Landscape-design drawings add detail to the business district

Capitol Square landscaping (from new drawings)

Landscape-design drawings for the East Arlington business district, detailing the possible placement of trees, benches, and other features, were posted at the Town’s web page earlier today.

The drawings appear identical to those presented at the July 20 meeting of the Mass. Ave. Review Committee, which were draft works in progress, not final blueprints.

Mass. Ave. design moves to trees and benches

The Town’s Mass. Ave. Review Committee saw preliminary drawings for sidewalk and landscape design at a meeting in the Senior Center last night.

The subsequent discussion emphasized the areas around Grafton Street and opposite Lake Street, and also an inbound bus stop proposed to be moved from the north to the south side of Milton Street to create three additional parking spaces.

Presentations from the staff touched on trees, “street furniture,” the MBTA’s plan to relocate bus stops, and the 75%-design process.

Mass DOT takes comments

Advocates for and against the rebuilding of Mass. Ave. in East Arlington went into overdrive, and comments from the public went into overtime, at a sometimes-raucous project hearing at Town Hall on April 12.

Some 400 people came to the Department of Transportation hearing on the Town’s proposed design. 79 gave comments, and many more were turned away when the hearing adjourned at 10:40.

Arlington Town Hall on Tuesday night. Not quite to capacity, but very full.

Linwood light survives despite changes

At its first meeting in nearly a year, the Town’s Mass. Ave. Review Committee learned of changes to the street design in response to criticism from the Massachusetts Highway Department.

The traffic signal at Linwood and Foster on Mass. Ave, sought both by residents and the Town, remains in the plan, and the basic design is unchanged.

But as with previous iterations of the design, pedestrian safety gave ground again to automobile amenity, and wider travel lanes for cars would squeeze the sidewalks in the business district.

The plan will continue to be refined over the next month or so, with a public informational meeting at Town Hall next Tuesday at 7 PM.

More detailed notes follow. My comments are in red.

Business Jitters

A reader notes that many Mass. Ave. businesses have grave reservations about this whole project. (Read his comments following this post here.)

Some business owners oppose the plan outright. Georgia Rozanitis, who owns Christo’s Fruit Market, has expressed her opposition in the pages of the Arlington Advocate several times this past spring and summer.

Although I think the plan could be better in some ways, I hope it goes forward without further delay. Nonetheless there’s no doubt that business owners are right to have concerns and should continue to be outspoken, active, and vigilant.

The best traffic improvement we’ll never make

The worst choke point on Mass. Ave in East Arlington has got to be at Lake Street inbound. (Route 16 might be worse, but is in Cambridge.)

Lake Street and Mass. Ave. (proposed), detail from the Town's Mass. Ave. web page.

Morning drivers hoping to turn right onto Lake St. must crowd into the turning lane only to be trapped behind an MBTA bus, stopping to pick up commuters in front of the Capitol Theater.

Traffic can back up for blocks, waiting for and often missing a traffic cycle (or three) while buses board passengers. It is the Sargasso Sea of East Arlington.

Here’s how to fix that—and why we shouldn’t (and won’t).