Washington @ Blue Ledge – Flex posts are now on the ground!

We are happy to report that flex posts have gone in the ground at Washington & Blue Ledge. Our sincerest thanks to BTD and PWD for moving the Vision Zero crash response here to this milestone. All that remains is the installation of the pedestrian crossing beacon. A couple of photos taken early on Saturday morning.

View looking north. Unfortunately, recent Comcast utility work has damaged crosswalk and bike lane markings.
View looking north. Unfortunately, recent Comcast utility work has damaged crosswalk and bike lane markings. Flex posts look good, though!
View looking south.
View looking south.

Rally for Safer Streets – City Hall Plaza – September 29, 2016 6pm-7pm

Rally for Safer StreetsWalkUP Roslindale is joining with all of its allies in the Vision Zero Coalition to encourage everyone to turn out for a major Rally for Safer Streets. We will gather at City Hall Plaza on September 29, 2016, from 6pm-7pm to demand meaningful steps toward the Vision Zero goal of truly safe streets. Recent crashes and fatalities in Roslindale illustrate that progress has been much too slow and it’s time to turbocharge the movement. Facebook RSVP here, more details below. Spread the word!
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Stonybrook Neighborhood Slow Streets — We see what VZB means by the term and we definitely want it now

Readers of this blog may recall that we offered written testimony to the Boston City Council at their hearing on Vision Zero in May of this year —

WalkUP Testimony at City Vision Zero Hearing

— and that a major part of our focus was on the Neighborhood Slow Streets program and the slow pace of its rollout in Stonybrook and Talbot-Norfolk Triangle. Back then, we put it this way:

And we also applaud the concept of Slow Speed Zones outlined in BTD’s December 2015 Vision Zero Boston Action Plan. These zones would combine a lower speed limit in defined areas with the physical interventions needed to really make a difference – curb extensions, refuge islands and medians, raised crosswalks, special crosswalk signals, vehicle speed monitors, narrower vehicle travel lanes, street diets, and separated bicycle lanes/tracks. We are eagerly awaiting the initial roll out of Slow Speed Zones in the Norfolk-Talbot Triangle in Dorchester and the Stonybrook Area in Jamaica Plain this year. That said, we are surprised that there has been so little information shared or made available broadly about the progress on those areas and we have heard nothing definitive to date about the expansion of the Slow Speed Zones to other neighborhoods once the first two have been implemented. This is desperately needed, it should happen as fast as possible once the essential combination of interventions has been decided, and BTD should be planning for this expansion right now – I can safely say that my own neighborhood of Peters Hill will be among those areas seeking designation as soon as the expansion process is made public. Slowing speeds in our neighborhoods will save lives. While we understand capacity constraints, there is no need to wait or take this part of the Vision Zero effort slow. Everyone in Boston deserves to live on a street on which vehicle speeds are safe.

This past Wednesday evening, the public finally saw the plan for Stonybrook at a community meeting held at English High:

stonybrook-plan-2

I was there myself, along with 3 WUR compatriots, and can attest to the strong support this plan had with the people from that community, including the Stonybrook Neighborhood Association. The most critical features of the plan are a 20 mph speed limit, gateways and signs at the entrances to the area announcing it as such, daylighting of crosswalks, and strategically spaced speed humps (wider than speed bumps, much more effective, and much less taxing on vehicles). I should also mention that this is only phase 1 and that phase 2 is intended to include curb extensions and raised crosswalks at key locations. All in all, the recipe makes sense and BTD deserves thanks and praise for putting this together. We will thank and praise them even more if they get this and Talbot-Norfolk Triangle (their meeting comes later this month – we should all go to that one too in order to show our support) done before the year is out.

And, then, dear friends, we should push everyone we know in our city’s government to find more funding and more capacity to roll this set of changes out to every residential neighborhood in Boston as soon as possible. The stated goal is 2 areas per year. It should be 20. There is no reason to wait.

Everyone in every neighborhood deserves to live on a safe street.

UPDATE: Materials from the meeting have now been posted online here, including the full plan of which only a snapshot is provided above.

Another pedestrian fatality in our neighborhood — this time at Morton/Canterbury

Intersection of Morton and Canterbury
Intersection of Morton and Canterbury

The crash — single driver crashing into a single pedestrian — happened this past Saturday night at the intersection of Morton Street and Canterbury Street, across from the VFW post, in the area where Roslindale, Mattapan, and Jamaica Plain all meet. Reporting has come in from Universal Hub, the Globe, and the Herald:

The victim has been identified as Johnette Sims, a resident of Dorchester. Our thoughts are with her family. Initial reports indicate that Ms. Sims was struck while in a crosswalk and that the driver, who initially fled the scene, has been arrested and will be charged with operating under the influence.

Recognizing the likely multiple contributing causes — which appear to include drunken driving as well as a street system that, here and just about everywhere, continues to encourage vehicular speeding and an expectation that, despite the presence of crosswalks, pedestrians aren’t supposed to be getting in the way — we will try to stay on top of the state and city’s response — both law enforcement and MassDOT/BTD/DPW — to this latest tragedy. If anyone learns more information beyond what has been reported so far, please let us know in the comments section. We will do the same.

201 Days and Counting: An update on the rapid response at Washington & Blue Ledge

Smaller photo

We last reported on this important location a couple of weeks ago, when construction notices went up and we were eager to see the thoughtful plan that BTD had prepared become a reality. Now, as we hit 210 days and counting, we are still at the stage where nothing has happened within the street to physically address the crash that killed one of our neighbors. As you can see from the photo, the last two weeks brought wheelchair-accessible ramps at 2 corners where a new crosswalk is to go, and bases for the poles that will hold the crosswalk flashing beacon equipment. All of the construction signs and cones/barrels have been moved out and we are again wondering exactly how much longer this will have to wait. I asked this question of PWD on Friday via Twitter, and informed that their contractor “is scheduling remaining work” and they will “update when the schedule is available.” I think we can all agree that we hope the work is done very, very soon – in other words, in a matter of days. We are now well over six months since this tragedy occurred, and this response has been painfully slow in arriving.

4 Minutes for Walkability — What is it, how is it achieved, and what’s it good for?

If you have time to click on this link at grist:

The key to fighting climate change and mortality? Walkable cities.

read the intro, and then watch the short video — I believe that’s a 4 minute time commitment in total — you’ll find it worth your while. An excellent summary of what makes a place walkable, how it’s achieved, and what it’s good for. Enjoy and then get out there and get to it!

Counting down to rapid response improvements at Washington & Blue Ledge: 6 days to go to deadline

Still nothing further to report. We’re down to 6 days to go to what we understand is the deadline and we’ve risen to 179 days since the crash. As we are documenting here and as the Vision Zero Boston Coalition is documenting on its website, what the city has said about the priority of the rapid response at this location and the others where fatal pedestrian crashes have occurred is not being matched with action on the ground (other than the reported posting of 7 speed boards at 5 locations across the city).

Counting down to rapid response improvements at Washington/Blue Ledge – 30 days to go

I understand from a conversation I had late yesterday with Charlotte Fleetwood, BTD’s Vision Zero Coordinator, that the expectation is that the full set of safety improvements for Washington @ Blue Ledge will be installed by the middle of July. To be completely clear, Charlotte did not guarantee installation by July 15, but I’m going to use that date as the target.

So, 30 days and counting down, or 155 days and counting up.

148 Days and Counting — Waiting for action near Washington @ Blue Ledge

It is now 148 days since Roslindale resident Silvia Acosta was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking in a crosswalk near the intersection of Washington Street with Blue Ledge Avenue. To date, the city’s sole response has been to place a vehicle speed monitoring sign on the northbound side of the street. And that’s it, for what is supposed to be a high-profile Vision Zero “rapid response” project. WalkUP has been following this closely and we’ve heard many times that plans were close to final, that changes were imminent, and still nothing. How much longer does the city expect our neighborhood to wait for policy to turn into real action?