walkboston

Comments on MassDOT Maffa Way + Mystic Ave Bridge Project (File No. 607670)

March 22, 2022

Carrie E. Lavallee, P.E.,
Acting Chief Engineer

Suite 6340, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116

via e-mail to dot.feedback.highway@state.ma.us

Attention: Major Projects, Project File No. 607670

Dear Ms. Lavallee,

I attended the public meeting for the MassDOT Maffa Way / Mystic Ave Bridge Project in Somerville (near Sullivan Square) earlier this month. There were a few questions from the audience and a discussion about vehicle speed which seemed to show a real disconnect between MassDOT’s Safe Speed Management guidance and the way that this project is being designed.

This project is set to be completed in 2027, and will rebuild the bridges / associated roadways. There are a lot of project elements that will help to make the roads and sidewalks safer for biking and walking and improve access to the MBTA station. However, when I brought up the recently released speed guidance that describes target speeds, it was not very well received by the project team. The default speed in both Somerville and Boston is 25mph. This project is using a design speed of 35mph, after doing a speed study and seeing that the 85% speed on the existing roadway was ~32mph. At least three other attendees also commented that the design speed is way too high.

Good points were made that MassDOT should be designing a road for what is needed, and not repeating the design problems that are out there right now which allow people to drive way too fast, especially at off peak times. MassDOT & all MassDOT consultants should be setting the example for the rest of Massachusetts about how projects can incorporate the recently released Safe Speed Management guidance through setting target speeds for a reconstructed roadway rather than relying exclusively on the 85th percentile of the existing road.

Thank you,

Brendan Kearney
Deputy Director, WalkBoston

This year’s Golden Shoe Awards go to…

Join us on March 30th at 5PM as we award this year’s Golden Shoes to people or organizations who have accomplished terrific wins for walking. (See all of our past winners.) We will be honoring Josh Ostroff, Meg Robertson, and “Just Walk Boston.” Congrats to all the winners!

Josh Ostroff is being honored for his unwavering commitment to walking advocacy in Natick and the greater Metrowest region. For more on Josh, head to his website.

Meg Robertson is a multi-decade champion throughout the Commonwealth for people with intellectual disabilities and vision impairment, blindness or deafblindness.

“Just Walk Boston” was founded by Brandy Cruthird as a way of fighting pandemic-induced loneliness and segregated public space through the simple act of walking. Read about the group in the Boston Globe.

Our 2022 Annual Celebration Keynote Speaker this year is Kyle Robidoux, a tireless advocate who has focused his professional and personal career on building community. He has spent 20 years working in the nonprofit sector, including as a housing advocate helping individuals staying in shelters find permanent homes and as a community organizer. Most recently he has directed three programs for a local blindness organization. Read more about Kyle on our website.

Want to celebrate this year’s winners and hear what Kyle has to say about accessibility and walkability? Join us on March 30 at 5:00pm on Zoom!

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, January 2022

Each month, we post about the fatal crashes in Massachusetts from the previous month, and share any trends that we see. For the full list of monthly posts, head here. We will be releasing a year in review for 2021 in the coming weeks to highlight common issues.

Last month, we took a look at the four fatal crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in December. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in January 2022. The information in the chart below is compiled from news reports, and was checked against the MassDOT Crash Portal Dashboard “Fatal Crash Information.” The Google Street View images included below use the address listed in the crash portal.

Of the 27 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in January in the MassDOT Crash portal, nine were identified as people walking.
The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in January was 52.2.

Date	1/1/2022, 7:54 PM
Location	US-3 NORTH, south of EXIT 78
Town	Billerica
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	43
Sex	M

Joseph Francois, age 43, was struck and killed by a 2016 Ford F-150 that was being driven by a 25-year-old Billerica man. WCVB reports that Joseph had been a passenger in a 2016 Chevrolet Equinox that was pulled over in the breakdown lane.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is a limited access highway, with a median and 3 travel lanes in each direction. The speed limit is 55mph.

Date	1/4/2022, 6:00 PM
Location	577 Belleville Ave.
Town	New Bedford
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	54
Sex	M

A 54 year old man was hit and killed in New Bedford. 1420 WBSM (New Bedford’s News-Talk Station) shared that according to a police department spokesperson, the man was apparently crossing the street near Belleville Avenue and Nash Road at around 6 p.m. when he was struck by a car.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, both Belleville Avenue and Nash Road are under local jurisdiction. Belleville Avenue is two-way, with 1 travel lanes in each direction. Nash Road is two-way,with 1 travel lanes in each direction. There is a sidewalk on both sides of each street. There is a crosswalk across Nash Street. The speed limit is not indicated for either street in the Road Inventory.

Date	1/6/2022, 7:13 PM
Location	450 Highland Ave.
Town	Salem
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	41
Sex	F

A 41 year old woman was hit and killed near Walmart in Salem on Rt 107 / Highland Avenue. WCVB shared that “a preliminary investigation found the woman was crossing the street in front of the Walmart when she was hit by a southbound 2021 Honda Accord in the left lane…several busy stores are located in the area, including a Walmart and a Dunkin’. There is no crosswalk at that intersection.”

The MassDOT Crash Impact Portal’s mapping tool displays the crash location as along the side of the roadway near the entrance to the Walmart Plaza.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under MassDOT jurisdiction. There is a median and 2 travel lanes in each direction. There is an additional left turning lane and right turning lane into the Walmart lot at the signalized intersection. The speed limit is 35mph.

Date	1/10/2022, 5:15 PM
Location	179 Vernon St.
Town	Worcester
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	72
Sex	M

A 72 year old man was hit and killed at the corner of Vernon Street and Upsala Street in Worcester, the Telegram & Gazette / Yahoo Finance reported. The victim was unconscious at the scene and taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he later died.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, both Vernon and Upsala are under local jurisdiction. Each street is two-way, with 1 travel lane in each direction. There is a sidewalk on both sides of each street. There is a crosswalk across each leg of the intersection. There is a bus stop sign visible on Street View. The speed limit is not indicated for either street in the Road Inventory.

Date	1/17/2022, 9:01 PM
Location	California Ave. + Worcester Rd.
Town	Framingham
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	48
Sex	M

A 48 year old man was hit and killed near the intersection of California Avenue and Worcester Road (Route 9) in Framingham. CBS Boston shared that “the driver of the 1986 Mazda RX7 was headed west in the left lane when it’s alleged that he hit the pedestrian and then crashed into the center median.”

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Worcester Road/Rt 9 is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is a partial access control roadway, with a median and 3 travel lanes in each direction. There are 2 additional left turning lanes on Rt9 eastbound and a right turning lane on Rt9 westbound to access California Street at the signalized intersection. The speed limit is 45mph.

There is a crosswalk to cross California Street, but there are no crosswalks at this signalized intersection to cross Worcester Rd/Route 9.

Date	1/19/2022, 6:29 PM
Location	1188 Main St.
Town	Wakefield
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	69
Sex	F

Wakefield Patch reported that a woman in her 60s was struck and killed by the driver of a Nissan Frontier truck on Main Street near Cibo Cafe & Bistro and the post office.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under local jurisdiction. It is a two-way street, with 1 travel lane in each direction and parking on each side. The speed limit is 30mph.

Residents have formed a Safe Streets Working Group, and meet the 4th Wednesday of Each Month at 7pm; the group had been speaking with DPW members the evening of the fatal crash.

Date	1/26/2022, 4:01 PM
Location	Lindelof Ave. (SR-139) + SR-24 NORTH onramp
Town	Stoughton
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	21
Sex	F

A person was hit and killed on Lindelof Avenue (State Route 139) in Stoughton near the Rt 24 interchange.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this section of Lindelof Avenue near the interchange is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It has a median and 2 travel lanes in each direction along with on/off ramps. There are no sidewalks. There is no shoulder after the on ramp meets the roadway. The speed limit is 40mph.

Date	1/27/2022, 2:26 PM
Location	50 Pine Cone Dr.
Town	Yarmouth
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	76
Sex	F

CapeCod.com reports that a 76 year old woman was struck and killed by the driver of an SUV near Pine Cone Drive and Rainbow Road in Yarmouth.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under local jurisdiction. It is a two-way street with a four way stop signed intersection. There are no sidewalks. The speed limit is 30mph.

Date	1/29/2022, 12:33 AM
Location	34 Fairview Rd.
Town	Canton
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	46
Sex	M

MassLive reports that 46 year old John O’Keefe was hit and killed when his girlfriend Karen Read backed her SUV into him:

Prosecutors said Wednesday that they believe Karen Read backed her car into her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, hours before he was found in the early snow drifts of Saturday’s nor’easter, suffering injuries that would later kill him.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under local jurisdiction. It is a two-way road with one lane in each direction. There is a sidewalk on one side. The speed limit is 30mph.

Boston Globe: “The Argument: Should Massachusetts toughen penalties for jaywalking?”

NO | Brendan Kearney, Deputy Director, WalkBoston; Framingham resident
The term “jaywalking” was created by the auto industry in the 1920s to divert blame from drivers who were hitting and killing people. A century later it has proven to be a highly successful marketing effort. The proposed bill to crack down on jaywalking would just place an unnecessary burden on pedestrians without making anyone safer.
Making it illegal to cross anywhere outside a crosswalk — which the bill effectively does — is unrealistic. Existing law allows you to cross outside a marked crosswalk provided you are more than 300 feet from a crosswalk or signalized intersection and yield to motorists. The law reflects how we all use our streets and how our communities are designed.
I live on Central Street in Framingham. There is a sidewalk on one side of the street, opposite my house. I cross to that sidewalk when there are no drivers coming, or when someone yields. No crosswalk exists. It is unsafe to walk on the narrow 30-mile-per-hour street with traffic at my back to the crosswalk a quarter-of-a-mile away — and illegal. When there is a sidewalk, I’m supposed to walk on it; if there isn’t one, the law says to walk against traffic. The proposed bill would make it illegal for me to cross or walk along my street.
There are also significant equity concerns around jaywalking enforcement. Jaywalking laws contribute to racial profiling. A report by ProPublica and Florida-Times Union found Black people in Jacksonville, Fla. were three times as likely to be stopped and cited as white people. Similar patterns have been seen elsewhere; Streetsblog NYC reported that nearly 90 percent of people issued jaywalk citations in New York in 2019 were Black and Brown. In response, efforts to decriminalize jaywalking have been mounted in a number of places, including Virginia and California.
Moreover, increasing fines is not a proven strategy to change behavior. The National Institute of Justice has found increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime. If the goal is to keep people walking safer, let’s build streets that provide them with the same level of ease and comfort as those people who are behind the wheel. As it stands, this punitive bill does nothing to improve pedestrian safety.

Posted February 20, 2022

We’re hiring a WalkBoston Intern

April 2022 update: this role has already been filled; thank you for your interest!

WalkBoston Internship Job Description

WalkBoston makes walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and more vibrant communities. WalkBoston is committed to centering racial equity and justice in our work as well as evaluating the ways in which our work overlaps with efforts related to affordable housing, food access, harm reduction, transit access, and more.

WalkBoston is looking to fill an internship opening with our organization. Interns with WalkBoston gain experience in transportation-related design and planning, community engagement, advocacy, and community revitalization efforts. Interns contribute directly to the project and advocacy work of WalkBoston. Interns provide valuable substantive contributions to our work, and have the opportunity to help select the projects that best fit their skills and interests. Examples of WalkBoston’s current projects and programs include: Department of Public Health’s Mass in Motion program, Connecting Children and Families to Parks in East Boston, Walkability @ Boston Public Housing Developments, Gateway Cities: Transit Oriented Development, Age-Friendly Walking, alongside other advocacy and coalition efforts.

Responsibilities:

Assisting with walkability assessments and advocacy training
Researching and preparing white papers on transportation-related topics that affect the communities WalkBoston serves or are related to current programming efforts.
Collecting and analyzing crash data as it pertains to various projects
Representing WalkBoston at community events and public meetings
Other duties as assigned

Desired Qualifications:

Graduate student pursuing a degree in Urban Planning, Urban Design, Transportation Planning, Public Policy, or other related field
Experience leading community conversations with a variety of stakeholders
Ability to work independently, collaboratively and productively in a team environment
Commitment to and understanding of racial equity and strong analysis of the root causes of inequities, and how racism intersects with walkable communities.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (e.g., Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
Proficiency in virtual work software (e.g., Zoom, Google Suite, Slack).
Spanish fluency a plus

Commitment, Compensation, Location:

10-15 hours per week, preference for students who can commit to the entire school year
Interns would be working remotely, we do not currently have an office space, however some in person events (walk audits, other programming) may be required.
Pay range is $18-20/hour, depending on experience, with a preference for students who have federal work study.

To Apply:

Interested applicants are encouraged to apply by sending a resume and cover letter to jobs@dev.walkboston.org.