By Jennifer Purcell

It is no secret that certain areas in Somerville lack appropriate and accessible parking for all community members. Therefore, Somerville’s Traffic Commission came together last Thursday via Zoom in order to discuss a variety of these issues and work together to resolve them. This meeting’s focus was on the lack of handicapped parking spaces as well as people creating traffic in the most inconvenient of places.

Handicapped Parking on School Street

The first issue tackled was the lack of handicapped parking on School Street, among Somerville’s most utilized streets. Her concern was that there are not nearly enough handicapped parking spaces on this street and requested to add at least one more in order to accommodate those who might need it. This Item was accepted in a matter of minutes without any discussion being held.

Fire Lane Extensions

The second item on the agenda was one requesting the extension of the fire lane at 42 Preston Road. This extension will run from the corner of Preston Road for 45 feet in an easterly direction to the edge of the driveway, therefore taking up about one more parking space than it currently does.

The reasoning for this extension is that as of right now, emergency vehicles are unable to make clean turns around that corner, therefore delaying their arrival at any potential site in that area. According to Sean Tierney, some of these vehicles are not even able to make the turn at all.

With that being said, the Commission was quick to accept this Item as well after a singular comment from Ward 5 Councilor Beatriz Gomez Mouakad, who believes that it is imperative that Somerville’s apparatus is able to get where they need to go with ease.

“Do Not Enter” Signs

The third and final item to be reviewed was a request to install signs around the Ten Hills neighborhood that read “Do Not Enter 7 am-9 pm / 4 pm-6 pm Monday-Friday Except Residents.” The reasoning was that many people are turning into this neighborhood simply to cut through it, including trucks who come through illegally. Ward 4 Councilor Jesse Clingan stated that this has created unnecessary traffic on multiple occasions now, creating dangerous situations as many residents have been unable to leave their driveways. He noted that three signs would be placed at the following three locations:

• The entrance at Mystic Avenue and Shore Drive.
• The entrance at Temple Road and Mystic Avenue.
• The entrance at Shore Drive and Fells Way.

This item, however, was quite controversial amongst the committee. While it was agreed that the traffic was getting out of hand and no one should be entering the neighborhood unless they are residents or have any sort of business with a resident, the idea of putting up signs did not appeal to Traffic Engineer Jessica Bellow. She mentioned that the city of Somerville is trying to find alternative ways to discourage people from driving where they’re not supposed to as signs don’t always work. It seems to her that this would be a step back for Somerville as it wouldn’t be consistent with what they’re doing in other parts of the city and that they owe it to the people to be consistent.

Although they spent quite a bit of time discussing this topic, they were unable to find an alternative solution. It was therefore recommended that there be a motion to amend this Item and that they would circle back to it at a later date.