|
Ongoing Greenway Advocacy
WalkBoston has been working for many years to ensure that the Central Artery Project will result in a terrific walking environment. As WalkBoston President Liz Levin says, “WalkBoston is proud of our role in creating a walker-friendly design for the Rose Kennedy Greenway. For residents and visitors alike, the Greenway promises to be a prime walkable destination, easily accessible by transit to the entire metropolitan region.” WalkBoston is continuing to work on a number of Greenway issues including:
- Signal timing at all intersections along the Greenway, to make sure that the street crossings are walker-friendly, and that walkers do not have long waits
- Working to ensure that the pedestrian bridges and networks at the New Charles River Basin are completed as planned. These include a bridge over the MBTA railroad tracks on the south side of the Charles River and a bridge across the Charles River (upriver, and possibly attached to the MBTA railroad bridge) that is easily accessible to both walkers and bicycles.
-
Sidewalk continuity along the Greenway, where private developers are proposing site planning that breaks up the sidewalk with an excessive number of curb cuts and driveways and parked cars in the sidewalk right-of-way.
- Sidewalk surfaces along the Greenway, where some of the paving materials may be too roughly textured for comfortable walking and wheelchair use.
|
|
500 Atlantic Avenue Sidewalk
In 2005/2006 WalkBoston worked hard to improve the sidewalk at the 500 Atlantic Avenue, InterContinental Hotel, which had been granted permission to use all of the public sidewalk area for a vehicle drop off zone. As a result of our advocacy, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) issued a Certificate requiring the maintenance of some sidewalk area, and a future review to determine whether more sidewalk could be added back. The results of our advocacy are impressive:
- We have gotten a sidewalk - not perfect, but much better than we had, and much more than many predicted.
- We have really strong EOEA backing to make sure that this does not happen again - on many fronts: the City, the Mass Highway Department/Mass Turnpike Authority land transfer actions, and future EOEA project review.
- EOEA has also directed the City to study traffic operations to see whether we can ultimately get an even better sidewalk (a specific WalkBoston request).
- A permanent City process was established, that includes all of the relevant City departments, which provides an early review of all projects along the Greenway to make sure that they follow the established guidelines for a walkable Greenway.
The EOEA decision achieved the practical reality of a reasonably wide and walkable continuous sidewalk on the particular site (for which there was no provision in the City of Boston's Public Improvement Commission permit). It also announces broad principles for the Greenway, which will ensure that something like this will never happen again. Finally, the decision ensures that the sidewalks will be built as planned. With these principles firmly in place bureaucratically, and the force of public opinion behind them, the future will see adherence to them.
The extraordinary result was a tribute to WalkBoston advocacy by many, many members and supporters – including the 65+ people and organizations who wrote letters to EOEA in support of WalkBoston’s position. It shows what WalkBoston can achieve.
MEPA Certificate 
Project illustrations
WalkBoston's Notice of Project Change
Press coverage
Plan that shows proposed changes
WalkBoston's press release
WalkBoston's newsletter |
