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MassDOT and The City of Somerville have scheduled the second Public Information Meeting for the McGrath Boulevard Project:
Thursday, May 28, 6:30 – 8:30 PM, East Somerville Community School, 50 Cross Street
The purpose of this meeting is to share with the Somerville community the ongoing work of the McGrath Boulevard working group in addition to providing a general overview of the progress of project development. The McGrath Boulevard working group is composed of community residents, municipal staff of abutting cities, business owners, elected officials, and bicycle, pedestrian, and green space advocates. The group has met three times since November, 2014 and is working to reach a preferred alternative for an at-grade boulevard with “complete streets” style bicycle and pedestrian accommodations along the McGrath Highway corridor.
The meeting will also provide residents and other area stakeholders with an opportunity to learn about the status of the short-term improvements to the McGrath Highway corridor and to meet MassDOT’s project team for the current phase of work. Following the presentation, MassDOT staff will facilitate a discussion to hear comments and answer questions.
To be added to the project email list, please contact Donny Dailey, 857-368-8902, donny.dailey@dot.state.ma.us.
To learn more, please visit the McCarthy Overpass/McGrath Highway project website.
Tags: highway
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"An at-grade boulevard with 'complete streets' style bicycle and pedestrian accommodations" apparently means widening the road to 11 lanes at intersections like the one at Somerville Ave. This is scary and dangerous for pedestrians, and will also necessitate very long red lights for cars.
I don't know why anyone thinks this is a good idea.
You can rename McGrath Highway to McGrath Boulevard and paint the edges green on the map, but that won't accomplish the goal of reconnecting Union Square and East Somerville if people have to walk across 11 lanes.
Did anyone consider an architecturally interesting narrow underpass, like Comm Ave at Mass Ave in the Back Bay? Now *that's* a pedestrian-friendly boulevard.
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Thank you for your comments, forwarded to the project team.