By Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Beacon Street reconstruction is finally getting underway. Crews start work on the site on May 9. We need this. It’s not just that the upcoming reconstruction of Beacon Street will improve conditions for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians alike. Freshening up this major streetscape and making it better to bike and walk should infuse it with new street life and knit these 1.4 miles of roadway more tightly into our community.

Perhaps because it doesn’t connect directly to any of our major city squares, and it’s separated from much of rest of the city by Commuter Rail tracks, Beacon St. gets a bit overlooked. I have run into people who don’t realize it’s part of Somerville. Yet it’s an integral part of the city: Beacon St. is home to a slew of great local restaurants, businesses, and shops, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a wonderful community garden. By improving Beacon, we hope not just to smooth everyone’s commute, but draw more Somerville-style vibrancy to this main thoroughfare. The stats back us up.

Numerous studies have shown that increasing bike and foot traffic benefits local businesses. In some areas, bike improvements increased spending at local retailers by up to 50%. Other studies show that cyclists and pedestrians visit more often, stay longer, and spend more money. More customers walking and biking to local establishments doesn’t just help our entrepreneurs. They also make our streets safer, our business districts more inviting, and help build community.

But right now, the sidewalks, crosswalks, and landscaping on Beacon don’t encourage the kind of foot traffic that would bolster the local businesses. The pothole-prone roadway itself has been the bane of motorists as well. That’s one of the main reasons why we’re doing the full-depth reconstruction rather than simply mask the larger issues with temporary fixes like the pavement overlay we completed just last fall. It’s like stripping a house down to the studs and then doing a complete makeover. We’re going to end up with a much firmer roadbed that isn’t as likely to get potholes as the current street. In the process we’ll also get a more attractive boulevard that will encourage more drivers to stop and check out our businesses – and more cyclists and pedestrians to do the same.

Construction is expected to start May 9 and it will be a two-year project. Most of the first year will be focused on putting in the new roadway and improving the drainage. We already repaired the water and sewer pipes last year. In 2017, we’ll be putting in brand new sidewalks, installing a separated bike lane (also known as a cycle track), planting more than 200 new trees, putting in new traffic signals and signs, striping easy-to-see crosswalks, and adding details like new benches and attractive trash receptacles.

Cyclists will also see improvements. During commuter times, we see more than 500 bikes per hour along Beacon, which makes it part of the busiest bike commuting corridor in New England. The cycle track being built to accommodate this bike traffic will be the first of its kind in Somerville. Yet it’s an increasingly common transit and safety feature. You can see similar lanes nearby along Western Avenue and Vassar Street in Cambridge.

What we’ll end up with is a much more complete street – one that works for everybody who wants to drive, bike, or walk along Beacon. Combined with the redesign of Lincoln Park, it’s an exciting time for the southern portion of our city. These are going to be significant quality-of-life enhancements for the neighborhoods around them.

The end product should be something we can look upon with pride – after we get through the inconvenience of construction. For regular project updates, construction schedules, and detours visit http://www.somervillema.gov/beaconstreet to sign up for updates, or contact our 311 city information service to get on that list (and of course we will do city alerts to all for any major detours). For bicyclists we will have a permanent, marked detour for the duration of the project.

The key is to remember this is construction that gets us to a very appealing end for commuters, for businesses, and the community. It will be well worth the temporary disruption. It’s Beacon Street’s turn to get the attention it deserves.