Mass. Highway: Bigger bike lanes, scaled-back traffic signals

Foster St. signal (Source: Town of Arlington)

Wider bicycle lanes and changes to the Thorndike and Foster traffic signals are among the suggestions made to the Town this winter by state engineers at Mass. Highway.

The agency’s written comments to the Town’s proposed 25% plans for Mass. Ave. are generally supportive and include advice and many suggestions.

The Town’s response could include changes to its plans.

Promised traffic improvements

Mass. Ave FDR

Four Mass. Ave. traffic intersections flunk out on a scale where A–D are good and E–F are not.

That assessment, in the project’s functional design report, evaluates level of service based primarily on seconds of delay per vehicle.

The Town’s consultants take this further by also grading the intersections in the future, assuming a steady growth in traffic volume, for (1) no design change (“no build”) versus (2) reconstruction as proposed by the Town.

No-Build (NB) vs. Plan Over Time (am/pm peak)

	Bates			Orvis			Lake			Rt. 16
	NB	Plan		NB	Plan		NB	Plan		NB	Plan
Today	F/F			F/F			F/F			E/E
2018	F/F	C/B		F/F	F/F		F/F	D/C		E/E	E/D
2028	F/F	C/B		F/F	F/F		F/F	E/D		F/E	E/E

The face of a new Mass. Ave.

Never mind the sausage factory of process and meetings and interim drafts.

If Mass. Highway approves the 25-percent plans as submitted, what will we get? What will be different?

An incremental revision

The Town has posted a new set of drawings on its Mass. Ave. web page.

I can’t spot anything new, can you? Perhaps some technical detail has been added.

The drawings include an October 14 date and the words “Draft for discussion” are gone.

Older iterations are still available on the Town’s archive page.

New drawings at Town Day may be final

New plans for Mass. Ave. in East Arlington that would partially restore the traversable median proposed last year were unveiled at Town Day earlier today.

The plans may be submitted to the state within a few weeks, according to Town Planner Laura Wiener, who is overseeing the project.

East Arlington business district plans, September 25. Click for detailed view.

The basic features, such as the lane configuration and dedicated bicycle lanes, are unchanged from the version approved by the Town a year ago. In particular, the design still calls for

• A single travel lane for most of the outbound (Westbound) traffic;
• Two 11-foot travel lanes inbound;
• Five-foot bicycle lanes in both directions;
• Traffic signals at Teel and Linwood Streets, where there are signals today (and which had been in doubt), and a new signal at Bates Road;
• Improved pedestrian crossings.

New since the previous drawings:

• A 6-foot textured median, flush with the pavement, from Orvis Road to Milton Street.
• On the stretch of road with the median, parking lanes would be 8.5 feet wide; elsewhere they would be 10 feet.
• Where there is no median proposed, the width of the outbound travel lane would swell to as much as 15 feet (11 feet otherwise).

Public views Mass. Ave. plans

About 200 Arlington residents and fellow travelers came to Town Hall last night for the seventh public hearing on much-delayed plans to refurbish Mass. Ave, which is still slated for 2012.

It was the first opportunity for the public to question the consulting engineers about the plan since April of 2009. The Board of Selectmen submitted the plans for State review last August.

New drawings were on display at the meeting

Most of the basic elements of the plan are unchanged: the lane configuration, including bicycle lanes, new pedestrian crossings, and traffic signals at Teel/Thorndike, Lake, Bates/Marion, and Linwood/Foster.

As described last week, however, the latest drawings remove a proposed traversable median from  much of Mass. Ave., widen traffic lanes, and reduce or eliminate proposed sidewalk widening in the business district around the Capitol Theater.

One sidewalk would even be narrowed in one place to accommodate the wider traffic lanes.

The engineers made these and other changes in response to criticism of the 2009 version made earlier this year by Mass. Highway District 4.

Comments and questions following a presentation by Rick Azzalina of Fay Spofford & Thorndike were wide-ranging. Azzalina repeatedly described the design as “a work in progress” that could be influenced by public comments.

However, his responses to comments mostly explained why particular changes were unlikely or inexpedient.

Azzalina said the plan is to resubmit the so-called 25% plans to Mass. Highway next month, for a formal hearing in September paving the way (through many intermediate steps) to advertise the project in December of 2011.

My notes, incomplete and unofficial as usual, follow; my personal comments are in red.

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.

Committee Sends Plans to Selectmen

Summary of the decision: The expanded 18-member committee overseeing the redesign of Mass. Ave. in East Arlington last night (June 24) voted to submit a basic design to the Board of Selectmen.

The plan features two eastbound lanes, one-and-a-half westbound lanes, dedicated bicycle lanes, and traffic signals at all existing locations and at Bates Road.

If the Selectmen submit this plan to Mass. Highway on behalf of the town, and the state highway agency approves it, this design will be the framework within which other design issues are worked out.

Meeting Notes: (to the best of my ability, and completely unofficial. My personal comments are in red.)

The meeting began with a presentation from John Michalak and Doug Prentiss, consultants retained by the town for this project, recapping their work and explaining their requirements, methods, and some of their conclusions. This was for the benefit of those of us recently appointed to the panel, the second of two meetings at which we newcomers essentially dominated the agenda with questions and comments. The main points follow after the break.

Latest Drawings: traffic lights at Thorndike, Linwood, & Bates

The latest drawings, dated June 16, are now up at the town web site. They show traffic lights at all the controversial Mass. Ave. intersections: (1) Thorndike and Teel, (2) Linwood and Foster, and (3) Bates and Marion.

(Note: A glitch at the Town’s site provides the wrong link for the second half of the June 16 drawings. Until it is fixed, you can see the second half here. Both halves of the drawings are available from the Town now.)

The design still incorporates two eastbound travel lanes, and a “one-and-a-half” lane configuration (one lane with left-turn lanes) westbound.

As I explained last week, this is a work in progress that will be subject to approval by the Selectmen and by Mass. Highway, a state agency. A draft of the report that the town must submit to Mass. Highway is also posted on the web site along with the drawings.

Lastest Plan: light stays at Thorndike St.

A June 10 memo from Arlington’s planning department recommends keeping the traffic signal at Thorndike and Teel streets (at Mass. Ave) even though that intersection does not meet state criteria for a traffic light.

The report also endorses the “three-and-a-half-lane” configuration for Mass. Ave. depicted in the May 14 drawings (which are available from the town here.) This option has two eastbound lanes and one westbound (with left turning lanes westbound, thus the “half” lane) for most of the project.

The Planning Department’s recommendation is not final, and even if adopted by the Selectmen the proposal to keep the Thorndike-Teel light will be subject to review by Mass. Highway.

The department endorsed the proposed shift of a traffic signal from Linwood/Foster to Bates/Marion, citing a likely improvement in traffic flow. However, the memo also concluded, “If the eventual decision is made not to include the light [at Bates Rd.]…we believe traffic navigating the intersection will be no worse off than it is today.”

The plan as recommended includes five-foot bike lanes on both sides of Mass. Ave. and does not entail widening the street or removing any trees.

Adam