Mayor Fuller approved the commission of a consultants’ report on the Commonwealth Avenue Carriage Way 2-way for bicycling. This report is now complete and was submitted to the DPW Engineers. That report is available to the public on the Transportation Planning web page. That report was discussed by, and has the support of the Complete Streets Working Group, and the Transportation Advisory Group (TAG), and representatives from Safe Routes to Schools Task Force and BikeNewton. I will be providing my own comments to DPW and Transportation Planning tomorrow, 11/25.
The 2nd Public Meeting is scheduled to be led by Nicole Freedman of the Planning Department, on Thursday, November 4, 2021, 5:30-7pm via ZOOM.
Please come out and support this project! We know our children and others ride legally eastbound. And they need to be able to return home safely, the same way.
The addition of stop signs heading west has been an important safety feature that has been a big step toward ensuring that the Carriage Lane is used for local traffic only. It also has minimized the risk of a collision between a driver heading south on the side street and any vehicle heading west on the Carriage Lane. It also protects pedestrians and others along the Carriage Lane who are walking, running or biking eastbound, as it allows them to be better predictors of driver behavior.
The installation of these stop signs also had to go through and be approved by Traffic Council. City Councilors Emily Norton and Andreae Downs made these changes possible. In time, Traffic Council came to see that the presence of these stop signs before each westbound intersection needed to be consistent: Drivers and other users of the Carriage Lane needed to have a consistent set of expectations. The addition of these stop signs also reduced the usage of the Carriage Lane as a by-pass road.
Very often there was an official stop sign along the crossword, north of the Carriage Lane, for southbound drivers. However, Newton roads twist and turn, and often twist and turn while going downhill. Add to that overhanging branches from large trees nearby, and we have a dangerous situation.
See a few of these dangerous situations and the solutions we presented to the City. These required no new Traffic Council dockets, because stops were already in the TPR.
Morseland
Morseland southbound curves around. Between the curve and the tree, drivers simply could not see the stop sign until they were at the corner, and by then it was often too late to stop for runners and pedestrians coming west from the Carriage Lane.
We identified both the problem and a simple and inexpensive solution.
Morseland, after
Valentine
Valentine was particularly challenging. At first, Valentine did not even have a stop sign there. (Bill Paille is responsible for the DO NOT BLOCK THE BOX paint.) To get an initial stop sign, we had to go to Traffic Council. Councilors Norton and Downs docketed this item.
Valentine
Traffic Council approved the stop sign at that intersection. In that discussion, we identified the issues with the heavily curving road accompanied by a sharp downhill. We suggested a “Stop Ahead” sign up the hill, as you see in the image below, in addition to the stop sign at the corner.
Valentine, after
Visibility problems remained, however, as many drivers were contractors coming from West Newton who did not know the neighborhood and weren’t aware that there were pedestrians to the right at the road below, and also because many drivers thought the stop sign was a reference to the beyond, the one at the corner of Valentine and Commonwealth Avenue.
Thus, we suggested a stop sign on the left. Our Transportation Division outdid us, and placed a really large and visible stop sign on the left.
Compliance is now much much higher than it was before. One contractor in a large van recommended the stop sign to the right be placed lower on the pole, since it’s had to see beneath the tree leaves. Getting feedback from people driving, at the site, asking them the question directly, “What would help you here?” is something the City needs to be doing more of.
