The City of Boston Transportation Department (BTD), along with several representatives from its consulting firms Bowman and OpenBox, met with almost 60 residents in a virtual format last week to give an update on the Roslindale Transportation Action Plan – https://gvimes.link/rostranplan

The plan is basically a wishlist for residents to both submit ideas to and weigh in on. BTD Project Manager and Roslindale Transportation Manager Mike Tormey said the plan is intended as a starting point for future construction in and around Roslindale Square.

“This is a shared effort to shape the future of Roslindale Square,” he said. “There is going to be a lack of closure here tonight. I’m not going to be able to answer every question or solve every issue we raise, but we’re going to do our best to answer as many questions and respond to as much as we can.”

The plan covers a host of issues, but the three biggest presented on Wednesday began with the idea of returning Washington Street at Adams Park to a two-way configuration, which would, hopefully, ease congestion by allowing outbound traffic to not have to circle the square when going southbound.

“If Washington Street goes two-way again, like it was a generation ago, it kind of unlocks a lot of opportunities,” he said. “Right now, if you’re heading outbound on Washington Street, if you’re driving, on a bus or on a bike, to head outbound from Washington towards Dedham, you have to go around the Square, and especially if you’re heading out on Cummins Highway, you have to go around the Square and back up Washington to get to Cummins.”

He said also that it would remove more regional traffic from the Square and free up space for better bike infrastructure and more public space opportunities.

The next issue was intersection improvements to Corinth and Belgrade, where two years ago a vehicle smashed into the building there, causing massive damage and shutting several businesses down for several months.

“At this intersection we know that there is a lot of long crosswalks, weird traffic islands, and unsafe traffic conditions that make it hard for everyone to get through, and so one of the recommendations from Squares+Streets was to reconfigure this intersection to create shorter crosswalks and create additional public and green infrastructure,” he said.

The other big issue was quick fixes – “state of good repair” issues – and this was where Tormey said the city is looking for input from residents. Tormey said all fixes and the two big ticket items mentioned above would need engineering analysis before moving forward. For the fixes, that didn’t have a specific timeline, but Tormey said the intersection improvements and the two-way configuration studies are expected to be done by the end of the year.

“By the end of the year we’re looking to have an engineering feasibility analysis,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure these things work, that a two-way Washington works and delivers benefits there. We’re trying to look at what the options are by the Square Root (Corinth and Belgrade) and understand what the possibilities are and what the challenges are.”

The sidewalks around Roslindale Square were a big topic at the meeting. Resident Eliott Wiener said he felt bollards might help keep vehicles off the sidewalk, as a vehicle hit Adams Park just last month. Tormey said they are looking at keeping speeds down with road infrastructure, in what’s called traffic calming, but he said he was open to the bollard idea in key locations.

“That would be our first approach, to redesign the intersections to make that less possible, but it’s totally something we can look at,” he said.

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On the other side, resident Gene Radwin asked about widening Washington to allow for more traffic if it was made a two-way.

“The only thing that would seem to make sense would be maybe to widen the streets, and so I’m wondering if there is any consideration in this planning around the intersection of Cummins and Washington to widen the streets, either by decreasing the sidewalk around the park or decreasing the sidewalk on the other side of the street?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t say that’s really on the table; we’re not in the business of narrowing our sidewalks in the Square,” said Tormey. “What you get at though is a reasonable question. If Washington is two-way like it is everywhere else, but Roslindale is unique because there are three or four intersections very close together, that does make it tricky from a traffic engineering perspective, especially at peak times where there are a lot of cars.”

The funding for the plan is coming from the last of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Resident and Roslindale Coalition founder Laurie Radwin asked about where the recommendations came from and the outreach requirements by ARPA and the city’s own rules and regulations. She said she applauded the turnout for the night’s meeting.

“But I don’t see any of the small business owners who are going to be most affected by these changes,” she said. “I’m going to suggest you’re going to need an advocacy organization like ACE (Center for New Americans) or the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) or a similar outside organization for meeting the requirements for the Mayor’s executive order and the ARPA. Thank you very much.”

Openbox Design Director Jennifer Low said there were several meetings and one-and-a-half-to-two-hour “in-depth” interview sessions with four “key audiences that have had gaps in perspectives with past planning conversations.”

“So the four key community audience groups we spoke to and specifically strategized with for outreach and conversations were Black and Brown businesses, families with young children, residents living in affordable housing, and residents with mobility challenges,” she said. “Out of that we interviewed 15 folks and in order to get to that point we conducted outreach with the city neighborhood services to outreach to community leaders to do more pointed invitations. We also set up screener calls to have 15-minute conversations about the intentions of the project – addressing the types of questions you might want answered. And people were compensated for those interviews… We were on foot as well engaging in talking to local businesses and popping our heads in for additional on-the-ground recruitment.”

One other big issue touched on was that of the proposed Orange Line Extension in the city’s Go Boston 2030 Plan. Tormey said the plan allows for the extension, but stipulated the MBTA is a state organization and, as such, the city has limited influence on its plans.

For more information on the plan and to see a recording of the meeting, go to https://gvimes.link/rostranplan