Tag: charlestown

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

Statewide Fatal Crashes in MA, January 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 year 2020 in review. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in January 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 20 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in January in the MassDOT Crash portal, 5 were people walking.
3 of those 5 crashes were hit & runs.
The crash portal does not include names. The names of 2 of the people walking who died have not been made public yet.
The name of the person driving was only identified in 1 of the 5 crashes in news articles.

Date	1/2/2021, 11:00 PM
Location	200 Locust St.
Town	Springfield
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age
Sex	M

An unidentified man was killed in a hit and run crash on Locust Street in Springfield. There have been no follow up articles that we’ve seen identifying the person who died, or anything about the person that fled the scene. WesternMassNews says the Police Department has located the car and vehicle owner, and expects more from the District Attorney’s office.

Date	1/5/2021, 11:30 AM
Location	Chelsea St. + 13th St.
Town	Boston
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	92
Sex	M

Francis McGrath, a 92 year old man, was killed in a hit and run crash on Chelsea Street in Charlestown. The driver dragged him for nearly a mile. The crash location is listed as Chelsea St & 13th (entrance to the Charlestown Navy Yard), while StreetsblogMass reports the Boston Police said it happened even further back at Chelsea St & Terminal St. While there had been speculation that the driver of a large truck was involved, there have been no follow up articles that we’ve seen about the person that left the scene. We spoke to the Boston Herald about the safety issues large vehicles present for people walking/biking, and the increase of drivers speeding during the coronavirus pandemic.

Date	1/13/2021, 7:19 PM
Location	235 Main St.
Town	Oxford
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	55
Sex	F

Wendy Hibbard was crossing Main Street in Oxford when a driver hit and killed her. Based on Google Maps Street View, a crosswalk across Main Street was made ADA-compliant sometime between October 2018 and October 2019. The street is one lane in each direction with a sidewalk on each side, but it looks to be approximately 50 feet from curb to curb using the measuring tool on Google Maps. According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Main Street/Rt12 is under MassDOT jurisdiction.

Date	1/19/2021, 9:30 PM
Location	38 Upland Rd.
Town	Belmont
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	35
Sex	M

District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office shared on January 25th that Dean Kapsalis, 54 of Hudson, will face additional charges of murder and leaving the scene causing death in connection with striking and killing Henry Tapia on Upland Road in Belmont. Kapsalis was previously arraigned on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a civil rights violation causing injury and leaving the scene causing injury. The Boston Globe reported that “since getting a driver’s license around 1987, Kapsalis has been cited for speeding at least 17 times, was involved in at least 7 surcharge crashes, and had his right to drive suspended at least 6 times, usually for a cluster of traffic violations in a short period of time, according to RMV records.”

Date	1/23/2021, 8:42 PM
Location	687 Ocean St.
Town	Marshfield
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	56
Sex	M

An unidentified 56 year old Marshfield man was hit and killed on Ocean Street in Marshfield. An article from 95.9 WATD quotes a police lieutenant that the “early investigation shows the victim was walking in the roadway along a dark stretch.” The street is one lane in each direction, but there is only a sidewalk on one side of the 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.

Boston Herald: “Horror in Charlestown: Pedestrian killed after getting struck, dragged for a mile by vehicle”

During the first five days of the new year, there have already been multiple fatal pedestrian crashes in Massachusetts, including a hit-and-run in Springfield over the weekend, said Brendan Kearney of the WalkBoston advocacy group.
“The number of large vehicles involved with fatal crashes, especially involving people walking or biking, is a huge concern,” he said. “And that’s not just in Boston, but across the state and across the country.
“There are bad sight lines on these vehicles,” Kearney added. “And it’s putting everyone in a bad situation when we have large vehicles and streets where people can drive fast.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, there have been fewer cars on the roads but drivers are speeding at a higher clip, he said.
“That’s something we’ve seen across the state,” Kearney said.

Posted January 5, 2021

Austin St Pop-up and Safe Access to Parks

On Wednesday, July 17, 2019, WalkBoston joined many departments from the City of Boston for a Sidewalk Series/Austin St Pop-up in Thompson Square in Charlestown.

Safe access to parks is an important part of creating a safe and walkable neighborhood. We encouraged attendees to add a green sticker to a map for places that felt safe for pedestrians, and a red sticker for areas that needed improvement. Many people then explained why it didn’t feel safe, and how they would fix things to make it better. We also heard great ideas about this section of Austin Street being something other than an extra slip lane for vehicles, all because it was opened up for a few hours to help people see the possibilities. We’ll be sharing all of the feedback we received with the city.

Thank you to the Age Strong Commission, New Urban Mechanics, Office of Neighborhood Services & Public Works for asking us to participate & making the day a success – and thanks to everyone that stopped by at the pop-up and shared your feedback (or just played with the bubble machine for a while)!

Comment letter on Waterways Application #W18-5358: Proposed bike/ped path from 80 Alford St/Route 99 to Draw Seven Park Ch 91 license

January 24, 2019

Jerome Grafe
MassDEP Waterways Program
1 Winter Street, 5th floor
Boston, MA 02108

RE: Waterways Application # W18-5358: Proposed bike/ped path from 80 Alford St/Route 99 to Draw Seven Park Ch 91 license

Dear Jerome,

WalkBoston is excited to hear of the proposal for a new bike/ped path connecting Draw Seven Park in Somerville to Route 99 in Boston/Charlestown. This path, atop the new MBTA sea wall at 80 Alford Street, will be a terrific boon to the Mystic River path network.

We support the Friends of the Community Path (FCP) and the Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP) in asking for the following revisions to the proposed path design:

Widen the path from 10’ to 12’-14’ wherever possible.
Ensure that the path design will be harmonious with the ongoing Mystic River bike/ped bridge design, so that there will be an appropriate path connection to the future Mystic River bike/ped bridge at the Draw Seven Park edge of the MBTA busway property.
Ensure that the path design does not preclude a signalized crosswalk over Route 99 for safe bike/ped access to Ryan Playground, the Schraffts building, and the Boston Harborwalk. Plans for a safe bike/ped crossing at this location will also need to take future roadway projects on Rutherford Avenue into account.
Connect the path to one of the public roads (Beacham Street or Moosal Place/Sherman Street) that connect to Broadway, so that pedestrians and cyclists need not go all the way to Assembly Square and then turn back in order to reach Broadway.

We also support FCP and STEP’s call for a public meeting about this proposal. Given that this path will be an important link in the Mystic River path network, many stakeholders and members of the public have a compelling interest in these issues. WalkBoston looks forward to continued engagement to ensure that this critical path connection moves forward.

Sincerely,

Wendy Landman
Executive Director