Grounding McGrath Highway meeting Thurs 5.31

[somervillesnow.livejournal.com]

Apologies not Davis Square, but important to Somerville's future in general.  It looks like we need a large turnout Thursday 5.31 to tell the state/MASS DOT to convert the elevated portions of McGrath Highway to an at grade boulevard.  Currently they want to spend $10 million in repairs to extend it's life.  This is absurd, as no one wants this ugly piece of concrete in our city.  The money should be spent to deelevate it, rather than wasted.  If it is spent to extend it's life, you can bet it will not be deelevated for a *long* time.  

See STEP website for meeting details and more insight on the issue: http://www.somervillestep.org/2012/05/mccarthy_overpa.html

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

If they make it a grade-level roadway, that's going to be a lot of pedestrians walking across a heavily used roadway.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

A grade-level road doesn't prevent pedestrian over- or under-passes.

[ron_newman]

But it doesn't need them, either. People walk across Highland Ave, Broadway, Somerville Ave, and Mass. Ave. all the time without overpasses or underpasses.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but McGrath is significantly wider, busier, has more inlets/outlets...take your pick, really, than any of the roads you mentioned. Having a dedicated pedestrian space would be about the only way to make that area safely navigable without putting in a traffic-paralyzing all-walk crossing.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

The cost of putting in a handful of pedestrian overpasses is trivial compared to the cost of a vehicle overpass. Pedestrian underpasses would be more expensive than overpasses, but still low cost compared to the flyway.

---

Highland and Somerville Ave are poor comparisons. They are not major arteries into Boston, and with a few exceptions (e.g. Somerville in Union Square) for the supermajority of their lengths' they are one-lane-each-direction. Highland is primarily residential with some mixed use and Somerville has sections of residential with primarily mixed use.
Broadway is also not a major artery, mostly mixed use, and while it is mostly 2-lanes-each-direction from Winter Hill to points east, those are the worst parts to cross.
Mass Ave is an artery, but let's be honest: any argument about Boston traffic that relies on Mass Ave's behavior is inherently flawed.
For the relevant portions, all of those roads have (posted or legally de-facto) speed limits of 30 MPH or lower.

McGrath (and Rt 28 in general) is a limited access road, a major artery into Boston, has very few businesses with direct access to the road (rather than via a side-lane or side street), and speed limits over 35 MPH. If you're looking for comparisons, look more to the Jamaicaway or Memorial Drive. (Where, as far as I know, there are few if any pedestrian overpasses or underpasses, but having them would be reasonable and safer.)

[ron_newman]

One of the purposes of Grounding McGrath, as I see it, is to turn it back into a local commercial street like Broadway is now. It should no longer be a high-speed limited-access highway. Much of it was built over what used to be Medford Street, and perhaps bringing back that name will help emphasize its purpose.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

The grounded parts of 28/McGrath are already a limited access highway, from the 28/38/93 interchange to the intersection with Highland, and from the twin cities plaza into Boston. (28 is limited access all the way from the Fellsway; 38 is posted as a 35MPH, if I recall correctly, from Medford Center, which makes it defined as a limited access road as well. Although the nature of the road does significantly change at that interchange.)

Making the section between Highland ave and twin cities plaza a local, mixed-use road is not a realistic endeavor without adding additional capacity to I93, ma99, and/or US1, and (probably) the Green Line extension. Turning an artery into something else is far from as simple as taking out the overpass. A ground-level, limited access road like the rest of 28 is feasible, but not a local mixed-use.

[ron_newman]

I think we're in partial agreement, though you are using 'limited access' in a way that I don't think is generally accepted. My model for this part of 28 is to look at what already exists further north, on Fellsway in Medford and Malden north of Route 16. It has four lanes (plus some intermittent left-turn lanes), but it is tree-lined and attractive, and pedestrians can cross it anywhere with no need for bridges or tunnels.

[ceo]

Or well-designed signalized pedestrian crossings.

[ron_newman]

I see no problem with that. In fact, it's a good thing. Ride further up Route 28 into Medford and Malden, where it's called the Fellsway, and you can walk across it at any intersection.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

And for those without bikes? Those who live in that area? People will cross where they feel the need to cross, and for an intersection as heavily used as that one is, many, many people will need to cross right there. The point is to make it safe for them to do so.

[ron_newman]

I agree with that, but the parkway design further up Route 28 (north of Route 16) shows that it can be done without overpasses or underpasses.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Maybe we'll get another video with a chicken crossing the road (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgFoo7i3CA) showing how to use the walk signal for that intersection, too.

[somervillesnow.livejournal.com]

traffic calming and more pedestrian measures would be part of the design.

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's going to do a lot of good for air pollution. (Not.)

[emannths.livejournal.com]

Even with the flyover, there's not actually a way for pedestrians to cross the highway at the end of Somerville Ave. There's a crosswalk that gets you under the highway, but there's no crosswalk that connects to the east side of the highway. The only pedestrian crossing that will be affected is the one at Washington St.

[ron_newman]

Right now there's a painted crosswalk (in two parts) all the way from 'Glass Stop' to the Poplar Street intersection and bus stop on the other side.

[emannths.livejournal.com]

I guess it must have been repainted recently? It's not on Google's satellite view: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1+Somerville+Ave,+Somerville,+MA&hl=en&ll=42.377182,-71.088507&spn=0.002098,0.002598&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=47.349227,93.076172&oq=1+&hnear=1+Somerville+Ave,+Somerville,+Middlesex,+Massachusetts&t=k°=270&z=19

[ron_newman]

Yep - I think added within the past 6 months, along with warning signs for car traffic. I can't remember if there are any blinking lights on the signs.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the proposals? They (th good ones) make my urban-heart go pitter-pat with hope.

http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/groundingmcgrath/Documents.aspx

[rmd.livejournal.com]

grar. the machine/browser i'm using here is barfing on the actual docs. harrumf. have to look at this from a different machine.