The intersection of School St. and Avon St. in Somerville. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Fernando Cervantes Jr.

On Thursday, Somerville’s Traffic Commission Meeting held its monthly commission meeting. The meeting, held virtually, was attended by both members of the public and the commission.

For this month there were a few items on the agenda, most importantly requests for handicapped parking and moving parking spaces in various locations.

After initial remarks by Commission members, the minutes from the December 2021 meeting were put up for a vote. In this last meeting, a request for handicapped parking and an open meeting law complaint were among the items discussed.

The commission accepted the minutes in a unanimous 3-0 vote.

Afterwards, the commission moved on to two requests for handicapped parking. The locations of these sites are at 78 Moreland Street near the Winter Hill neighborhood and 29 Warren Avenue, near Prospect Hill Park in South Somerville.

Adrienne Pomeroy, ADA Coordinator for the City of Somerville, recommended these two sites as being suitable to receive new handicapped spots. “I have reviewed both of these applications and gone to both sites and I am recommending that both 78 Moreland St. and 29 Warren Ave. be given a handicapped parking space,” Pomeroy said.

This measure was put up for a vote and was also passed unanimously.

The second and final measure discussed in the meeting regarded both parking spaces and MBTA buses. The MBTA route involved was Route 85, the stop in question is #2520, Avon St. at School St. in the Prospect Hill area of Somerville.

Bus stop #2520 and two parking spaces are slated to be eliminated. Three parking spaces will be added in their place.

According to Justin Schreiber, Transportation Planner for Somerville, the bus does not have to run on the sidewalk, and this change is also a matter of safety for pedestrians. “It’s very, very tough for them to make that right turn with the vehicles being parked on the far side of School St. They literally have to go over the sidewalk to make that happen,” Schreiber said.

This proposal was put up for a vote for the commission and was also passed unanimously.

The next meeting is scheduled to be held in February. More information about the Traffic Commission and future meetings can be found at: https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/traffic-commission.