The reconstruction of two Dedham St. intersections is really taking form. The intersection of Brookline St. with Dedham St. and the intersection of Carlson St. with Dedham St. have been better lined up to make turning behavior more logical and predictable.
Carlson’s at the top of the picture. Dedham goes left-to-right. Brookline is on the bottom.
The darker asphalt on Carlson shows the new design for Carlson. The grey section to the right will become trees or lawn or bushes or something non-road.
That’s a significant realignment.
We’ll have to see when the curb gets built, but that looks like a pretty wide turn from Dedham right onto Carlson.
Looking closer at the Brookline St. side of the intersection …
Right-turning traffic from Brookline St. to Dedham St. gets a dedicated slip lane. Not the best for pedestrians. Slip lanes exist for one reason: to create vehicular throughput. But, pedestrians get a refuge and better light management. Also, the right turn from Dedham St. to Brookline St. is a monster right turn, which makes the crossing longer for pedestrians and allows vehicles to take the turn at a faster speed.
Things are more profound at Nahanton St. and Dedham St., which is now one of the nuttier intersections in the city. Pre-construction, left-turning traffic from Nahanton onto Dedham crosses left-turning traffic from Dedham and then has to negotiate an unsignalized turn, just left of the signal. The new configuration moves the light and consolidates all turns from Dedham and the left turn from Nahanton at the signal. There will be no more crossing traffic to turn from Nahanton. A slip lane will accommodate right-turning traffic from Nahanton to Dedham.
In this picture, Dedham St. runs horizontally across the top. At this point in construction, the new island has been defined. You can see it’s much smaller than the original island. The signalized intersection will be above the two lanes going top-to-bottom to the left of the picture. The slip lane is the grey lane to the immediate right of the new island. The two lanes of traffic to the right of the new slip lane are slated to become parkland.
You can see how the work is roughly slated to progress here.
And here is a mockup of the entire project.
In another post, we can discuss the blending zone between Brookline St./Carlson St. and Nahanton St.
Do you know if there’s a plan to construct a sidewalk on Nahanton Street? Last fall they removed a lot of brush from the south side. I asked one of the workers and he thought it was in preparation for a sidewalk.
As a cyclist who was hit by a car at the Nahanton-Dedham St intersection a couple of years ago, that particular reconstruction looks like a huge improvement (defined as, “maybe that won’t be where I die after all.”). I can’t speak to the Brookline St intersection from as much experience.
As for sidewalk, I will miss the intimate experience I had with the hard-dirt-and-tree-roots-where-a-sidewalk-should-be I had from a totally separate incident (maybe I should just stay away from that part of town on my bike). I am curious if we are finally going to get a sidewalk there.
All those photos are a great help in envisioning what’s going on there Sean.
I must say though the line “Things are more profound at Nahanton St. and Dedham St” could only come from a true traffic geek 😉
Thank you for the pictures. I drive through this area every morning. This helps me understand just what the intention is for the area. I think it’s going to be a great improvement.
Jerry,
No denial here.
Newtoner,
No.
Doug,
Because Nahanton is a route out to Needham/Dover recreational cycling routes, the intersection has a very high volume of bicycle traffic.
No work being done on this area. Finish it! I was just the by product of a major accident tonight. One lady had to go to the hospital. A student driver coming from Brookline street trying to go to the college, was in the new right turn lane, but decided to go straight across!!! She was in the wrong lane. We had the green light to turn left onto Brookline or go straight through? She creamed the car going straight on Dedham. What’s the deal? The area is a mess and no work being done. Finish it! Please. I drive through there every day. 4 cars and one injury due to a student driver.