Arborway

Letter: Community Supported DCR’s Arborway Redesign Project Selection

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The following letter was sent to the Jamaica Hills Association and Jamaica Pond Association

I was shocked to learn that you sent a letter to the DCR commissioner regarding the Arborway redesign project. Upon reading the letter I was disappointed (but not surprised) to learn that it espouses exclusionary, anti-pedestrian, anti-cyclist agendas alongside other generic NIMBY tropes. What's more, this letter and its signatories purport to represent the public at large in some way, citing a "jurisdiction" and some official mandate. This could not be further from the truth, given the tenuous ad hoc nature of your groups and their self-appointed authority over arbitrary and sometimes overlapping areas. The Arborway redesign project went through a rigorous, years-long, highly involved, and well attended community process, in which voices of the entire community were heard.

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History

The Last Streetcar to Arborway

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Saturday, December 28, 1985

It was the last streetcar, or was it? Stepping off the car at South and Custer streets that very early December morning certainly had a death-like feel to it. It was winter, it was cold, and it was dark as the door of the car closed behind me. I stepped onto the sidewalk and watched the two-car train of Presidential Conference Cars (PCCs as they were called) move off into the distance toward Forest Hills. As it rounded a curve in South Street heading to its final destination at Arborway, the sound of its wheels on the tracks echoed off the three-decker houses that framed its route on either side.

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Transportation

DCR Working on Additional Design Alternative for Arborway Improvement Project; Will Tell Public About It In January

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The acting commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation recently announced that due to public feedback they've been working on a fourth design alternative for the Arborway Parkways Improvement Project. In a letter addressed to stakeholders, Acting Commissioner Stephanie Cooper said the new alternative design won't be provided until an as of yet unannounced mid-January meeting. Currently there are two traffic rotaries: Kelley Circle by Jamaica Pond and Murray Circle on Centre Street by the Arnold Arboretum. One proposal would keep both circles, one would remove Kelley Circle, and one would remove both circles. DCR announced three alternative design plans to update the Arborway in November 2020.

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Transportation
Rush hour at Murray Circle on Monday, May 17, 2021.

State Blames Arborway Gridlock on Ill-Timed Traffic Light

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Traffic engineers have changed the timing on a light near Murray Circle, a tweak they say should ease gridlock for car drivers. The state recently painted lanes at JP's largest rotary as part of an overhaul of the whole Arborway. The change has won wide acclaim among bicyclists but raised blood pressure among drivers. The gridlock has been worst along Centre Street from the Faulkner Hospital to Murray Circle. In a press release Friday, the Department of Conservation and Recreation said they've received "some complaints about congestion on the Arborway and Centre Street northbound in the afternoon rush hour."

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Transportation
Rush hour at Murray Circle on Monday, May 17, 2021.

New Murray Circle, Arborway Lane Markings Spark Anger, Delight

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At evening rush hour on Monday, the cars inching into JP's busiest rotary moved slower than a woman pushing a stroller along the sidewalk. Bikes, however, zoomed through via a new bike lane.  

Arborway Cycletrack! The broken link in the Emerald Necklace bicycle network has been eliminated! @EmNecklaceBos @bostonbikeunion @MassBike @StreetsBoston @StreetsblogMASS pic.twitter.com/clPBy9y8r0
— Peter Cheung (@bostonaruban) May 18, 2021

Murray Circle, the rotary that links Centre Street and the Arborway, received new lane markings this week.

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