walkboston

Successful Outdoor Dining — à la Shared Streets Funding by Miranda Briseno

Miranda Briseño joined WalkBoston as a Program Manager in early July. Previously she was with the Office of Planning, Development, and Sustainability for the City of Medford where she focused on the COVID-19 response—helping to create the City’s first business grant program, supporting residential Shared Streets programs, and managing the 2021 Outdoor Dining program.

Like communities nationwide, Medford was no stranger to having to reframe its approach to streets in 2020. Residents wanted—and still want—to feel safe and distanced from cars and others during COVID-19, and restaurants desperately needed an alternative to indoor dining. When MassDOT’s Shared Streets and Spaces grant program was announced, Medford jumped at the opportunity to receive funding to support these efforts. The 2020 Outdoor Dining program in Medford provided an opportunity for restaurants to get creative and paved the way for the program’s second iteration. At the first pass, despite uncertainties around health and safety, a small group of 15 Medford restaurants volunteered to participate in the pilot program. The limited number of participants aside, residents and business owners alike were huge fans of the program. One of the success stories for the 2020 program was that of Bistro 5 in West Medford. In the summer of 2020, due to the pandemic, the owner, Vittorio Ettore, reached out to the Board of Health to let them know of his decision to permanently close his restaurant. One of our wonderful Health Department staff convinced him to give Outdoor Dining a try before closing down for good. Fast forward to 2021: Bistro 5 still stands strong in West Medford! Vittorio cites the support from the City for Outdoor Dining in 2020, which included safety equipment and guidance on safe outdoor setups, as key to keeping his doors open. He was the first to call asking when the 2021 season would begin. For the 2021 season, the City was able to provide establishments with more support in the form of safety equipment and minor beautification efforts—like lights and planters—through the MassDOT Shared Streets and Spaces grant. Due to the success of the pilot, the 2021 program attracted twice the number of participants. Part of this newfound interest in the 2021 program was due to the City’s committed outreach. Given that restaurant regulations were constantly changing and aiming for a smooth review process, I led the City’s effort to revamp the program’s online application, hosted two webinars/office hours for restaurant owners to ask questions, and provided technical assistance to owners interested in applying for the program. Restaurants like the aforementioned Bistro 5, Dempsey’s, Salvatore’s, and FiorItaly were eager to engage with the program again. Meanwhile, Tenoch Mexican, Neighborhood Kitchen, and Tasty Cafe on the Hill joined for the first time. With logistical support from myself and safety approval from our Public Works department and Fire Prevention office, Tenoch built a beautiful parklet level with the sidewalk, making it accessible to all, as well as being decorated with lights and planters. The Porch opened Medford’s first “beer garden” experience filled with fun lawn games. The pandemic was devastating for everyone. Fortunately, MassDOT created a lifeline to support businesses in the Commonwealth. Thanks to its grant program, cities like Medford were able to extend aid to local restaurants and test the impact of people-centered shared streets. The real outcome? We proved that shared streets benefit people and local businesses, and that such a program can and should last well beyond the pandemic.

This article was featured in WalkBoston’s Fall 2021 newsletter.
————————————————————————————————
Like our work? Support WalkBoston – Donate Now!

Executive Director’s Letter by Stacey Beuttell

Welcome to the Fall 2021 edition of our newsletter. Times are better than they were this time last year. WalkBoston remains strong and is now taking stock of what worked best to make walking safer, more accessible, and instrumental in helping people cope with the pandemic. Walking was one of the few retreats that was readily available and safe. This edition focuses on one such highlight: Shared Streets programs. These programs, which have been implemented across the country and the world, provide a mechanism to create more space for people to walk, bike, run, play, sit, and dine during the public health emergency. With many people driving less while working from home, fewer cars on the road meant lots of unused parking spaces—spaces that could be transformed into peoplecentered places. Here in Massachusetts, MassDOT led the way in reimagining street space with the launch of its Shared Streets and Spaces Program, which provides funds to municipalities that allow them to quickly respond to the many challenges highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these challenges include finding more sidewalk space, expanding outdoor dining into unused parking lanes, and reimagining streets as low-speed, safe spaces for people walking and biking. The popularity of this program demonstrated the desire, need, and capabilities of municipalities to implement quickbuild projects to make streets safer and more enjoyable for all. WalkBoston played a leading role in promoting the MassDOT program by advising municipalities on potential Shared Streets projects, and by raising awareness of different advocacy issues. We are thrilled that MassDOT has committed to funding the Shared Streets and Spaces Program for another year. What began as a COVID-19 response strategy is now what many of us have been advocating for for years—street space transformed for people walking. Thanks for supporting us. We can’t do it without you.

Modified “At-Grade” Option for Allston I-90/Project Is A Go

WalkBoston is pleased at the news that MassDOT is advancing the modified “at-grade” option for the I-90 Interchange Project. There is still a lot of work to be done and details to work out, but we are happy with this direction. The modified “at-grade” option shown at the recent I-90 Task Force meeting includes a wider, 20-foot-wide boardwalk along the Charles River in the “throat” section and walking/biking connection to Agganis Way at Boston University.

WalkBoston has been one of many groups working to make this happen. So many have dedicated countless hours, megawatts of brain power, and tireless energy to making this project more than a highway project. We only wish that our friend, WalkBoston founder, and the creative mind behind reframing the conversation about the walking and biking paths, Bob Sloane, was here to hear this news. Bob passed away this past May, and many people have mentioned that a section of the paths should be dedicated to his memory. We think that sounds like a wonderful tribute.

To read more about the project, see some of the coverage below.

Boston Globe: “Mass. Pike in Allston will be grounded, state says, vowing to move forward with mega transportation project”

Commonwealth Magazine: “State embraces all-at-grade Allston Project”

Streetsblog MASS: “MassDOT Picks ‘At-Grade’ Option for Allston/I-90 Project” (if you need a refresher, check out the updated overview of the entire project.)

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, August 2021

Each month in 2021, we plan to 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.

Last month, we took a look at the 6 fatal crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in July. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in August 2021. The information in the chart below is compiled from news reports, and was checked against the MassDOT Crash Portal Dashboard “Fatal Information by Year.” The Google Street View images included below use the address listed in the crash portal.

Of the 49 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in August in the MassDOT Crash portal, 5 were identified as people walking.
The crash portal does not include names. The name of 1 of the people walking who died have not been made public yet.
The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in August was 48.4.
2 of the crash victims were people who had stopped their vehicle to investigate a problem, and then were hit by other drivers.
At least 1 of the crashes were hit & runs (as referenced in news articles).
4 of the crashes involved SUVs or large pickup trucks.
The name of the person driving was identified in 1 of the crashes in news articles that we found.

Date	8/3/2021, 4:35 PM
Location	77 Main St.
Town	Taunton
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	58
Sex	F

Rolando Escobar struck and killed 58-year-old Lisa Rocha as she was getting into her car on Main Street in Taunton. The Taunton Daily Gazette reports that he left the scene, then struck a vehicle on Summer Street causing his SUV to flip over in front of the police station.

The Gazette spoke to Lisa’s friends, family, and co-workers:

Lisa put [her passion for gardening] to work as activities director at Marian Manor nursing home at 33 Summer St. in Taunton. At Marian Manor, she spread her love for flowers by planting a garden, Shantel said. Three times a day Lisa would pick a resident to help her with the garden, said Connie Coelho, Lisa’s co-worker.

Escobar has been charged with operating under the influence of drugs/felony homicide, OUI-drugs second offense, manslaughter, OUI resulting in death, leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death, and leaving the scene of property damage.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. This stretch of road is two-way, with a travel lane in each direction and parking on each side. The road is 30 feet wide. There is a posted 20mph speed limit.

Date	8/6/2021, 7:03 PM
Location	I-90 WEST, MM 130.2
Town	Boston
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	30
Sex	M

The Boston Globe reported that a 30 year-old man driving a tractor trailer pulled over to the side to inspect his truck and was struck and killed by another driver who crashed and pinned him into his truck on the MassPike in Allston-Brighton. CBS Boston shared that the driver who struck and killed the man was a 17-year old driving a Chevy Cruze.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this is an interstate highway under MassDOT jurisdiction. The westbound stretch of I-90 is one-way, with a 2-foot left shoulder, 4 12-foot travel lanes, and an 8-foot right shoulder at this mile marker. The speed limit is 55mph.

Date	8/6/2021, 9:48 PM
Location	9 Graf Rd.
Town	Newburyport
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	69
Sex	M

69 year-old Daniel Rindge was struck and killed by the 65-year old driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee on Graf Road in Newburyport. The driver was not identified.

The Newburyport News reports:

Rindge was a well-known illustrator and caricature artist who worked for the former Port Planet newspaper in Newburyport. He also was an artist, illustrator and graphic designer at Gulls Brewery, according to his LinkedIn profile.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. This stretch of road is one lane in each direction. The road is 24 feet wide. The speed limit is 35mph.

Newburyport Police Lt. Matthew Simons said it is unknown if Rindge was crossing the street but said he was in the travel lane when the accident occurred. (There are no sidewalks on either side of the street, and there do not appear to be any crosswalks on Google Streetview.)

Date	8/16/2021, 8:30 AM
Location	278 Main St.
Town	Bourne
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	41
Sex	F

The Bourne Enterprise reports that 41-year old Caitlyn Sprague was struck and killed on Main Street in Bourne by the driver of a Chevy Silverado pickup.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. This stretch of road is one lane in each direction with shoulders on each side. The speed limit is 40mph. Google Streetview shows a crosswalk and bump outs at this address.

Date	8/29/2021, 6:45 PM
Location	SR-2 WEST, MM 100.8
Town	Leominster
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	44
Sex	M

NBC Boston reports that a 51 year-old driver of a Chevy Sonic drifted into the breakdown lane on Route 2 in Leominster and struck and killed 44-year old Daniel Levangie. Levangie was changing a tire in the breakdown lane when he was struck.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Route 2 / Concord Turnpike is under MassDOT jurisdiction. The westbound stretch of road is two 12-foot lanes with a 10-foot shoulder. The speed limit is 55 mph.

Updates
If you have an update about a community member who was killed in one of these crashes, please contact Brendan so we can update our . WalkBoston has maintained a list each year since 2016, pulling the information from news reports, social media, and from people like you that share the information with us.
Yearly trackers: |||||

Reminder about the data from the MassDOT portal
MassDOT makes no representation as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, availability or completeness of the crash records or the data collected from them and is not responsible for any errors or omissions in such records or data. Under no circumstance will MassDOT have any liability for any loss or damage incurred by any party as a result of the use of the crash records or the data collected from them. Furthermore, the data contained in the web-based crash report tool are not an official record of what transpired in a particular crash or for a particular crash type. If a user is interested in an official copy of a crash report, contact the Registry (http://www.mass.gov/rmv/). The City of Boston Police Department may be contacted directly for official copies of crash reports and for crash data pertaining to the City of Boston. In addition, any crash records or data provided for the years after 2018 are subject to change at any time and are not to be considered up-to-date or complete. As such, open years’ of crash data are for informational purposes only and should not be used for analysis. The data posted on this website, including crash records and other reports, are collected for the purpose of identifying, evaluating or planning the safety enhancement of potential crash sites, hazardous roadway conditions or railway-highway crossings. Under federal law, this information is not subject to discovery and cannot be admitted into evidence in any federal or state court proceeding or considered for other purposes in any action for damages that involves the sites mentioned in these records (see 23 USC, Section 409).

Comment Letter on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding focusing on the areas of Economic Development: Transportation/Arts & Tourism/Climate/ Infrastructure

September 9, 2021

Joint Committee on Ways and Means and the House Committee on Federal Stimulus and Census Oversight

To: Senator Michael J. Rodrigues, Chair Shared with Erin Walsh at Erin.Walsh@mahouse.gov

RE: WalkBoston Comments on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding focusing on the areas of Economic Development: Transportation/Arts & Tourism/Climate/ Infrastructure

Dear Senator Rodrigues and Committee Members:

WalkBoston is Massachusetts’ primary pedestrian advocacy organization, working across the Commonwealth to make it safer and easier for people to walk for all activities of daily living such as access to transit, school and jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic gave stark evidence that walkable neighborhoods and communities are critical to physical and mental health, to reducing isolation and to the resilience of all Massachusetts residents and their neighborhoods.

As recent research has shown, “Creating walkable environments with greenspace can help combat chronic and infectious disease pandemics” (L. Frank; Treating two pandemics for the price of one: Chronic and infectious disease impacts of the built and natural environment).

We urge the Senate to ensure that ARPA funds are used to help improve walkability and greenspace in communities and neighborhoods that were disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

The key components of the transportation system that support walking include:

Speed management. We need measures to control, and often reduce, speeds on Commonwealth roadways so that they are safe for all roadway users. During the initial months of the pandemic, there was dangerous speeding on roadways across Massachusetts. MassDOT’s ongoing initiative to create tools and measures to set and manage safe speeds on all MassDOT roadways (other than limited access highways) needs the support and encouragement of the legislature to ensure its success, and then to provide the funds to bring those same measures to municipal roads as well.
Safe connections to transit. As we learned during the pandemic, essential workers are more dependent on transit than many others. We need fully accessible transit and bus stops throughout Massachusetts, including safe street crossings and sidewalk connections to adjacent neighborhoods. These are crucial to a transit system that works for everyone.
More local funding to repurpose public space. The overwhelmingly popular MassDOT Shared Streets and Spaces program that was introduced in response to the pandemic has demonstrated that municipalities are interested and ready to rethink how they use their streets to enable more and safer outdoor recreation, commerce, community activities, and mobility.
Chapter 90 and Complete Streets. Chapter 90 funds have been traditionally used to build and maintain municipal roads without requirements that sidewalks and crosswalks be included. We suggest that the Committee review this standard and consider including Complete Streets measures within Chapter 90, similar to those requirements set by the legislature for MassDOT roadways.
DCR Parkways. DCR’s recently released (and long delayed) Parkway Master Plan clearly demonstrates that immediate action is needed to vastly improve safety for people bicycling and walking. Parkways are cultural and historic landmarks and should remain fully integrated components of parks and open spaces, used and enjoyed by people for walking, rolling, and riding as originally intended. With a commitment to accelerated improvement in partnership with MassDOT, parkways should remain under DCR’s purview. We urge the legislature to set funding and regulatory standards for DCR as follows:
- Adopt MassDOT’s Complete Streets guidelines as their default design standard for all parkways; ○ Utilize MassDOT crash portal data to implement quick-build improvements on the most dangerous parkway roads and intersections within the next 12 months;
- Align its parkway speed limits with local speed limits, especially in municipalities where the default speed has been reduced to 25 miles/hour or less;
- Provide DCR with the budget needed to complete the recommendations in the DCR Parkway Master Plan;
- Require DCR to set measurable goals to reduce the number of serious and fatal crashes on DCR roadways and report publicly and annually on progress toward these goals; and
- Require DCR to add analysis and recommendations for several key parkways currently missing from the plan.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Stacey Beuttell
Executive Director, WalkBoston