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.

A Crash Course in Mass. Ave.

Town Hall, July 22 2010: Seventh design meeting

The critical hearing on the Town’s 25% plans for Mass. Ave. in East Arlington is set for next Tuesday night, 7 pm, at Town Hall.

If you are wondering what is going on, I have summarized the highlights of the proposed plan in “The Face of a New Mass. Ave.“

If you’d like to dig deeper, this links page includes links to the Town’s web page on the project and other resources.

The Town page includes plan drawings (note how there are 2 inbound lanes, not 1?) and the Functional Design Report. I’ve listed some highlights of that official design document on this page.

A lot of this web site is a record of how we got to this point, which perhaps is not so useful if you want a summary for Tuesday’s hearing. But I have also written about the following issues:

Beyond 25%: What’s at stake at the hearing and after

The hearing next week, and the Highway Commissioner’s subsequent decision, will only mark the end of the first design phase, if perhaps the most important one.

The three design phases are denominated as 25%, 75%, and 100%, as follows.

Petitions in boxes

Photo via Creative Commons license

April 12′s hearing on the Mass. Ave. project is the final public step before the state’s Highway Commissioner decides whether to fund the plan. But the Town has already hosted 7 public meetings to design it.

At one of these last July 22, Joe Connors announced the anti-rebuild East Arlington Concerned Citizens Committee had collected “over two thousand” signatures on a petition against the project.

In contrast to the group’s recent antics, this petition may be the most substantive thing the CCC has done.

Rebuild foes seek permit for protest march

Aux Armes, Citoyens!

Vowing to close down Mass. Ave., opponents of the plan to rebuild that road in East Arlington have asked the Board of Selectmen for a permit to hold a protest march.

Such a permit is only needed for large crowds.

The agenda for the March 28 Selectmen’s meeting includes the following item:

5.    Request:  Permit to March
Eric Berger, East Arlington Concerned Citizens Committee

Berger last month described a plan for an “opposition march down a closed-down Mass. Ave. corridor.” He has also promised “civil disobedience” should Mass Highway approve the Town’s plan over his objections.

Mass DOT Calls April 12 hearing on Mass. Ave. plan

The long-awaited public hearing on the Town’s proposal to rebuild Mass. Ave. with a mix of state and federal funds will be held Tuesday, April 12, at 7 PM at Town Hall.

The official notice of the hearing, including instructions for submitting written comments, is here.

The hearing is the last public step in the process that will culminate in a decision on what are called 25-percent design plans for the project.

This design phase will set the broad shape of the project, including such decision as lane configuration and the location of traffic signals.

The Town’s proposal comprises the Functional Design Report and drawings that are available on the Town’s web page for the project, with some further revisions possible.

A brief summary of the Town’s proposal is here.