Any proposal for changes to Washington Street between Lowell Ave. and West Newton must account for its varied uses and future development: It functions as a residential street, a business district and an east-west thoroughfare; construction at the Armory and Dunstan East will add 335 more households and 8,000 sq ft of retail in the next few years.
The $2.5M “road diet” planned for Washington Street between West Newton and Lowell Avenue would remove one of 4 traffic lanes and install 2-way bike and pedestrian lanes and convert another into a turning lane, in a TEN year “experiment”. It’s called a “trial” because no permanent changes would be made to the street. It has been met with mixed opinions — from praise as a traffic calming measure that is user-friendly for bikers and pedestrians, to sharp warnings of major rush hour traffic jams and reduced air quality.
Two million dollars in Covid relief money, ARPA funds, are earmarked for construction of this experiment. Rather than spending ARPA money on items that are merely temporary, the Mayor should use these funds on things we can all agree should be permanent improvements to Washington Street: green space and plantings; sidewalks and walking paths; train and bus stations; traffic signals and sound barriers. (NAC survey)
Trials for road diets have been used in other communities in Massachusetts and other states. Many were completed in 6 to 12 months; none of the “experiments” lasted 10 years (example). The timeframe of the pilot for Newton should be cut back accordingly, and implemented with less expensive tools such as roadmarkings, cones, and jersey barriers to reconfigure lanes. Decisions to permanently change Washington Street should not be made before another traffic study is conducted to evaluate current use as well as the effects of the trial period.
Anne Goldback
Newtonville
