walkboston

RealEstate by Boston.com: “Together, neighbors can thwart speed demons. Here’s how”

Assisting Mahoney, Rana, and others is WalkBoston, a pedestrian-advocacy organization that works throughout the Commonwealth, not just the capital. This nonprofit can pinpoint a road’s jurisdiction and identify key decision-makers: elected officials, business groups, disability organizations, and neighborhood associations. Often WalkBoston will guide them on a “walk audit’’ of the targeted area. “We talk about destinations that people want to access,’’ said Stacey Beuttell, the nonprofit’s executive director. “Can they access them through crossings? What are the posted speeds? Should we narrow the travel lanes or add bike lanes?’’

Posted June 24, 2021

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, May 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. Last month, we took a look at the 6 fatal crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in April. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in May 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 31 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in May in the MassDOT Crash portal, 8 were identified as people walking.
The crash portal does not include names. The names of 4 of the people walking who died have not been made public yet.
The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in May was 50.75.
At least 1 of the crashes were hit & runs (as referenced in news articles).
The name of the person driving was not identified in any of the crashes in news articles that we found.

Date	5/13/2021, 1:47 PM
Location	21 Collins St.
Town	Salisbury
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	53
Sex	M

53 year old Kevin Perkins was struck and killed by a driver on Collins Street (Rt 286) in Salisbury. The Daily News of Newburyport reported that Kevin worked for a landscape company and was struck by his co-worker driving a dump truck while trying to park a trailer. According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. The speed limit is 30 mph, and there are no sidewalks.

Date	5/17/2021, 10:06 AM
Location	110 Broadway
Town	Methuen
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	60
Sex	F

60 year old Aida Brito was struck and killed by a driver as she crossed Broadway (Route 28) in Methuen. Police spokesperson Lt. Randy Haggar told the Eagle Tribune that there was no crosswalk where Brito was walking and that speed did not appear to have been a factor.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction and the speed limit is 20mph. Streetview on Google Maps shows that it is approximately 1,376 feet (over a quarter of a mile) between the crosswalks at Oakland Ave/Broadway and Center St/Broadway.

Date	5/18/2021, 10:20 AM
Location	2 Boland St.
Town	Springfield
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	33
Sex	M

An unidentified 33 year old man was hit and killed in Springfield on Boland Way. The driver fled the scene. Western Mass News reports that the person driving was found and that the person killed was a worker on a nearby construction site.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction and the speed limit is 25mph. There are two travel lanes in each direction and sidewalks on both sides of the street.

Date	5/18/2021, 10:20 PM
Location	SR-1 NORTH + Broadway
Town	Saugus
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	38
Sex	F

An unidentified 38 year old woman was hit and killed on Rt 1 North in Saugus near the intersection of Route 99; NBC 10 Boston reports that the 45 year old driver of an SUV remained at the scene, and that the two right lanes were closed for about two hours while the scene was cleared and the investigation began.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is a divided highway and under MassDOT jurisdiction. The speed limit is 50mph. There is a sidewalk along the side of the road.

Date	5/19/2021, 6:52 AM
Location	Main St. + Bacon St.
Town	Waltham
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	63
Sex	M

Billy Clark, a 63 year old Watertown man, was hit and killed while in a crosswalk by the driver of a tractor trailer who was turning left off Main Street onto Bacon Street in Waltham. WCVB reported that Billy was well known and liked by residents.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, both Main and Bacon are under local jurisdiction. Main Street has a speed limit of 35mph and Bacon has a speed limit of 30mph.

Date	5/22/2021, 1:34 AM
Location	Newport Ave. + Willow Ave.
Town	Quincy
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	62
Sex	M

62 year old Robert Jansen was hit and killed on Newport Avenue by a 21 year old driver of a Jeep. The Boston Globe reports that “an initial observation of the crash determined that there was approximately 278 feet of visible skid marks leading up to the motor vehicle and victim.”

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Newport Avenue is under local jurisdiction. The speed limit is 35mph. There are two travel lanes in each direction, a sidewalk on one side of the street, and a crosswalk at the intersection which leads to a pedestrian tunnel so that people can walk underneath the MBTA tracks.

Date	5/22/2021, 2:35 PM
Location	297 Central Turnpike
Town	Sutton
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	28
Sex	F

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that 28 year old Kaylie Piekarczyk was riding her motorcycle in Sutton when she lost control, and was then hit by the driver of an oncoming SUV.

It is likely that FARS determined that this is categorized as a pedestrian crash since the person was no longer on their motorcycle when struck. [Update, 3/23/2022: this was re-categorized as a motorcycle crash.]

Date	5/29/2021, 12:00 AM
Location	Bradford St. Bangs St.
Town	Provincetown
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	69
Sex	M

An unidentified 69 year old man was hit and killed at the corner of Bradford and Bangs Street in Provincetown according to CapeCod.com.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, both streets are under local jurisdiction, and have speed limits of 20-25mph. Bradford Street is 20 feet wide, with one lane in each direction; Bangs Street is 14 feet wide and operates as a two way yield street. While there are no sidewalks, there is a crosswalk at Bangs Street.

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
DISCLAIMER: The compilation of data is based on preliminary data we receive from a variety of local sources. Some of the data may differ slightly from information provided by NHTSA as this dashboard does not use imputation methods. Information is subject to change when/if updated information becomes available. Data updated daily as reported by police departments.

Event: WalkBoston’s Talk the Walk Session: “15-Minute Cities,” 7/29 12pm on Zoom

WalkBoston’s Talk the Walk Session
“15-Minute Cities”
July 29, 12-1pm
Register on Zoom

Lunch hour discussion session on Zoom. Open to all. Eating is encouraged. Video is optional.

This is our first go at having a topic-driven discussion session (not just books!). These discussion sessions may include articles, podcasts, videos, and yes, maybe even a book or two.

The first session will cover “15-Minute Cities.” Short explainer of the concept from Wikipedia. A few relevant articles are below. If you have read something related that others might find interesting or a question you’d like to include, send it our way—we can include it in our event reminder email and add to this post.

Discussion questions:

For whom does this concept work? For whom doesn’t it work?
Does the concept exacerbate economic and ethnic segregation?
Why has the concept come to prominence now? What makes it exciting to planners?
Is it less applicable or more applicable if larger numbers of remote workers move to remote areas?
What does it mean for already built up cities? Is it applicable to American suburbs?

Register for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMlfuurqzIvGdBFihVdRDkg-rlLon09UtCc
You will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Articles to get you started:

Bloomberg: “The ‘15-Minute City’ Isn’t Made for Disabled Bodies”
CNU Public Square: “Defining the 15-minute city”
Financial Times: “Welcome to the 15-minute city” (subscription may be required)
Government Technology: “Equitable Urban Planning May Mean Ditching the 15-Minute City”
Intertraffic: “15 MINUTE CITY: URBAN MOBILITY SOLUTION TO THE ENVIRONMENT?”

Springfield Walk Audit in Upper Hill neighborhood with Way Finders

On June 11, 2021 WalkBoston joined Way Finders and 15 local community members to complete an in-person walk audit of the Upper Hill neighborhood in Springfield, MA. Special emphasis was placed on accessibility and ADA compliance, as Springfield does not currently have an ADA transition plan. Residents are concerned about making Upper Hill a safer and more welcoming neighborhood for all people, especially the elderly, children, and people with mobility issues.

The walk audit began at Celestial Praise Church of God and residents walked east on Wilbraham Road towards the intersection at Roosevelt Ave. Participants stopped along the way to identify areas for infrastructure improvements such as safer crosswalks, addition of benches for respite, and dangerous and uneven sidewalks. Participants are interested in improving the access to Adams Park, which currently is inaccessible from the southern side of Wilbraham street as there is no crosswalk.

The next steps include a walk audit debrief on July 1, with WalkBoston and Way Finders, to collect participants’ opinions and recommendations. WalkBoston will generate a summary report of the findings for Way Finders.

WalkBoston is a technical service provider to communities through the Mass in Motion program. Mass in Motion is a statewide movement that promotes opportunities for healthy eating and active living in cities and towns across the state of Massachusetts.

One Mystic Avenue PNF Comment Letter

Raul Duverge
Boston Planning and Development Agency
Re: One Mystic Avenue PNF

Dear Mr. Duverge:

WalkBoston has reviewed the PNF for the One Mystic Avenue Project with respect to its impacts and benefits for people walking and using transit. We would like to echo the concerns raised by a number of others during the public meeting held on May 18th, that the project seems to be getting ahead of the PLAN Charlestown process and that the proponents have put forth a project that would use a great deal of the development capacity envisioned for this part of Charlestown on one small site. We urge the development team to work with the community as the project scale and design are refined to find a better fit with the overall planning context of the site.

From a walking perspective we have several specific concerns. While we are pleased that the project is proposed to be transit oriented and to have a low parking to housing unit ratio, and a high transit and walking mode share, the proposal does not seem to include the attention to walking that would be needed to make it a successful TOD site. Nor does the plan seem to include the attention to walking that will need to be made to attract people from Charlestown and Sullivan Station to use the proposed retail and food uses planned for the site.

The existing walking connection from the development site to Sullivan Station is not comfortable or attractive due to the lack of sidewalks on the south side of Mystic Avenue, and requires a circuitous route with many street crossings due to the fact that there are no marked pedestrian crossings between Beacham Street and Grand Union Boulevard. The walk to the Charlestown neighborhood is even more difficult due to the complexity of traversing Sullivan Square on foot despite recent short-term sidewalk improvements, and the continued existence of Rutherford Avenue/State Route 99 as a below-grade high-speed arterial.
Based on the transportation improvements listed in the PNF (page 4-22) and the proponent’s answer during the public meeting, the project team is not proposing to include off site walking improvements in their transportation mitigation measures.
As indicated during the public meeting, the proponent is anticipating that walking connections to Sullivan Station and to the Charlestown neighborhood would be improved by the Sullivan Square/Rutherford Avenue Boston Transportation Department (BTD) street redesign project. However, with the proponent’s hope to be open for occupancy in 2024-2025, they are well ahead of the BTD project schedule. Without an agreed-upon plan in existence, that project has been pushed out on the Transportation Improvement Plan funding schedule, with the full construction budget not yet programmed through 2025.

We urge the proponent to re-think their off-site walking mitigation measures in order to create the kind of safe, attractive and convenient walking routes that will be needed to fulfill their proposed housing and retail programs and to ensure the potential for a truly transit oriented project. We also urge the proponent to engage in the PLAN Charlestown effort and the Sullivan Square/Rutherford Avenue planning effort to speak up for the high quality pedestrian and bicycle connections to make this site work for walking, biking and transit.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments.

Sincerely,

Stacey Beuttell, Executive Director

Wendy Landman, Senior Policy Advisor