windows which I really like. I can’t wait for the new streetscapes to be in along Austin Street, and for the Walnut redo.
I know that we all like to fight about these things on this blog, but a good result for a village center should be celebrated. It may not be perfect, but I’ll take a more walkable and more beautiful village center over the status quo from the previous 25 years. Unfortunately, it will still take another 12 months or so to see the full set of changes!
Selective observations. Austin Street looks great, I’ve never had trouble finding parking in the area, and add-a-lane has solved all traffic problems on 128. Oh wait, strike the last one.
Regarding Chestnut Hill, Greg, you know I won’t let it go… you haven’t noticed that the backup at Chestnut Hill disappeared, but the one in Newton Highlands double or tripled in length? It’s not unusual now to see a backup over a mile from 2-5pm on weekdays. Coincidence?
Adam beat me to it. The change in the back-up on the westbound side was sudden and enduring – and it lasts until at least 6:30-7 pm on weekdays. I have no idea what caused it (were there major changes in the timing of the lights at Woodward/Elliot St.?), but it’s a serious problem. There are times traffic isn’t too bad on the rest of Rte 9 to the east of there yet it’s still a parking lot once you get to the Highlands.
@greg
https://newton.wickedlocal.com/news/20190728/freshness-is-first-at-newtons-pineapple-thai-cuisine
“In Brookline, parking was a big problem”
I guess time will tell if the number of spaces at Austin Street will be sufficient for the ground floor retail and the retail along walnut street.
You’ll never find me saying parking, traffic and congestion in Newton isn’t a really big problem.
We absolutely have to reduce single occupancy use cars (the largest contributor to green house gas in the state) to reduce gridlock and curtail climate change.
We absolutely need to get more people onto mass transit, public/private shuttles, using bikes and walking.
But my point is that the very specific, doomsday predictions by opponents to the Austin Street, Chestnut Hill Square and Route 9/I-95 interchange — and apparently at Encore too — that I outlined above, did not come to pass. They just didn’t.
Do any/all these projects pose long term transpiration challenges and/or create new challenges? Yes. And that’s because these were all overwhelmingly car centric projects that added little or nothing to help people get around without cars,
So let’s talk about that problem and those solutions. But back off the hysterics.
Sometimes the backup actually stretches all the way up the hill to Langley (closer to 1.5 miles long) The backup at Hammond Street going east has gotten pretty bad in the mornings also, though not quite as bad.
Meredith, I blame the Chestnut Hill “MassWorks” infrastructure grant for this daily mess. We had two intersections, each with a queue, and the state “fixed” the first one by adding all sorts of capacity, eliminating conflicting turns, and inducing more traffic by building another mall, knowing they couldn’t make any substantial improvements for the next intersection down the street. This seems like the logical result. Neither Greg nor I have to experience this in our commutes so we are lucky, but the current state of route 9 is bad for local roads and it’s bad for the region economically.
And sometimes Armageddon is incremental, Greg.
Austin street isn’t finished, isn’t rented, and there’s no retail. Perhaps waiting until the full impact of the project becomes apparent would be better.
Greg, my point is that in the case of Chestnut Hill Square, the doomsday prediction did come true. The developers behind Chestnut Hill Square didn’t just build a development. They actively worked with the state to spend public money to make traffic worse while helping to justify their development. Call me Nostradamus. Euphemistically saying they created challenges and giving them a free pass to repeat these mistakes isn’t a good message IMHO.
Well. Greg, Armageddon happened on Route 9 at William’s Street this afternoon. Wellesley Police report a 4-car crash with injuries (see this evening’s Patch). This was just an accident waiting to happen.