Community group pitches quick fix for Willow Avenue

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’s presentation was brief, even simple – deliberately so, according to Mark Chase, a professional transportation consultant and founder of the design group’s 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’s 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’t thought of such a plan. Visibly excited, they quickly began to name potential sponsors. Pero stood to leave, smiling. 
“Keep it up,” he said. 

Comments

[Bo Williams]

Bike lanes on Willow would be great- frustrated cars trying to take a shortcut get really pushy and dangerous. Bike lanes would help me win my "It's illegal and dangerous to ride my bike on the sidewalk, so stop yelling at me to get off the road" war.

[J]

Willow and Elm is definitely a pretty bad intersection to navigate for drivers and pedestrians. But Willow and Summer? I drive or walk through that intersection almost daily and haven't noticed cars speeding through there. That light changes fairly quickly too.

[Bubs]

I don't think either of those intersections are dangerous at all and as a matter of fact I'd be hard pressed to remember any sort of major accidents at either intersection. How about we turn our attention to the narrowness that is Central St. from Highland Ave. before the bridge? Does anyone else out there agree that it's too narrow for a two way because of the cars that are allowed to park there?

[Ron Newman]

An interesting street with a very strange traffic signal, halfway down the block from Summer Street. It's there so that cars stop far enough back to allow the #85 MBTA bus to turn right from Summer onto Central.

[Kate]

Ron - I believe Bubs is referring to Central St., from Highland toward Medford St. Re: Central and Summer Sts. -- I never knew a bus turned there; yikes, I'm amazed they can make the turn, even with traffic stopping way back.

Bubs - I agree with your assessment of that stretch of Central St.; it can be quite congested. Re: Willow at Summer Sts., I'm guessing that the residents have witnessed a lot of speeding at that intersection. Let's fix both locations.

[it *is* funny]

Bubs -- I drive that stretch of Central Street all the time and agree it's very tight. But what I notice is *because* it's tight, most people slow down when driving on it. I'd hate to see them streamline it and see people screaming down there the way they do on every other street in town.

[JARfromWard3]

Kate:

The 85 Bus from Kendall Sq. serves Spring Hill weekdays only from about 0600-2000. A little history here...

In most cases, the present day bus route numbers are the same as the older streetcar or trackless trolley routes which the busses replaced. When the 85 route was protected by streetcar, the service terminated at the corner of School St. and Summer, where a carbarn was located (pretty much where the Concord Gas Station is. There was a rotary converter station, which supplied 600VDC electrical power for the trolley wire, located in back of the carbarn on the corner of Avon and School. The building still stands (and I use the term "stands" in its loosest possible connotation--it is in quite an advanced state of decay and is a general blight on the neighborhood).

When the service transitioned to busses and the carbarn was razed, there was no practical place to turn the busses, thus the "loop" which exists today, taking the busses up Summer, north onto Central, and then east again onto Avon. While I have never seen this in print, I have long believed that there was also considerable community input about extending the service further up Spring Hill, specifically to serve The Somerville Home, which has one of the two bus stops created after the extension; but that's just a guess.

Also, there is a small waiting shelter located on Avon St. near the corner of Central.

73
JAR

[Ron Newman]

I recall the T experimenting for a few years with extending the 85 to Davis Square, but it didn't last very long. It was some time in the late 70s or early 80s, before the Red Line came to Davis.

Why doesn't the T tear down that building at Avon and School, and sell the property? Do they still use it for something?

[JARfromWard3]

Ron:

As far as I know, they do not use it.

Considering that a former Mayor lives right across the street, I have only to assume that the MBTA has been notified on at least a few occasions about the neighbors' disdain.

IIRC, there's a red "X" on the building. A GUESS as to why it hasn't been taken down--possible asbestos, PCBs, etc. (that's the most common reason). Or, it could just be a question of the T's unwillingness due to the cost of doing so.

JAR

[kate]

JAR - Thank you - That's very interesting; I love learning historical tidbits of Somerville.
(Carbarn - now that's a word I haven't heard, since my Medford junior high school days.)

[Ron Newman]

The current police station is a former carbarn ... but that's a whole nother story.

[Kate]

Hmm, I didn't know that. Thanks.

[Joyce McCann]

The intersections at Elm St. and Willow Avenue and Beech St. and Willow Avenue were under construction for at least four or five years!!!! Where were the urban planners of Somerville and Cambridge when all this was going on??? At the time of construction all of these crosswalk, traffic calming issues should have been implemented. It makes me laugh and shake my head, as usual, there is'nt much planning going on around here when they start talking about an issue that should have been addressed and taken care of long ago!!!!!

[Sarah]

If they want to handle a big problem on Willow ave it should be that Charnwood Road is an one way street yet cars drive up it the wrong way all the time. The signs to let people know it's an one way street aren't very easy to see. If they want to do something to handle dangerous situations this would be a good one.