By Tim Talun, Dominique Stassart, Sam Engelstad and Eric Fellinger on behalf of the Union Square Neighbors Traffic Calming Group
The flow of traffic through Somerville is among the greatest challenges affecting the quality of life for residents. In recent years, consensus has grown among Aldermen, the Mayor, city staff, and residents that traffic calming measures are necessary. We must now find the vision and the will to make traffic calming a reality throughout our neighborhoods.
Communities across America are reducing vehicle speeds while beautifying their neighborhoods at the same time through the addition of streetscaping and traffic calming devices.
Traffic calming does not prevent cars from using streets, but ensures the maximum comfortable speed for people driving produces a safe environment for people walking, including children. Reduced speeds also work as a deterrent to cut through traffic.
Traffic calming can include everything from a well-placed planter box and painted murals in the street, to improved crosswalks, raised intersections, curb extensions and speed humps. It can be done at a single intersection, or as a strategy for an entire street, as with Somerville’s ‘Neighborway’ program.
Traffic is a particular concern for the neighborhoods around Union Square where cut-through traffic is a longstanding problem. Future Changes to the McGrath Highway, continuing construction work on Union Square’s major streets, the opening of the Everett casino, and the addition of millions of square feet in new development in Union, Assembly, and Kendall Squares stand to make these problems worse.
Traffic calming must be made a priority now, before today’s problems become worse. Planning for traffic calming should become a regular part of city planning processes. Last year a letter was submitted to the City, cosigned by more than 50 residents, including Aldermen McWatters, Heuston and Sullivan.
It asked that the ‘Union Square Neighborhood Plan’ include planning for neighborhoods and neighborhood streets in addition to planning for the center of Union Square. The Plan, now finished and approved by the Planning Board, describes the need for traffic calming and includes good examples of how to accomplish it.
However, the City responded that detailed planning for our neighborhood streets was outside of the scope of this “Neighborhood Plan.” The Plan included some great ideas for the center of the square, but failed to include a comprehensive study to identify issues and/or opportunities for neighborhood streets.
Future planning efforts must plan for neighborhoods, evaluating where increased traffic may occur and proposing traffic calming solutions, including Neighborways. It is critical that the traffic studies which are required of future developments assess impacts on neighborhood streets, and that traffic calming measures be funded and implemented as necessary. The City could begin to develop traffic calming plans now, to be implemented as developers provide mitigation dollars.
Residents have demonstrated clear public support for traffic calming. Last year at this time, Bill Shelton, in this space, described a new city policy allowing residents to petition for traffic calming on their streets.
Since then, Prospect Hill residents have submitted petitions for all of the streets in their neighborhood, including Bigelow, Boston, Hamlet, Munroe, Prospect Hill Avenue and Parkway, Stone, Warren, and Columbus. Petitions are also being gathered elsewhere in Somerville, including Lincoln Park. In the months since the submission, the city has yet to respond.
Some of the more extensive traffic calming measures can be costly, thus things like bump-outs, raised crosswalks, traffic islands, and widened sidewalks could generally be undertaken as the City performs regularly planned work on streets and sidewalks. But simpler measures, including street painting, plantings, new parking patterns, innovative cross walks, and new signage must be implemented sooner.
Setting an appropriate speed limit is also important. There are clear safety benefits of limiting vehicle speeds to 20 mph, and this should become the default for our neighborhood streets, instead of the current 30 MPH.
The State recently passed a bill championed for many years by Representative Provost that allows cities and towns to lower their speed limits. It is now up to our Board of Aldermen to implement this.
Alderman McWatters has already requested that the City Solicitor draft language that would lower the speed limits to 20 MPH near school zones, parks, hospitals, and senior facilities. This should be implemented as soon as possible. Over the longer term Somerville should follow the example of Boston and Cambridge, whose city councils recently voted to lower default speed limits to 20 MPH.
In Somerville’s earliest days, neighborhood streets were where children played, families walked, and grandparents strolled. In the age of the automobile, we need to design the streets to remind ourselves while we are driving that our friends, neighbors, grandparents, and children also use enjoy these streets while walking, biking, playing or just enjoying their homes.
It is the community´s responsibility to protect all users, regardless of the larger traffic issues, such as the State´s desire for increased traffic flow to accommodate an ever increasing number of vehicles.
We look forward to seeing traffic calming measures on our streets in the months and years to come.
(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)
Lowering the speed limit without enforcement has negligible effect. Set up mobile speed cameras and place them around the city on small side streets and large main streets. Move them every 2-3 days and start fining people. I am far more concerned about cars rocketing down my little one way road on a street choked with kids than I am union sq where people expect to have to look prior to crossing the street.
Traffic calming is one tool to help solve the problem, but regular enforcement of current traffic laws need to be strictly enforced throughout the city.
Drivers constantly run through red lights at the intersection of Broadway to Assembly Row under I-93. Cars speed down the residential streets of East Somerville as a short cut and barely slow down for the stop signs on the street.
Random and consistent enforcement traps would do wonders to helping Somerville’s traffic problems. I do see enforcement traps set up, but they are a day or couple of days at one location. It is predictable and avoidable. You might catch a few offenders and calm traffic in only that area for a short time, but as soon as drivers realize the detail is no longer there, the drivers revert back to ignoring the rules of the road. If drivers know there is a consistent operation of enforcement traps in the area, but do not know where, they are forced to drive more cautiously for greater areas.
It would also not be an expensive solution since the police are already working, and even if you needed OT to cover the details, the tickets would offset the costs.
I do not see any of these measures to be of any help here. We have a lot of aggressive driving here in Somerville and also a lot of ignoring of laws. Plus road rage added to the mix. Since I spend many hours on the roads for many years I can say that drivers are going to keep it up until they are hit in the pocketbook enough or even going so far as to confiscate their vehicles. It is crazy here and it seems the more that is done to regulate it the worse it gets. And you can perform these actions in front of the police and stand a good chance nothing will be done. I have witnessed that many times also. For some reason Somerville seems to be worse than the other cities around here.
I agree. How can we help this cause?
Random traps seem to make the most sense. I can only assume if the tickets are high enough it should not even cost us. Maybe even finance more police for it. If anyone travels here has traveled in Watertown on Mt Auburn St by the high school I have watched for 60 years as people keep getting caught there. Same spot for all those years. So even at best that is not 100% foolproof.
I think you’re missing the real point here.
This traffic calming is minimizing the lanes, thus causing more traffic. Making wider sidewalks, bump outs, more bike likes, removing a car lane, are all contributing to the influx of traffic on the streets of Somerville. Yes, they are well marked, and yes they cause people to slow down, but you’re also causing so much congestion on the main roads. This forces drivers to not only being aggressive, but they must find alternative routes. Now, they are driving very aggressively, down the neighborhood side streets to avoid the overly congested main roads. I’ve been a Somerville resident for almost my entire life and this traffic is the worst I’ve ever seen it, at any given time of the day.
How are people supposed to stay calm when the traffic is so horrible
Christine: So is it better to raise the speed limits so that people can fly through our neighborhoods?
More than half the issue is all the stupid construction through out the city that never ends. Which cause all kinds of delays. Which then makes people aggravated lengthening their commute. They then try to speed or use “short cuts” down residential streets to make up the time. One particular area is around three corners where some genius decided that the over pass was an eyesore so now its all blocked off causing major delays. Speed is not the issue. Lower the limit isn’t going to do anything. I also agree all the stupid concessions made for bikers has screwed things up more than it has helped. Last year it took my (via the T) 30 min tops to go from city hall to lechemere or sullivan. Now it takes almost an hour. I walk there faster. Again lowering limit will solve nothing. 30 to 20 on residential streets does nothing and is a waste of time. And stop putting stupid speed bumps in road! If people just keep their wits about and be aware of their surroundings safety won’t be an issue. Turn down your iPod and stop staring at your phone when you walk. Kids should be supervised by an adult not running around intending in the streets. This isn’t the 80’s.
BSomerville: I hope your post is sarcasm.
Christine: Traffic calming isn’t used on the main streets cars use for commuting. It’s used on side streets where the only cars that should be there are those of the local residents. Columbia St. in Cambridge is a great example of traffic calming. Because of speed humps and bump outs, cars can’t really go faster than 20 mph. I always bike down that street instead of Prospect St. to get to Somerville from Cambridge.
BSomerville: Concessions for bikers has not made traffic worse – increased number of cars on the road has increased congestion. If you want to make the main roads faster, remove parking on major streets or consolidate it all into an underground city parking structure. Cars moving in and out of parking spots causes more of a traffic jam than a bike lane.