January 06, 2022
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Division of Professional Licensure
Office of Public Safety and Inspections
Architectural Access Board
1000 Washington St, Suite 710, Boston MA
Dear Members of the Architectural Access Board,
We submit the following public comment on the variance request for “MassDOT Project Number 608605 regarding Sidewalk and Wheelchair Improvements and Related Work”:
We welcome MassDOT’s plan to bring the crossing at Poplar Street in Somerville into regulatory compliance. However, we ask the board to deny the application for a variance as currently written and instead ask the project to bring the adjacent sidewalks into compliance, especially the short connection from the project’s current northwest boundary to the nearby bus stop.
We also suggest that the large radii of the turn lanes at Popular Street are contrary to current safety best-practice. They encourage high-speed turns that will put users of this new crosswalk at risk. We urge the board and MassDOT to collaborate on an improved design that would shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians and slow turning vehicles, such as squaring off the intersection and raising crosswalks.
Sincerely,
Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets Steering Committee
somervillesafestreets@gmail.com
Angie Byrne, Highland Ave
Ken Carlson, Beacon Street
Bonnie Denis, Maxwell’s Green
Chris Dwan, Ivaloo Street
Edward A. Faulkner, Bay Sate Ave
Stephanie Galaitsi, Morrison Ave
Joan Liu, Florence Street
Karen Molloy, Highland Avenue
Mark Niedergang, Conwell Street
Ellin Reisner, Mt. Vernon Street
George Schneeloch, School Street
Arah Schuur, Walker Street
Susann Wilkinson, Orchard Street
Emily Vides, Mystic Avenue
Larry Yu, Herbert Street
Alex Epstein, Windsor Road