By Mia Lamar 

A team of urban planning professionals and concerned Somerville residents submitted a proposal to the Board of Aldermen Committee on Public Health and Public Safety Monday evening for the adjustment and redesign of two intersections on Willow Avenue.
The cooperative, billing itself as the Davis Square Transportation Design Group, won quick approval by the committee’s chairman Alderman-at-Large William A. White ordered a resolution to review funding opportunities for the project in the upcoming city budget.

Citing speeding motorists and poor visibility on crosswalks as its primary concerns, the design group outlined proposed changes to two Willow Avenue intersections, Elm and Summer streets.
For Elm, the group recommended curb extensions, to shorten long crosswalks and minimize pedestrian interaction with traffic. One block south, where Willow Avenue meets Summer Street, the group strongly suggested installing a raised intersection, or speed table, to slow cars passing through the intersection. The speed table, they said, would require changing the intersection’s traffic light to a blinking red signal.
  The group‚Äôs presentation was brief, even simple ‚Äì deliberately so, according to Mark Chase, a professional transportation consultant and founder of the design group‚Äôs blog, www.willave.blogspot.com.
  He said the group gave themselves just 12 weeks to examine and design unique options to remedy Davis Square area traffic concerns.
“We didn’t want this to be an endless study,” said group member Ethan Gilsdorf, a freelance journalist.
  Chase told the committee that the group‚Äôs recommendations were by design
low-cost solutions to basic traffic concerns. He said the group was looking for “creative ways to address problems, that wouldn’t cost a lot of money.”
While strongly recommending curb extensions for the intersection of Willow and Elm, noting that neighborhood feedback prefers “hardscape…permanent curbs that can’t be taken away,” the group allowed that an acceptable, if temporary, solution can be found with the use of inexpensive architectural planters and paint.
Group members also cited the benefits of painting in bike lanes through Willow Avenue, observing that motorists will be forced to slow to accommodate bikers and navigate a narrower space.
Chase said the group first organized as a sort of “community service project,” meeting weekly over a three month period late last year. They, along with Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah L. Gewirtz, chose Willow Avenue from a hit list of Davis Square locations, “winners,” said Gewirtz, concluding their study with a neighborhood block party to present recommendations to area residents.
Admitting they had initially had “grandiose” dreams for reshaping Davis Square area traffic, the group’s members say they quickly realized there were a “million” problems to be solved in the neighborhood. Instead, they set out to design a proposal that was “focused” with “flexible concepts;” one that, with success, could be easily imitated throughout the city. They added that they hope to motivate neighborhoods across Somerville to make similar low-cost initiatives.
White commended the group for offering its time and expertise, noting that a similar proposal, if professionally commissioned, would have cost the city thousands of dollars. While explicitly reminding the assembled group that the committee “doesn’t have the power to compel the city,” to enact the proposal, White said he anticipated the upcoming budget, due in May, to have allocations for such initiatives, perhaps within funding for the city’s Safe-START program.
White’s enthusiasm was shared amongst his fellow committee members. As the meeting concluded, Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero asked the group if they had considered asking area businesses to sponsor the purchase of architectural planters for the two intersections.
The group hadn‚Äôt thought of such a plan. Visibly excited, they quickly began to name potential sponsors. Pero stood to leave, smiling. 
‚ÄúKeep it up,‚Äù he said.