Cleveland Circle pedestrian signals need improvement
Simon Rakov
Hi,
I was walking with my family over the weekend from Beacon St to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. We used the pedestrian signals at Beacon Street and Chestnut Hill Avenue to cross the road in several directions: westbound and eastbound across Chestnut Hill Avenue, and northbound across Beacon St from the east side of the intersection. In all cases we found the time allotted for crossing the street to be inadequate. Additionally, we waited a long time for a signal on every crossing. Finally, we could not cross either street at a safe walking pace in one cycle; we had to almost run across Chestnut Avenue, and when crossing Beacon Street had to wait for another signal at the second island on the southeast side of the intersection.
The timing of signals seem to me to be in need of improvement. Their current timing discourages me from going across the intersection. I would prefer to be able to visit the Reservoir and skating rink more safely and easily.
Would it be possible to adjust the pedestrian timing at this intersection to allow more crossing time? I would also appreciate a split of the signal timing, so that pedestrians could cross with the flow of traffic in the same direction. I understand that this might cause some issues with turning traffic, but in the current setup where the pedestrian light only is available when all traffic is stopped, it takes a long time for the signal to appear. This delay, in my opinion, creates a dangerous situation where pedestrians might be inclined to jaywalk.
Please let me know what you think of this request and what might be the next steps to discuss its implementation.
Thanks very much,
Yours
Simon Rakov
Brookline resident near Cleveland Circle
Eva Webster
I am going to forward your message to the Boston Transportation Department. But I have a feeling that the issue is not going to be resolved right away; it may take some time as well as encounter some complications on the way. Pedestrian convenience is not the only criteria that BTD has to keep in mind — they are also concerned with moving vehicular traffic as efficiently as possible to prevent traffic jams on Chestnut Hill Ave. in Brighton.
This is a very “tricky” area traffic-wise because of the very short distance between two major intersections (Cleveland Circle and Comm. Ave./Chestnut Hill Ave.).
Just so you know (you’re a new member of this group, and this may be news to you), there is a proposed plan to improve traffic in Cleveland Circle that was put together by traffic consultants hired by the developer interested in re-developing the Cinema and Applebee’s parcels (this project is currently in a bit of limbo, but is expected to proceed at some point).
The proposed traffic plan would put in place the system you’re talking about — allowing pedestrians to cross the street at the same time when vehicular traffic moves in parallel direction (on the road that is perpendicular to the one you’d be crossing). I think the term for this is “concurrent crossing”. Coolidge Corner has it, as do most regular intersections.
I am not a traffic expert, but just using common sense I am concerned that there may be problems with that solution as well (and the proposed plan has not been sufficiently discussed in community meetings that have taken place to date). My concern is that Cleveland Circle is very different from a conventional cross-shaped intersection like Coolidge Corner, and what works well for a simple/regular intersection may not work well here.
Just to explain what I mean: in Coolidge Corner, the majority of vehicular traffic moves in straight lines (continuing either along Beacon St., or along Harvard St.). Therefore, the number of cars that need to turn right (left turns are forbidden) is manageable — if they have to wait in a queue to let pedestrians cross the road on which those cars are trying to turn, it does not cause any major back-ups that would block access to nearby intersecting streets.
Not so in Cleveland Circle. From my long-time observation, the majority of traffic volume does not cross Cleveland Circle in straight lines — it turns from Beacon St. onto Chestnut Hill Ave., or from Chestnut Hill Ave. onto Beacon St. -- and left turns are not only unavoidable, but critically important to processing all that traffic.
This means that if we have concurrent crossings in Cleveland Circle, the heavy traffic volumes that need to turn (right or left) -- but would have to wait to first let pedestrians cross the street on which those cars are trying to turn — will be forming long single-file lines on Beacon Street and Chestnut Hill Ave., and the processing of that traffic will be much slower. Thousands of local residents could all of a sudden find accessing or leaving their small neighborhood streets frustratingly more difficult.
I’m very torn about this whole thing because while I’m a pedestrian, of course, I am also a driver, and so is my husband (and he can’t avoid Cleveland Circle on the way to and from work every day). We find the prospect of sitting in traffic, and not being able to easily make turns in Cleveland Circle a potentially serious problem for all motorized users of Cleveland Circle. And, I hate to say it, many more people pass through Cleveland Circle on some kind of wheels than on legs. What to do? What to do? ;-)
Eva
On 10/22/13 1:16 PM, "cleveland-circle-community" <cleveland-cir...@comcast.net> wrote: