Re: Pedestrian Infrastructure Upgrades/Improvements
Ellery Klein, WalkMedford
Great suggestions. The transportation page has been a work in progress 9Amy, Lilly, myself). We work with Communcations to add/edit items. I'll send your direct language edits - easy change - thanks!!
Also, another minor win, you may have noticed - Park Street. We have a re-education campaign going on there to eliminate sidewalk parking. All signs are up, temp. markings are there, robo-calls have been made multiple times to that area, enforcement to begin very soon. The signs, etc. seem to be working already.
Sincerely,
Todd Blake
Director of Traffic & Transportation
City of Medford
Please note: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts considers most electronic communications to and from public employees to be public records and disclosable under the Massachusetts Public Records Law and its regulations. *Please consider the environment before printing this email.*
From: Ellery Klein, WalkMedford <safewal...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 9, 2024 8:49 AM
To: Todd Blake <tbl...@medford-ma.gov>
Subject: Re: Pedestrian Infrastructure Upgrades/ImprovementsHi Todd,
Thanks so much for this info!!!
You are right that the work is never done. If you can, try to remember to snap a few photos so I can post them on WalkMedford's Instagram for you. I'm always happy to post the wins.I'll try to wander around and snap a few photos when these are completed.
I'll post that map on our Facebook page now.
One thought (let me know if there's a website person I can send this suggestion to directly, about the Transportation page?I'd love for the city to rephrase this reorder the priorities so that the most vulnerable users come first, AND also to make sure people on bikes and buses (ok, and drivers too....haha :) are represented in the wording as human beings, not "bikes and public transportation and personal vehicles."It's so important to humanize road users in our language.
- Current: The City of Medford is committed to safe, accessible streets and sidewalks for all users: personal vehicles, public transportation, bicycles, pedestrians, and all others. We continue to make investments and improvements in our roadway infrastructure to enhance safety and usability of our road network. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions, contact us in one of the following ways:
- Consider changing to: The City of Medford is committed to safe, accessible streets and sidewalks for all users of all ages and abilities: pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, drivers of personal vehicles, and others. We continue to make investments and improvements in our roadway infrastructure to enhance safety and usability of our road network, as well as expand the options for mobility beyond driving. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions, contact us in one of the following ways:
- Question: do we have a goal of reducing VMT in Medford - and if not, why not? We should articulate that!
- Also, great that we have the BlueBike map on there. The one on Otis Street keeps filling up, btw! ... I'd love a map that combines a mile radius circle around each Blue Bike station, with a map of our transit lines (bus and rail) to show how much these BlueBikes are enhancing accessibility to transit in Medford. Think our GIS guy could do that too?
Ellery
On Wed, Feb 7, 2024 at 4:45 PM Todd Blake <tbl...@medford-ma.gov> wrote:
Hi WalkMedford, Safe Roads Alliance,
I just wanted to highlight some upcoming improvements.
Countdown Pedestrian Signal Heads:Pedestrian Signal Equipment
The Transportation Division of DPW/Engineering Department and the Electrical Dept. have collaborated to purchase and install new pedestrian signal equipment ('Countdown' Pedestrian Signal Heads) at 3 locations in Medford. Countdown signals help promote walking by making crossings more user friendly, informing pedestrians how much time they have to cross the street. The 3 locations receiving these upgrades were chosen based on need and spreading these improvements throughout the City somewhat equally. They are as follows:
- Main Street at Harvard Street (South Medford)
- Boston Avenue at Harvard Avenue (West Medford)
- Riverside Avenue at Spring Street (Glenwood/East Medford)
The timeline for these improvements is over the next couple of months (winter 2024) but you may see work starting as early as February 2024. The equipment has already been ordered and received. The Electrical Dept. is working with a contractor on coordinating the installations. These improvements ae made possible by funding from the Transportation Network Company Fees the City receives to offset extra vehicle trips associated with rideshare vehicle trips in Medford.
We look forward to these great new improvements for Medford pedestrians in three different City neighborhoods.
Also, we have some maps posted to the transportation page to help describe important safety enhancements/improvements that have occurred. Steve Morse, our GIS Coordinator helped create these.
Sadly, our work is never done but we'll keep trying to improve.
Sincerely,
Todd Blake
Director of Traffic & Transportation
City of Medford
Please note: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts considers most electronic communications to and from public employees to be public records and disclosable under the Massachusetts Public Records Law and its regulations. *Please consider the environment before printing this email.*
Please note: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts considers most electronic communications to and from public employees to be public records and disclosable under the Massachusetts Public Records Law and its regulations. *Please consider the environment before printing this email.*
Please note: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts considers most electronic communications to and from public employees to be public records and disclosable under the Massachusetts Public Records Law and its regulations. *Please consider the environment before printing this email.*
Todd Blake
Sincerely,
Todd Blake
Director of Traffic & Transportation
City of Medford
Please note: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts considers most electronic communications to and from public employees to be public records and disclosable under the Massachusetts Public Records Law and its regulations. *Please consider the environment before printing this email.*
To: Todd Blake <tbl...@medford-ma.gov>; WalkMedford <walkm...@googlegroups.com>
Please note: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts considers most electronic communications to and from public employees to be public records and disclosable under the Massachusetts Public Records Law and its regulations. *Please consider the environment before printing this email.*