Category: Safety

Soft Open Alert – Roslindale Gateway Path Phase 1!

Matt Lawlor
Roslindale Gateway Path at Arboretum Road Entrance.
The newly opened entrance at Arboretum Rd.
Arboretum Map showing the new entrance and a view toward the Blackwell Path connection.
Updated Arboretum Map & Blackwell Path connection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We here at WalkUP Roslindale have been advocating and organizing around the Roslindale Gateway Path since our inception almost a decade ago and, thanks to the sustained leadership and partnership of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the Arboretum Park Conservancy, LivableStreets Alliance, the Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, Rozzie Bikes, Hubluv, the Solomon Foundation, and of course the City of Boston (especially the leadership of Mayor Michelle Wu as well as the Parks and Recreation Department, the Department of Public Works, and the Transportation Department), we now have the first tangible result of those efforts – the Phase 1 extension from the terminus of the Blackwell Path at South Street alongside and then under the MBTA Needham Line tracks to a brand new and fully fledged Arboretum entrance on Arboretum Road. This is a great step forward in providing better access to this Emerald Necklace jewel to/from this part of Roslindale. It’s long overdue and very welcome, and we will continue to advocate for the rest of the path going forward, so that improved access can be achieved at Archdale Road and at the Roslindale Village Commuter Rail Station. We also urge everyone to mark your calendars for Saturday, 19 July 2025, when the formal grand opening celebration will be held. We’ll share details on that as they become available. Many thanks to all of the players who made this possible!

Our most recent summary piece on the full path can be found here: Roslindale Gateway Path.

 

Hyde Park Avenue Safety Walk – Saturday, April 12 1-3 PM

Ben Bruno

The Boston Better Streets Coalition has organized a Hyde Park Safety Walk tomorrow, Saturday April 12 from 1-3 PM, to help envision a safer Hyde Park Avenue. Meet at Forest Hills Station at 1pm. City Councilors, officials, and Boston transportation planners will be in attendance.

Tell the City What Street Safety Means to You by This Friday 3/7

Ben Bruno

UPDATE: View WalkUP Roslindale’s letter to the administration.

Mayor Wu’s administration has announced a sudden 30-day “Review” of safety and transit improvements that have been implemented in the past three years. This could signal a pivot away from multimodal infrastructure & safe streets (Boston Globe, Streetsblog Mass, Boston Better Streets). It is critical that we all tell the city how much we appreciate the improvements, and how we use this infrastructure every day and rely on it for our safety.

There are good people who work in the administration who probably want to keep the safety improvements they’ve helped build over the past three years, but the people they’re hearing from are those who want it dismantled; our officials need to hear from people who use and support it in order to justify keeping it, and they need to hear by this Friday, March 7th.

In your message, we suggest highlighting 1-2 specific improvements and how you use them and how they how they have affected your life. Here are maps of the City’s bus improvement projects, bike network, and road safety projects for reference.

We recommend emailing the mayor, BTD officials, and city councilors by clicking here.

Call for action on Hyde Park Ave safety improvements

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Hyde Park Ave. is a key connection between Roslindale and adjacent neighborhoods but has long suffered from significant safety issues as a result of decades-old road design decisions that encourage fast and unsafe driving. On December 11, 2024, the City of Boston ran a “Community Open House” for the initiative to improve safety on this street. It had been advertised in advance that draft designs would be shown at the meeting, but instead it was announced that the City will spend all of 2025 running additional community meetings. Streetsblog Mass covered this meeting in detail.

Residents dismayed by this delay are circulating a letter (English / Español) to sign in response, requesting more immediate action.
We support this effort and encourage our supporters to check out the blog post and join the letter.

Revised Squares + Streets Roslindale Square Schedule Announced!

Matt Lawlor Leave a comment

As some of our readers may have heard, the City’s Planning Department are now projecting the following milestone dates on the Squares  + Streets Roslindale Square small area planning process based on current progress:

  1. Mid-October: Draft Small Area Plan for Roslindale Square study area will be released for public review (45-day comment period). The small area plan is expected to include revised recommendations that integrate public input from the Ideas Reception Survey under the following five categories: Housing+Real Estate, Small Business, Arts+Culture, Open Space, Transportation, and Land Use Framework and Design.
  2. Early November – Draft Zoning Map Amendment released for public review (30-day comment period). The map, which will be drawn based on the public input on the Land Use Framework, will illustrate parcels recommended for rezoning, and the specific Squares+Streets zoning categories recommended to be applied to those parcels.
  3. Early December –  Public comment periods end.
  4. January – BPDA Board votes on the adoption of the Plan and Zoning Map Amendment. 
  5. February/March – (Depending on the outcome of the BPDA Board vote) Zoning Commission votes to add the Zoning Map Amendment into the zoning map for Roslindale.

Here’s a helpful timeline graphic that was provided with the revised schedule:

Birch Plaza finally gets where it needed to go and we are THANKFUL!

Matt Lawlor Leave a comment

Conversion of the one-block section of Birch Street from Corinth to Belgrade has been long in the making, it’s true, and it’s also true that we have been steadfast supporters of this idea from its inception. And now that the planters and bench seating have arrived and been filled in with birch trees and other plantings by the city, we are simply delighted with the results. It’s a strong improvement over the prior condition, eliminates what had been a dangerous left turn onto by motor vehicle operators onto Belgrade and provides another great gathering space in our neighborhood for things like Salsa Night in the Square (picture above). Our sincerest, heartfelt thanks to so many folks who helped make this happen, including, in reverse chronological order –

  • Mayor Michelle Wu and her Administration, especially Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge; Jacob Wessel, public realm director for the City of Boston; and ONS Roslindale Representatives Josh McCorkle and Dianna Bronchuk;
  • District 5 Councilor Enrique Pepen;
  • Former District 5 Councilor Arroyo;
  • The Janey Administration;
  • The Walsh Administration;
  • Roslindale Village Main Street; and
  • friend and current WalkUP Roslindale Board member, Adam Shutes, formerly of Boston Cheese Cellar. Great job everyone!

Go Boston 2030 ReVisioned! TAKE. THE. SURVEY!

Matt Lawlor Leave a comment

We’re coming up on 8 years after the initial adoption of the city’s Go Boston 2030 transportation plan and our friends at the Boston Transportation Department are now soliciting input on an update they’re calling “Go Boston 2030 ReVisioned.” As their webpage states:

Go Boston 2030 has guided the City of Boston’s transportation investments since its launch in 2017. More than half of the projects in the plan are already completed or in design. Now, Go Boston 2030 ReVisioned is an opportunity to evaluate our progress, and stake our path toward Boston’s transportation future.

To put a finer point on things, BTD sees 3 main components for the update:

COMPONENT NUMBER 1 – ARE WE MAKING PROGRESS? // UPDATED DATA AND METRICS
The plan’s targets include improving safety, expanding access, and reducing emissions. Go Boston 2030 ReVisioned will create a webpage where we’ll report annually on our progress.
COMPONENT NUMBER 2 – ARE WE INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE? // PROJECT EVALUATION AND IDENTIFICATION
Some Go Boston 2030 projects are complete, some are still in design, and some have yet to start. Go Boston 2030 ReVisioned will track existing projects and identify new ones that advance our goals.
COMPONENT NUMBER 3 – ARE WE MEETING BOSTONIANS’ NEEDS? // FOCUSED COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Two years of city-wide community engagement informed Go Boston 2030. Go Boston 2030 ReVisioned will conduct focused community engagement to reach underrepresented communities.
Check it all out and TAKE THE SURVEY on their webpage. It only takes about 7 minutes!

Public letter regarding child killed by truck driver this Sunday in the Seaport

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A 4-year-old girl was struck and killed by a truck driver near the Children’s Museum in the Seaport District on Sunday. While this occurred outside of Roslindale, we felt it was important to speak out on this horrific event. Below is a public letter we sent to our elected officials.

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One day left – Take the Squares + Streets Survey by no later than tomorrow, 29 March 2024!

Matt Lawlor Leave a comment
Squares + Streets | Boston Planning & Development Agency
Image credit: BPDA.

SURVEY LINK HERE.

Your correspondent just completed it, it’s super easy, offered in Spanish and Haitian Creole as well as English, and well worth about 5 to 10 minutes of your time. Thanks!

UPDATE: Partial Orange Line Shutdown Incoming – Monday through Thursday – 18 to 21 March 2024 PLUS BostonBikes Convoy

Matt Lawlor Leave a comment
Image courtesy Streetsblog MASS and MBTA.

In contrast to the full shutdown back in 2022 that, in hindsight, was sadly much less than met the eye, the MBTA are doing a partial shutdown of the line from Jackson Square to North Station for the next four days – Monday through Thursday, the 18th through the 21st of March 2024. Our friends over at Streetsblog MASS have the details, emphasizing that this is part of the ongoing, largely successful thus far, year-long effort to eliminate all slow zones on the core rail transit system. The major highlights are as follows:

  • There will be free shuttle bus service that will make stops at all of the stations between Jackson Square and Back Bay, so that riders can take the Commuter Rail toward South Station.
  • Shuttles will also stop at Copley station so that riders can take the Green Line toward North Station.
  • The fare gates will be open at both Jackson Square and Back Bay stations, signifying free fare. There will also be free fares at Copley station heading inbound/eastbound.
  • The Commuter Rail will be free between Forest Hills, Ruggles, Back Bay, and South Station.
  • Plan extra time in commutes to anticipate longer than normal wait times for trains.

We’ve bolded the free Commuter Rail option because Ruggles is ideally situated right in the middle of the shuttle portion of the closure and it’ll be a free ride from Forest Hills all the way into South Station for the period of the shutdown. That really looks like the best overall alternative transit-based travel option. We also want to note that Boston Bikes have been leading bike commuting convoys on the Mondays of this month, starting at 8:00 am at Adams Park in Roslindale Square with stops at Green Street (8:20 am) and Jackson Square (8:30 am) before ending at City Hall Plaza. The return trip in the afternoon starts at 5:15 pm from City Hall Plaza and retraces the morning’s inbound route in reverse. So, see you all there at 8:00 am tomorrow at Adams Park and we’ll see if we can get Boston Bikes to sponsor convoys for the following 3 days of the shutdown. Stay tuned! UPDATE: Boston Bikes have agreed to lead the convoy again tomorrow, Tuesday the 19th, but that will be it for this week.