The Parkway Bridge closing that begins on July 20 and runs through December creates very predictable and dramatic increases in commuter traffic on side streets in the Longfellow neighborhood of Roslindale that will pose major risks to pedestrians. The traffic safety measures proposed by the Mass. Dept. of Transportation (MA DOT) are incredibly naive and inadequate as outlined in The Bulletin article of July 2.

The West Roxbury Parkway is one of the major arteries for commuter traffic from the suburbs south of Boston. With the bridge closing, inbound traffic will be redirected left down Beech Street back toward the West Roxbury business district or right down Belgrade toward Roslindale Square. Most will likely opt to go right in a perceived more direct inbound route.

The MA DOT’s mitigation plan is to ask internet mapping companies to list this as an official detour and to employ detail cops for the first week of the six-month construction period.

If there is one thing that you can count on it’s the goodwill of frustrated and impatient commuters to not use side streets to shorten their already difficult commutes!

Sending many hundreds of additional cars per hour into Roslindale Square is farcical as that business district is literally at a standstill with a dozen cars traversing Corinth Street at any hour of the day. That is not hyperbole.

Commuters will proceed down Belgrade and in the desire to get back to Centre Street as quickly as possible will take a left onto Walworth Street for a block passing the basketball court and street hockey rinks of Fallon Field on the right. At the lighted South Street intersection, commuters will bear right on to Walter Street as the incoming side street is one way, and the wrong direction.

Walter Street then provides a direct route back to Centre but presents the time obstacle of five fully lighted intersections as it traverses the small Longfellow business district and then proceeds past the Arboretum. Traffic already backs up past lights at rush hours as the distance between lights is very short.

Frustrated commuters will then realize that taking a left onto Fletcher Street just prior to the second lighted intersection will get them back to Centre in less than a quarter mile. Fletcher is mostly straight which often induces speeding in many drivers despite it being a narrow single lane with parking on both sides.

A parked car opening its door stops traffic. The street is one of the most active in the neighborhood given its population density and high level of pedestrian activity.

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With hundreds of of additional cars using this cut-through option with many likely speeding (all very predictable behaviors), this scenario creates the high likelihood of serious injury to children, other pedestrians or a driver exiting their car.

Given the paucity of options, I don’t want the increased traffic at my doorstep but am willing to live with it for six months. BUT I WANT IT TO BE AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE. I would rather have a real plan for the behavioral reality than have a fantasy plan that will not alter driver behaviors and leaves neighborhood residents at greater and unneeded risk.

SOLUTION: Installing two speed humps on Fletcher for the duration of the construction period would be sufficient to slow drivers down and increase reaction times for everyone to go about their neighborhood safely.

Equivalently on the evening commute outbound, commuters will cut down Farquahar and Selwyn Streets to get to Walter Street. Temporary speed humps could help increase safety there as well.

Lastly, the endless construction reconfiguring the intersection at Centre and Walter Streets adjacent to Hebrew Senior Living is truly the Wild West with no active traffic lights, no queuing lanes to cross Centre, and no signage. Adding hundreds of annoyed drivers per hour coming up Walter before this project is completed is not wise. Let’s just blow up one major intersection at a time.

Sincerely,

Tony LaCasse

Roslindale