Author: walkboston

Improving mobility for seniors and those with disabilities

Improving mobility for seniors and those with disabilities

By Rachel Fichtenbaum

Rachel Fichtenbaum is a mobility information specialist at MassMobility. She researches best practices in community transportation, and disseminates them to practitioners statewide, providing technical assistance to help organizations improve mobility.

Finding transportation can be a challenge for seniors and people with disabilities looking to get to medical appointments, jobs, or other destinations, especially in suburban and rural areas. While some require a ride, walking is also an important mode of travel. Over the last five years, the state’s MassMobility program – a joint initiative of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and MassDOT – has worked with transportation providers, human service agencies, and advocates in all regions of Massachusetts to identify needs and develop solutions to increase mobility for seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income commuters. Improved walkability is a recurring theme of our conversations and our work.

Walkability facilitates access to transit, getting from home to the bus route, and then from the bus stop to the destination. When the members of the Cape and Islands Regional Coordinating Council reviewed results of a survey of over 250 transit riders and potential riders, lack of sidewalks or other infrastructure along bus routes emerged as the number one barrier preventing people from using public transit. As a result, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority has partnered with regional planners on a bus stop audit to determine where improvements may be needed.

Walkability near bus stops is a particularly important issue for travel trainers, people who teach seniors and people with disabilities the skills and knowledge they need to ride transit independently and safely. Earlier this year, travel trainers from around the state convened for a presentation on intersection design from Meg Robertson, Director of the Orientation and Mobility department at the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. Using images of Massachusetts intersections to illustrate her points, Robertson presented an overview of types of intersections and challenges each type can present to pedestrians. She emphasized that street crossing involves a number of choices, and that while no travel trainer can prevent all danger, risk factors can be reduced.

Pedestrian safety is also important for people who use wheelchairs and mobility devices. AGE TRIAD, a group of public safety officials and senior centers representing the Berkshire County towns of Alford, Great Barrington, and Egremont, as well as the local Fairview Hospital,
sponsored a “Be Seen, Be Safe” event at the Great Barrington Senior Center in July – all attendees received free, safety-yellow vests. Staff and volunteers gave out flags for scooters and helped attendees decorate their scooters with reflective tape. The event was spurred by a tragic crash in which a driver of an SUV hit a person using a scooter who was crossing the street from senior housing to a grocery store in Great Barrington in 2015. The driver said she never saw the pedestrian, so AGE TRIAD, at the urging of the Great Barrington Chief of Police William Walsh, decided to conduct a public awareness campaign to increase pedestrian safety and visibility.

To learn more about these or other projects, please visit MassMobility at www.mass.gov/hst, or subscribe to its monthly newsletter at www.tinyurl.com/MassMobility

This article was featured in WalkBoston’s printed Winter 2017 newsletter.

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Transit-Walkability Collaborative Established

Transit-Walkability Collaborative Established

New coalition plans to promote walkable, transit-rich communities

America Walks announced today the formation of the Transit-Walkability Collaborative, whose purpose is to expand safe, healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities by harnessing the synergy between walkability and quality public transit service.

The nine founding members of the new coalition work at the national, state, and local level in the walkability and transit advocacy movements. They are Center for Transportation Excellence, American Public Transportation Association, National Association of Public Transportation Advocates, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Circulate San Diego, WalkDenver, Health by Design/Indiana Citizens’ Alliance for Transit, WalkBoston, and America Walks. Each organization has signed on to a shared Statement of Purpose, which can be found on the America Walks web site here:

The Transit-Walkability Collaborative notes that integrating walkability and public transit helps to create safe, affordable, and enjoyable neighborhoods, whose residents complete their daily activities while owning fewer vehicles and driving less often.  These communities experience significant public and private-sector cost savings, lower rates of traffic fatalities, reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, higher levels of physical activity, and a better quality of life – especially for low-income families.

“Walkability and transit advocacy complement each other and accomplish common goals neither can achieve on its own,” said Ian Thomas, State and Local Program Director with America Walks and coordinator of the Collaborative. “By ensuring a high level of service for both walking and public transport, we stimulate mutually-reinforcing community benefits that help address a range of social problems – from health to economics to quality of life.”

The Transit-Walkability Collaborative has identified long-term objectives in the areas of research, communications, capacity-building, and policy change, and adopted a 2017 Action Plan.  One of the first priorities will be to conduct an environmental scan of walkability and transit advocacy groups, and then expand the circle further.  “We also plan to reach out to organizations with primary interests in bicycling, disabilities/access, social equity, public health, and smart growth,“ said Thomas.

Several upcoming events are being planned to stimulate more interest and discussion about the alignment of walkability and transit campaigns.  A fact sheet will be published in March in conjunction with a special webinar, and an online survey will be launched at the same time – to collect information about the ways walkability and transit advocates are collaborating around the country and what support they need.

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About WalkBoston: WalkBoston makes walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and vibrant communities.

About the Transit-Walkability Collaborative:  The Transit-Walkability Collaborative exists to promote the benefits of walkable, transit-rich communities; to bring together transit and walkability advocates at the local, state, and national level; and to identify and implement programs and policies that simultaneously expand walkability and transit services in communities across the U.S.  The founding members are:

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115 Winthrop Square PNF Comment Letter

115 Winthrop Square PNF Comment Letter

January 20, 2017

Casey Hines, Senior Project Manager
Boston Planning and Development Agency
Boston City Hall
One City Hall Square
Boston, MA 02201

Re: 115 Winthrop Square PNF

Dear Ms. Hines:

WalkBoston is Massachusetts’ leading pedestrian advocacy organization. We have reviewed the Project Notification Form for this project and believe that it will provide benefits to the economic strength and vitality of downtown Boston by replacing a dilapidated parking garage that has blighted the Winthrop Square neighborhood for decades. We also believe that there are several issues that require further evaluation and improvement.

1. The Great Hall that has been proposed has the potential to be an exciting gathering place that attracts people from both downtown and Boston’s neighborhoods. We urge that the Great Hall be open to the public 18 hours a day, 52 weeks a year and that it be given programming that goes well beyond a food and shopping court. The ground floor of the building (both as part of the Great Hall and also adjacent to the Great Hall) should have rooms and spaces for talking, working or observing. Programs to encourage use of the space will be essential. The proponent should clarify the plan for activating this space, including the types of programs and the agency or individuals who will be assigned the task of programming and managing the space. We urge the Proponent to provide a description of the mix of uses, the cost to users
(for events that are open to the public), and the anticipated intensity of programming that is to be provided in the Great Hall.

2. Because of its prominent, strategic location, the Great Hall will also be a walking connection between Federal and Devonshire Streets that adds to Downtown’s rich tradition of publicly accessible lanes and alleys. The balance between circulation space and usable public space should be carefully studied and described.

3. Wind studies of the building should identify its impacts on pedestrians using adjacent streets and sidewalks. Wind may also be a factor in the design of the Great Hall, where pedestrians and users of the space should be protected from gusts or periodic and protracted winds around the building.

4. Pedestrian scale lighting should be designed to enhance the usefulness and attractiveness of both interior and exterior portions of the building with attention to creation of a sense of place, traffic safety at street crossings and personal safety.

5. We urge the Proponent to explore building shapes, heights and orientations to reduce or eliminate shadow impacts on the Common and Public Garden.

6. We also urge the City and the Proponent to work with the many organizations and individuals who are deeply concerned that the project will set a precedent that allows shadow impacts on the Common and Public Garden. Prior to approval of the project, the City should describe permanent and binding protections for the Common and the Public Garden from further shadow impacts.

Thank you very much for your consideration of our comments.

Sincerely,

Wendy Landman
Executive Director

Cc: Senator William Brownsberger
Senator Joseph Boncore
Representative Jay Livingstone
Representative Aaron Michlewitz
Representative Byron Rushing
City Council President Michelle Wu
Elizabeth Vizza, Friends of the Public Garden
Howard Kassler, Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay
Patricia Tully, Beacon Hill Civic Association
Greg Galer, Boston Preservation Alliance
Todd Lee, LightBoston
Kathleen MacNeil, Millennium Partners
Cindy Schlessinger, Epsilon Associates

Comments on General Electric Headquarters Project SEIR 15547

Comments on General Electric Headquarters Project SEIR 15547

January 20, 2017

Matthew Beaton, Secretary
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Attn: MEPA Office
Analyst: Alex Strysky
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114

Re: General Electric Headquarters Project SEIR 15547

Dear Secretary Beaton,

WalkBoston submitted comments on the EA for this project in September, 2016. We made a
number of suggestions about specific improvements that we believe the Proponent might make
themselves, or work with the City to secure, in order to assure comfortable and safe access to and
through the site.

We believe that the GE Headquarters will add vitality and opportunity to the Fort Point Channel neighborhood and to Boston. But, we feel that there is considerable work still required to improve access to the site for the vast majority of employees and visitors who will be arriving on foot.

Necco Street: It appeared to us from the drawings provided in the EA that the sidewalk was to be widened to 12’ in some areas, but narrowed to allow for vehicular drop-off at the main entrance.
The response in Comment 8.4 was that the designs would in keeping with the guidelines of Boston Complete Streets, which calls for a minimum of 8’ wide sidewalks in Downtown Commercial or Mixed-use Districts. Based on further conversations with the project team we are reassured that
the sidewalk at the entrance will largely meet that minimum standard. We hope that the proponent will also:

• Ensure that the narrower portions of the sidewalk not be encumbered with street
furniture or signage and thus remain unobstructed for walkers; and
• Create the pull-outs for vehicle drop-off in locations that are offset from the building
entrances so that there is ample space for people entering and leaving the buildings.

Necco Street Crosswalk: In Comment 8.7 we asked if there would be a crosswalk from the
Headquarters Building to the Necco Street Parking Garage. The following response was provided that does not answer the question: “The project incorporates substantial sidewalk improvements and pedestrian ramping to accommodate ADA compliant crossings.” Since the garage is likely to attract many people going to the GE building, a crosswalk aligned with its single entrance would seem to be appropriate

Accessible Routes to the Site: Comments 8.8, 8.9, 8.10 and 8.11 asked that the Proponent work
with the City and with other property owners in the neighborhood to improve the walking route
from South Station to the site via Summer Street, particularly for people with disabilities who will
not be able to use the stairway that connects Summer Street to the Harborwalk and then to the
main entrance of this project. The response provided in the EA was, ”The Proponents cannot
orchestrate improvements off the Project Site.”

WalkBoston’s comments were made because along the direct route from the Proponent’s main entrance to Summer Street there is no complete or accessible sidewalk. With a projected 70% mode share of walk and transit trips (which are thus also walking trips) this issue deserves careful attention. We believe that GE is very interested in working to remedy this situation in concert with the City and with its new neighbors. We urge GE to work with the City to solve this accessibility
problem before construction is completed on the Headquarters.

We look forward to working with GE and the City to ensure that pedestrians find a safe, accessible and inviting environment on and around GE’s Headquarters.

We appreciate your consideration of our comments and your responses to them.

Please feel free to contact WalkBoston with questions you may have.

Sincerely,
Wendy Landman
Executive Director

Cc Peter Cavanaugh, GE Project Manager
Elizabeth Grob, VHB Project Manager
Chris Osgood, Boston Chief of Streets

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