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.

For the record at Mass. Highway

Mass. Highway, the state agency that will decide (after next month’s hearing) whether to fund the reconstruction of Mass. Ave. in East Arlington, has its own bare-bones web page for the project.

My experience watching similar pages for other projects (all of Arlington is here) is that these reports are abbreviated and often lag behind developments on the ground (or the meeting rooms, as the case may be.) But for Mass. Ave. watchers, it’s another data point.

As of this writing, the most recent activity reported is some paperwork on March 9 about securing rights of way.

Project update suggest slippage

Mass. Ave. reconstruction may not begin until early 2013, according to a revised “Project Update and Frequently Asked Questions” memo that the Town’s planning department posted December 1 on its web page for the project.

The memo uses a Q&A format to address lane configuration, parking, and other issues. The eighth answer (page 3) reads as follows:

We expect construction will begin in the fall of 2012, or the spring of 2013

suggesting that the protracted design process may bump construction into another season.

The first part of the memo, which describes the main features of the redesign, appears not to reflect changes made since August.

An “additional FAQs” memo posted last month by the Town and addressing other issues has slipped onto the archive page. You can download it directly here (pdf file).