Willow Ave closed at Community Path all this week

[ron_newman]

from a robo-call and e-mail message:

This is Michael Meehan from the City of Somerville with important information regarding construction in your neighborhood. Weather permitting from Monday, June 27th through Friday, July 1st , a raised cross walk will be installed at the intersection of Willow Avenue and the Community Path. Work will be conducted during the hours of 7:00 am – 4:00 pm however no vehicular traffic will be allowed through this intersection at anytime until the project is completed. Driveway access will be available for residents in the affected areas. Please adhere to all posted detours, no parking signs and flashing message boards. For more information, please call 311. Thank you for your patience and cooperation during this important community improvement program.

Comments

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

As an extremely local resident to these new raised crosswalks, I wish I had known when they were going to be voted on somewhere. I don't notice anyone ruining traffic on Cedar for days on end while they spoil its usefulness forever as a quick way to get from Somerville to Medford (raised sidewalks slow traffic down a lot), and yet I'm going to be within a block of two of these raised crosswalks for the foreseeable future. I would have liked to see how one winter with serious snowfall and the local plows treats these raised crossings before we had to deal with several of them.

And in the meantime it's going to take me fifteen minutes to get between here and Porter while they conduct this little experiment.

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Um, why do you live in Somerville, exactly? Sounds like you'd be happier in the suburbs.

[ron_newman]

That was unnecessarily rude.

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Not if you take it literally. If you assume sarcasm then I agree. Since it is easy to do so, I apologize. I was taken aback by the original poster's ideas and tone and that was my literal reaction. That their values are in sync with a pedestrian friendly environment like Somerville.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

For a myriad of reasons, none of which I feel compelled to explain to you.

[ron_newman]

My main experience with these raised crosswalks is on Rindge Avenue in Cambridge. They work very well there, and make it much more pleasant to walk to the O'Neill branch library.

Cedar Street is also slated to get a raised crosswalk once the Community Path is extended across it.

[courtney (from livejournal.com)]

Also, some of these raised cross walks are due to mitigation surrounding developments in that area. Like Ron mentioned, Cedar Street is slated to get one as part of the covenant with the Maxwell Green, aka Max Pac, developers.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

Cambridge has had raised sidewalks for years. I'm guessing the haven't had any major plowing issues with them.

[leko.livejournal.com]

I don't like the raised crosswalks. I don't hate them, but they're kind of annoying, especially when behind someone that feels like they have to slow to 2mph to go over it. Traffic is bad enough without adding more resistance to the system.

Also, raised crosswalks mean a lot more accelerating and braking, which is bad for the environment.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

This--and bad for my car, which I need to last for several more years.

[smammy]

I'm really excited that they're adding these! It'll be so great for pedestrians and cyclists using the community path. Getting people up 8-12 inches above street level is great for visibility and forcing cars to slow down as they approach a major crossing will decrease the likelihood of people getting hit.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

I don't like them either.

They are annoying to bike across, and can cause big problems for people in cars with back and neck problems.

They also cause a lot of noise, both from the acceleration and braking, and the scraping when people drive too fast. (Look at the road just after any speed bump, and you'll see a lot of deep gouges in the road.)

[gingicat]

That's AWESOME. I am so tired of getting honked at when I slow down to check for pedestrians et al on the path.

[nurrynur.livejournal.com]

+1

and, yes, I drive

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

Due respect to the valid concerns raised by other parties on this post, but: I approve of this. Raised crosswalks are basically speedbumps, and speedbumps are pretty effective at reducing speeding. As both a driver and a pedestrian, I'm all for low-cost, self-enforcing measures that discourage people from whizzing through crosswalks etc. Construction is annoying, but it is temporary.

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Bonus points to the city for scheduling this work not only during the final week of school (effing up Brown School traffic), but also the same week as the fireworks at Trum Field, which will result in funneling a large amount of EB Broadway traffic down Willow to...urrgh.

[ron_newman]

Yeah ... driving anywhere at all in West Somerville is probably a bad idea Thursday evening.