Co-chairs: Dianne Lescinskas, Jennifer Deabler
Minutes: Doreen Miller
Also in attendance: Madison Foley (city liaison), Heidi Moesinger, Matthew Moran (city transportation department), Liam Rimas (representing Councilor Fitzgerald)
Buttonwood Street Traffic Calming Measures and Columbia Road
- The community survey results to give feedback to the city on their proposal for street-calming measures to Buttonwood were released yesterday.
- 80% of the comments were neutral to positive.
- The negative comments were not wrong and need to be kept in mind when reviewing the actual effectiveness of proposed changes.
- Many felt the changes do not go far enough and may not be effective in slowing traffic.
- Many would like to see speed humps installed.
- Some suggested permanently closing off the left turn off Columbia Road, which is currently closed off during rush hour from 4-6 PM, although many disregard the sign.
- A suggestion was made to make the left turn from Columbia Road onto Dorchester Ave heading south two lanes instead of one. This would require a signal change and other street changes.
- Tools that can be used within the department include:
- Signage
- Striping
- Flex poles
- Matthew Moran shared the slides for the traffic calming measures proposed for Buttonwood Street. They include:
- Eliminating parking at the intersections of Columbia Road, Grafton Street, and Crescent Ave to create greater visibility of the intersection and better pedestrian safety. (Technically, people are currently not allowed to park within 20 feet of an intersection, but this is rarely enforced.)
- Narrowing the entry to Buttonwood from Columbia Road to slow down traffic.
- Adding approach signage to alert drivers to stop.
- Creating better defined crosswalks.
- The next steps are to
- Review all comments.
- Synthesize any outstanding items.
- Finalize engineering plans and get them implemented.
- Caveat: Pedestrian striping needs to take place in temperatures above 40 degrees.
- If the weather cooperates, work can be done in mid to late November.
- Heidi will put the Buttonwood design plans on Facebook.
- The chairs will send Des Rohan updates on the Buttonwood proposal.
- You can send comments to transit@boston.gov
- Community liaison Madison Foley is also available as a contact person: Madison.Foley@boston.gov
- A proposal for the Redesign of Columbia Road is being presented next week, Wednesday, October 30, at the Strand Theater from 5:30 – 8:00 PM at the Strand Theater. Members and residents are encouraged to attend. Meeting details can be found on the CSHCA website calendar. You can find further information on the city’s website for this proposal:
Speed Humps in Savin Hill and the CSHCA area
- Our area lists the greatest number of 311 calls with regards to speeding, especially by the courts on Grampian Way.
- We should continue to push to have speed humps installed as soon as possible after the completion of the utility work taking place in Savin Hill. The city should plan now as to the placement of speed humps in our area so that they are ready to go without delay once all utility projects are completed.
- It was suggested that the city prioritize the installation of speed humps abutting city parks and schools.
Crosswalks in Savin Hill
- Sidewalks with curbs do exist at the Savin Hill Avenue/Grampian Way/Evandale Terrace intersection, so that crosswalks into the park could and should be installed to improve pedestrian safety.
- The crosswalk at Savin Hill Avenue and Old Colony Terrace has faded and needs to be repainted. Residents are encouraged to file a 311 request for this.
- Matt Moran will flag and look into both of these.
Other Business
- A request to get 25 mph speed limit signs posted at the entry points to our neighborhood was made.
- Heidi emailed Councilor Fitzgerald about the disruption residents experienced with the overnight all weekend work by Eversource.
- It was loud and caused houses to shake, disrupting sleep.
- Unless it is an emergency, overnight work in residential areas should not be permitted.
- We would be OK with extended construction work hours to 10 PM, but people need to sleep.
- Liam Rimas said he would follow up with this.
- Members are encouraged to email Madison Foley about this and have her deal with ISD, which handles the issuance of work permits.