Action Alert: Contact your Legislators to Support a Safe Rt 16

Please call or email your state and local legislators and ask them to support an earmark of ~$750,000 for a traffic study that is necessary to move forward with much-needed safety improvements on Route 16 in Cambridge, Somerville and Medford. The timing is immediate (i.e. in the next few days) as the earmark is being discussed this week in the Ways and Means Committee. This is important for residents of Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Arlington, Belmont and Watertown and for anyone who travels through this dangerous corridor.

The immediate priority is conveying the impact of the problem and how improvements should be made for pedestrian, bicyclist and motorist safety and overall traffic calming. Including personal stories and the significance safety improvements would have is strongly encouraged for garnering the support of your legislators as well as how these improvements are important for the entire region. Feel free to share this page with anyone who might be interested.

Here is a link for finding your state legislators: https://malegislature.gov/search/findmylegislator. Be sure to contact both your representative and senator, and if you can please reach out to your Mayor, Councilor or Selectman. 

Background: 

This section of Route 16 from Mass Ave in Cambridge to Main St in Medford is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation and Recreation and is made up of Alewife Brook and Mystic Valley Parkways, and was originally designed to be a “pleasure road” for taking in the beautiful scenery of the surrounding parkland. Today it is a high-speed roadway with some of the highest crash rates in the region that acts exactly opposite to its original intent: it is a dangerous barrier that impedes access of local residents to parkland, nearby amenities and businesses, and negatively impacts the Alewife Brook and Mystic River waterways and climate.

Proposed safety improvements include:

-Protected left turns for motorists at the intersections of Broadway Ave and Boston Ave due to high crash rates

-Significant safety improvements to existing  crosswalks along the entire corridor as well as the addition of a crosswalk for safe access to the Dilboy stadium, fields, and parkland 

-Redesign of the dangerous rotary where Alewife Brook and Mystic Valley Parkways meet to provide safe pedestrian access and safety for all road users

-Lane reduction from two lanes to one in each direction to reduce crossing distance for pedestrians and to curb rampant speeding

Thank you!! For more information, please email somervillesafestreets@gmail.com