Comments on West Chatham Roadway Project Design

[Stephen Buckley]

Dear Everyone,

Here is what I sent (see below) in response the Board of Selectmen's public request for comments, last month, on the consultant's "report" (by HSH, Inc.) on the Route 28 West Chatham Roadway Design Project.

If you would like people to read YOUR comments about the HSH's "report" (even if you missed the December 10th due-date), then you can post them here.  If you do that, then anyone with web-access can see your thoughts, almost immediately.  (As moderator, I do require that messages be civil and "on-topic".)

However, for someone to post a message to the email-group for OpenChatham, they must become a member of the group. (Seems fair, doesn't it?)  No application is needed.  Membership is open to all, and is automatic when you send a blank email to: openchatham +subscribe@googlegroups .com

And if, later, you decide to quit the group, it's just as easy. Every single email that you receive will have a similar email-address for quitting automatically. (An older name for an email-group is a "listserv".  That was what we used before the Web, because all we had was email.)

Feel free to call or email me if you have any questions or comments about using OpenChatham to make our Town (i.e., not just our government) more open and collaborative.

collaboratively yours,

Stephen Buckley, moderator
OpenChatham email-group
sbuc...@igc.org
http://www.OpenChatham.com


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Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2013 16:57:57 -0500
To: Chatham Board of Selectmen (c/o Shanna Nealy) <sne...@chatham-ma.gov>
From: Stephen Buckley <sbuc...@igc.org>
Subject: Comments on West Chatham Roadway Project Design
Cc: Terry Whalen <twh...@chatham-ma.gov>, Nathaniel Cabral-Curtis <ncabral...@hshassoc.com>

Dear Selectmen,

This letter is response to your recent public request for comments on the engineering report drafted by the current consultant (HSH) concerning the Route 28 West Chatham Roadway Design Project.

I base my comments on (1) the report as it was presented at the November 12th meeting of the Board of Selectmen, (2) the video recording of that same presentation, as provided on the Town's website, and (3) the Powerpoint document (file) as found on the consultant's website for the project. http://www.wcroadwaydesign.info/documents.html

On that website, I do not see the "supporting documents" promised by the consultant prior to, and during that meeting.  I do not see an engineering report that explains the way that the various alternatives were evaluated.  I believe that the "alternatives analysis" required by the MassDOT's Design Manual would require at least a paragraph or two, along with an "evaluation matrix" that shows more than checks, X's, and dashes (for Yes, No, and "In-between").

I also do not see, as of this date, the meeting minutes and emailed comments (since last April) promised by the consultant to you on November 12th.  Therefore, I can not respond to assertions to which I (and others) have no access.

In addition, I would like to note that, even though I personally attended the November 12th meeting, the quality of the video recording is so poor that the evaluation matrix (i.e., comparison chart) of the alternatives was so poor as to be unreadable for any member of the public watching the recording of the presentation.

If the consultant had been fair and balanced in his "alternatives analysis", then he would have, at the very least, produced a visualization of his "turning pocket" alternative which he also neglected to describe verbally (i.e., actually it's a curbed green median with cuts for left-turns).  It should have looked like this "complete streets" design using a 60-foot right-of-way (like in West Chatham) http://bit.ly/1bvHm9H.  Also, see what else is missing from the design process by going to MassDOT's "Development of Alternatives" (pages 2-18 to 2-24) in their Project Development and Design Guide (Chapter 2) http://bit.ly/1e0mPgR .

During Town Meeting last May, there was an hour-long discussion before voting on halting the consultant's design process for the West Chatham Roadway project (it passed 214-204, but was non-binding).  Several speakers had warned against halting work on the consultant's report because it would provide the information needed in order for the public to better weigh the options. 

I voted to let the process continue because I believed there would be "more opportunities" for public input on "various alternatives" (Craig Vokey) and "options for design" (Peter Cocolis) so we can see which plan is "better" than others (Len Sussman) but, while there is no plan yet, we do have "a slew of options" (Florence Seldin) so let's "see some design alternatives" because this is "not a foregone conclusion" (John Hausner).

A month later, in June, the consultant was answering questions from the Board of Selectmen, promising them "workable designs" with streetscape visualizations.  When Selectman Florence Seldin asked if the design study would be presenting "a number of alternatives", his reply was "Correct."

Over and over and over again, we've been told that the public would get to review more than one alternative (e.g., the one initially selected by the Board of Selectmen in 2011).  However, that does not appear to be the case with this "report".

As an engineer (and even going back to 5th-grade math), I was told that getting the "right answer" was not enough.  I was told to "show my work".  This so-called "engineering report" does not "show its work."  It is only a powerpoint presentation: a graphical summary with a bit of text.

For that reason, and those above, I request that you instruct the consultant to finish his incomplete report so that we, you and the public, can properly evaluate that work.

sincerely,

Stephen Buckley
15 Balfour Lane
Chatham, MA 02633

http://www.OpenChatham.com
sbuc...@igc.org
24/7 phone: +1-508-348-9090
 
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