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City, MassDOT staff to meet with community members about planned safety improvements, receive feedback on future planning.
Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and the City’s Mobility Division announce that a community meeting has been scheduled to discuss two fatal crashes along State Route 38 (Mystic Avenue) in Somerville and efforts underway to improve safety for all road users. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 1, in the auditorium of the East Somerville Community School at 50 Cross Street beginning at 7 p.m.
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) officials have been working in partnership with City officials on planning and engineering for the complex series of intersections and highway ramps where Interstate 93, Route 38 and Route 28 (McGrath Highway / Fellsway) all meet. MassDOT staff will also be in attendance at the meeting.
Individuals with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication, written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures, in order to access the programs and activities of the City of Somerville or to attend meetings, should contact the City’s Manager of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Nency Salamoun, at 617-625-6600 x2323 or NSalamoun@SomervilleMA.gov.
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When will people wake up & do something about this chaos?! I mean every day you see some smuck on a bicycle blowing a red light, cutting across 2-3 Lanes of traffic, & best of all all while doing it with some poor kid attached to a makeshift side cart & or handle bar attachment as if the child was a piece of luggage! Or the person who is looking at there FB page to see how many likes they have on last night’s drunken selfie. Than take those 2 people & let their lives cross path at the same moment while doing what I just mentioned. What do you get? a really sad newspaper article. I mean really? Common sense is not so common anymore. I’m both Driver and pedestrian so I can sympathize with both but there must be some law & order when it comes to keeping people (asp children!) Safe. I do have a solution for people that can’t understand the concept of safety clearly. First off I will start with this million-dollar question. Why oh why do bicycles get to use a roadway that is ment & was intended for vehicles if they do not have to be registered? Also what comes with registration? Yes you guessed it insurance! Yes insurance, you don’t know how many times I’ve seen a person on a bike blow a red light get clipped by a car than see the person that was on a bike stumble to his feet & proceed to tell/yell at the driver of the car as it was his fault. Who do you think gets to pay the hospital bill for the law braking bicyclist? Yes right again the insurance company of the vehicles driver. It doesn’t matter who was at fault from a literal sense for the driver of the car will always be at fault that is untill something is done. Fair? Doesn’t matter. Another thing who pays for the bike Lanes to be painted? Well if the city/state takes money from the income that it rases from the registry of motor vehicles than people who ride a bike & don’t own a car won’t & don’t pay into that particular pool. So this means they get their bike Lanes painted for free fair? Doesn’t matter. Oh & I didn’t forget this article was about pedestrians getting hit by cars & I’m not saying this is a case of what I’m going to explain next so please don’t fry me. Did your mother ever teach you to cross the street properly? Good mine did to. She taught me to look both ways, no? Like I said prior to starting this paragraph, I’m not saying this is what happened with the 2 people mentioned above, & my heart goes out to them & their families. I’ve been seeing more & more especially while I’m driving 2 work (I work nights) that people are not or have forgot what our mothers have taught us, that being they just dart & or stroll right out via tunnel vision across the street. I mean granted they are in a cross walk (most of the time) but none the less they don’t look at the traffic be it oncoming or incoming. It’s as if they believe that they are in a invisible force field lol actually let me take that laugh back because this is serious where talking about people’s lives! regardless of what stance I or we take on laws & rights one thing should not be miss understood & that is that life is far to precious to be taken away & for tragedy to have to happen just to form a meeting of the minds to figure out what we should already know & should be doing. And that is this pay attention! Everyone! Drivers, bicyclist, & pedestrians please pay attention to what is going on around you for we never know who or what someone is doing or where what direction they’re going in. One more thing please, please don’t connect your child to a bicycle either strapped to the side in a little cart or on top of the handlebars all it takes is the smallest mistake on anyone’s part & the consequences unspeakable end unimaginable.
Sure takes a long time after people are killed on our streets before they even just talk about it. Also have the one on Washington Street. Also the area on Broadway on Winter Hill is one waiting to happen since the city made that unsafe as well.
I hope the response is measured and thoughtful. Pedestrian hits are tragic, but there is a random element to their occurrence and the proper response is not shoot-from-the-hip installation of anything you can think of at the location of the strike. I also think, whatever the response, that we should keep in mind the highways are an important thru-way and slowing traffic there could cause more traffic on side streets. Is there a solution such as a pedestrian tunnel?
I have five points of view, if you include porch perspective, and I see everything and at all times of day. In my opinion it is mostly the pedestrians’ fault; they cross when they please, jump in cross walks when a vehicle is clearly coming towards them. Also, what’s the point of the crosswalk lights? It says don’t walk, it also has a red/orange hand stop sign yet they still cross. Geez people! Even blind people can cross the street! Dammit, a service dog has more comprehension of crossing the street than these idiots.
I also blame the city! Look at Broadway now, one lane to drive on. Did a puppet from sesame Street design that?!
Sure enough, whenever the subject of maniac drivers comes up (killing pedestrians/cyclists or just smashing into each other or other stuff), someone’s sure to come along and start grousing about bicycles. No one on Mystic Ave. or anywhere else in Somerville, has been killed because they got hit by a bicycle.It’s the two-ton vehicles that put lives at danger.
People look before you leap. Thinking if they hit me, I will sue. Guess what people you can’t sue if your dead. If the light is red do not cross even if there is a cross walk, you do not have the right of way. Did we not create a bike path to keep cyclist safe, a place where no vehicles can go! It is time for vehicles to take back the roads. God help us once winter snow comes to Somerville. I have advised everyone I know to avoid Somerville like the plague. Find a different restaurant, shop at a different mall, driving in Somerville is just not worth it.
For us motorist who pay the taxes for the roads; if we have half of the roads that we pay for taken away from us then we should be compensated. What’s needed is a ballot initiative to grant motorists a tax credit for half of their excise tax and other auto taxes when half of the roads they paid for are taken away by their local municipality.
After attending last Tuesday night’s community meeting for road safety, which went well past 10pm and heard many residents rightfully concerned about their and their families’ safety on city streets, I left asking myself: “If the city and state truly cares about our safety, when are they going to start prioritizing people over cars?”
To have safer streets we desperately need to reduce the number of cars on the road. This not only makes our neighborhoods safer, but it also addresses serious climate and air pollution issues. In Massachusetts, the transportation sector accounts for 40 percent of all greenhouse (GHG) emissions, with nearly half of those GHGs from personal vehicles, most commonly transporting a single occupant – the driver! (Source: https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/12/14/FOTC-ExecutiveSummary.pdf)
I appreciate the new flashing stop signs and street paint and narrowing efforts that will be coming to some Somerville streets soon, but these are band-aid efforts that should have taken place years ago, and not in the wake of tragic, needless pedestrian deaths-by-car.
City and state reps: please make our streets safer by implementing strategies that will reduce the number of cars on the road (i.e. congestion fees, EV feebates, mileage fees aimed at private ride-hailing) and ramp up your efforts for better public transit, cycling, and micromobility options.
Respectfully,
Allie
(10+ yr East Somerville resident)
We are living in a city where for the last 10 years we are adding on 800 cars a year to this city. Many jobs are car dependent either location of work or part of the job. Just reality. And will be increasing. This city has not helped in it’s design to really make this a walk-able and biking city. We needed different store so we could walk to them and not have to drive to another city for things we need. I biked here for over 50 years and now due to mobility issues I no longer can. When I am not working I still have to depend on my vehicle to get what I need to so I can survive. Not a choice. Things like Broadway which I am working to restore do not help at this time. Maybe later in the future. Creating more traffic is not good for our air quality. Idling cars produce the most bad emissions. We need common sense in how we try to fix the problem. I don’t have the answer but more apartments are going to bring more vehicles. Just a fact of life. And to get around some of these closures and traffic calming methods we drive out of the way adding more hours of our vehicle being used. And aggressive driving just keeps getting worse. Not an excuse but a reality. Probably harder to solve than anything else. Just saying we need to eliminate cars is not an answer. we have a big picture to solve. And I wish I knew the answer. Mean while I am trying to do my part by planning our work so as to cut down on driving. I am also working to restore Broadway and I have a petition going to restore it to help ease the traffic an air quality.
Arthur is so right. The more and more development that occurs in Somerville, and in Neighboring Boston, Cambridge and Medford, the more cars you are going to see on our roads. Not to mention the ongoing construction in Union Square, Ball Square, and on Washington St and Beacon St making traffic even worse. Broadway is already down to one lane while the right lane each way goes practically unused. Endless detours forcing commuters to cut thru neighborhoods on side streets. I have been a Somerville resident and have been paying taxes in this city for over two decades and the utter state of disrepair our pothole-laden streets are in is a disgrace.
I only drive once a week now, and I am SO happy to get out of Somerville. Just getting onto 93 is a chore to drive, with Medford now being as hard to get through as Somerville with construction issues. To say it’s easier to drive on 93 than in the city is telling you something.
I walked for the first 30 years of my life, had to depend on buses, trains and timetables. There was nothing more liberating than getting my car. There is no way I would want to give that up.
Yes, it’s better for your health to walk and bike, but anyone who tells you they would rather be limited by that than have a car that allows you to go where you want when you want, either they’re lying, they don’t have to go anywhere, they’re single, have no children, or they have someone to take them where they want to go.
Cars are a necessary evil, like it or not. We need them, we like them, we want them. Acting like there are better options doesn’t make it so, otherwise Uber and Lyft would be out of business by now.
Our current Mayor has turned this city upside-down by allowing developers to build apartments and condos all over the city. Also, is it a coincidence that in an election year, we suddenly have the whole city being torn up for “repairs” and “upgrades” all at once?
The reality is that we are an overcrowded city rapidly becoming even more crowded by making it possible for more people to come here to live, but impossible to park or drive cars here, much less be a cyclist or a pedestrian. Something’s got to give.
Unfortunately, what’s giving is that people are being killed by cars that can barely get through traffic as it is, air quality is degrading, and tempers are flaring because there are simply too many people trying to live in the same amount of limited space.
The best and most obvious solution would simply be to STOP creating more living spaces and work with what we already have. Create more parking spaces to get cars off the narrow streets. Why are only bike lanes and paths a consideration? Taking space away from cars is not going to make things easier. The City profits from parking tickets and meters, yet they act like cars are their enemy.
The Mayor is trying to juggle too many balls in the air, and he’s already dropping them. Perhaps it’s time to get someone else in who may have a more sensible solution to this problem.
It seems like folks are complaining that because there are more people living here (still less than the good old days) that they bring too many cars with them. But no one brings up city parking. If you want a great lever that that city can use to restrict cars in the city then say every 20″ of frontage has access to 1 parking tag, and a limited number can be had at an auction with a set aside for low income / elderly / disabled folks. Its absurd that the fees for a year of parking are so low when a neighbor will rent a spot at nearly 200/month.
Also the city promotes multi use buildings. Look at the one on the corner of Temple and Broadway. The people just opened up their new businesses and the city right away takes away their parking.After they move in and go through the heavy financial burden of starting a business. Sadly they are losing much business over this. People were pulling up in front of their place and seeing no where to park they left. All for a bus lane that hardly sees any buses and traffic backed up with one side of the street empty for no reason other than someone lacking in common sense. People are more fed up than usual. Lots of accidents now on Broadway now. A mistake was made and should now be corrected before people die from this. It was not a problem until the city stepped in. And not the only one. We need a change, desperately.
If people want the city to take care of traffic issues they have to vote for elected officials that care about them. Bob McWatters was one of hardest working aldermen making real progress on road safety and ward 3 voted him out for Ben Ewen Campen who has no idea how to get anything done or just doesn’t care because things are just getting worse.
Matt, the issue/difference between now and the “good old days” is the demographics of the city have changed. 20,30 or 40 years ago a typical 2 or 3 family house here would have a father/mother and say 3 or 4 or more kids. Hence 80,000 people (lots of kids!) via the census,but ONE (1) car in many cases. The old man had the car. So maybe 2 or 3 cars per 2 family house.
Nowadays? You have many of those same bedrooms (that may have had 2 or 3 kids sharing) being occupied by a single person who *needs* a car. So, you’re jamming *maybe* slightly less people (hardly any kids left) into the same area, but a lot more cars. As all those folks that have moved here recently to live some sort of bohemian fantasy lifestyle have cars. It is what it is.
It would be interesting to see the # of registered cars in Somerville in say 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and now. I would guess that there are triple the # of cars here from 1990 with ~ the same population. Also, the people who drive around here now are horrible drivers. Horrible. I can see why road rage is up. There are people who either don’t drive enough to get skillful driving or people who got their license at Walmart. Horrible drivers. Horrible.
And you’re idea to get rid of cars via restricting parking permits is insane. As A Moore stated – a lot of people do need their cars, so taxing/fee’ing people into not having a car is pretty much the dumbest thing I have read in a while.
You want a workable solutions to pedestrian safety and traffic issues? Let’s try: widening the roads to allow MORE cars, don’t pander to the bike MAFIA and for God’s sake if you’re going to do construction plan ahead a bit and stagger the schedules. Really how hard is that to figure out?
Oh and I bet that within 20 years all the bikes lanes that have been PAINTED on roads – that were never meant for bicycles – will be gone. Quietly disappeared as they ol saying goes. They’ll either have to have dedicated / separated bike lanes or bikers will realize on their own that it just isn’t safe to bicycle around here. There are a lot more people getting hurt than the stats are showing.
I’m a big walker and have seen 2 bicyclists get door’d this summer and they both got up (with a lot of effort) and I bet neither reported the incident. Won’t show in the bike mafia’s stats/propaganda. Both guys were hurt no doubt about it, but managed to get up. One guy I was trying to help as it looked like he was down and out, but he got up after a while and the first thing he did was whine about the poor lady who opened her car door. I laughed and said to the guy “Dude, you were riding down Broadway like you were the leader in one of the Tour de France stages. She had no chance to see or react to you – you were a blur blowing by me 20′ behind where you’re all crumpled. You got what you got and if I were I’d be counting my lucky stars you aren’t being fitted for a toe tag.”