Fwd: Balanced Transportation for Newton — We Deserve Better Planning

[Anne Goldbach]

Please see my letter below 

From: Anne Goldbach <agoldb...@gmail.com>
Date: November 8, 2025 at 1:25:23 PM EST
To: City Council <cityc...@newtonma.gov>, "Marc C. Laredo" <mla...@newtonma.gov>, Ruthanne Fuller Mayor <rfu...@newtonma.gov>
Subject: Balanced Transportation for Newton — We Deserve Better Planning



Balanced Transportation for Newton — We Deserve Better Planning

I am writing to express serious concern about the direction of Newton’s Walk, Roll & Bike Network Plan and the Washington Street Road Diet Pilot. While I support making our streets safer for everyone, the current approach of removing traffic lanes on key corridors—particularly Washington Street—has created and will create more harm than benefit if not properly studied and implemented.  To date, these changes are producing daily congestion, longer travel times, and increased emissions from idling vehicles, undermining both safety and sustainability.

Transparency and Accountability

The City has not released detailed baseline data on traffic volumes, emissions, or emergency-response times. A “pilot” without measurable metrics and a public evaluation schedule risks becoming permanent by default. We also need to know the how these programs impact traffic on nearby streets. 

Residents deserve open data, periodic review, and the opportunity to provide meaningful input before Newton’s transportation network is permanently altered.  Importantly, there need to be definitions for the success or failure of these projects. 

Traffic and Emissions

Since the lane reductions began, Washington Street has experienced extended backups and stop-and-go traffic that trap vehicles at intersections. Moreover, Washington Street experiences additional emissions from the Massachusetts Turnpike, which experiences traffic jams in both directions at various times of the days. When vehicles idle or move in stop and go conditions, they emit the highest concentrations of pollutants including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), and carbon dioxide.  

A 2021 MassDEP study confirmed that “air pollutant concentrations are highest within 500 feet of major roadways,” and that congested highways produce disproportionately high NO₂ and PM₂.₅ levels.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirms that idling and low-speed congestion increase emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates—especially harmful near homes, schools, and businesses. During the winter, this effect worsens as vehicles idle for heat and defrosting while snowbanks narrow lanes even more.

Emergency Access and Safety

With only one lane in each direction, ambulances, fire trucks, and police vehicles cannot bypass stopped traffic when seconds matter. Newton’s emergency services rely on east-west corridors for rapid response. Lane reductions and snow-narrowed shoulders slow those responses and put lives at risk.

Neighborhood and Business Impacts

Traffic diverted from Washington Street now cuts through residential side streets such as Lowell Avenue, Watertown Street, Elm Road, and Crafts Street—routes never intended to carry that volume. Local businesses have lost convenient parking and delivery space, while double-parked trucks block traffic entirely. These outcomes harm small businesses and reduce the quality of life for nearby residents.

A Better Path Forward

Newton can achieve safer, more accessible streets without sacrificing mobility or air quality. I urge the City to:

1. Pause further lane-reduction projects until comprehensive traffic, safety, and air-quality analyses are completed and published.
2. Engage in robust community dialogue before committing to the Walk, Roll, Bike plan and the Washington Street pilot.
3. Adopt balanced solutions such as optimized traffic signals, safer crosswalks, and targeted intersection improvements.
4. Commit to full transparency by defining measurable goals, releasing data regularly, and holding public forums for review.
5. Altering these programs should the reviews reveal issues and/or the need for improvements.  

Our city deserves balanced, evidence-based planning that protects pedestrians and cyclists while keeping roads functional for residents, emergency vehicles, and local businesses. Let’s make Newton safer—without making it slower, more congested, or less livable.

Thank you for your service to our community and for considering these concerns.

Sincerely,

Anne Goldbach

Newtonville

[didi_614]

Great Letter Anne

Unfortunately I doubt the City will do anything about this. 

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[Anne Goldbach]

Thank you!  Perhaps not but we can try.  It occurred to me that this plan was apparently rolled out to the public in 2023 for a hearing at time when most of us were occupied with the issues raised by the MBTA communities act and the VCOD (Village Center Overlay District).  I don’t even recall hearing about this plan myself.  And the plan has changed since then too.  

Anne Goldbach

On Nov 9, 2025, at 10:00 AM, 'didi_614' via West Newton Community <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/westnewtonneighborhood/790841252.6130623.1762700410392%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Michael Halle]

I would like to provide more context on Newton's Walk, Ride, and Roll plan, which is one of the issues that Anne brought up in her letter. 

I think it is important to look at the actual plan to understand it. Here's a link (summary is below):

https://www.newtonma.gov/bikepedplan

I have been involved with Safe Routes to School for a decade. I have also attended countless city meetings where residents literally begged the city for help reducing speeds on their street or fixing a dangerous intersection. 

Too many times, the city has had to say to a parent or a neighbor, "we hear you, but there's nothing we can do". 

And in too many places in the city, we still have barriers that prevent people with mobility or other challenges from getting around safely, denying them their civil right to accessibility. 

It seems we have the same meetings again and again, year, after year, after year. It's not that people don't care. They do. There just hasn't been a mechanism to do anything. Before this administration, there hadn't even been a budget line item for traffic calming or pedestrian safety improvements.

No wonder so many people leave those meetings frustrated. Talk about the need for a "Call for Action!"

This plan finally catalogs those issues of safety and access and builds a planning framework to address them. With limited funds for safety and infrastructure, it is important for the city to put these issues in a larger context and design strategically to help our most vulnerable residents get around. This plan organizes those individual projects and goals. It provides the city a more consistent, efficient way to work on these difficult challenges. 

To clarify what this plan means:

Each and every project that would come out of Walk, Ride, and Roll-based planning would go through the same public process – including public meetings and City Council approval for design and funding – as any other city project. That's the time to address the specific issues of the type Anne raises. This plan just organizes those projects and provides guiding principles for them. There's no special funding that accompanies it. 

Beyond that, this plan finally and officially says that vulnerable users of the road matter. Students and families walking, biking, or rolling to school safely matter. A person in a wheelchair crossing the street to get to a bus matters. People who want more transportation options matter. 

Below is a summary of the plan I was able to pull together if navigating the actual plan is too daunting. 

--Mike

Summary of Newton's Walk, Ride, and Roll Plan

The City of Newton has released a comprehensive plan to help make Newton a safer, more accessible community for people who walk, use a wheelchair or mobility device, bike, or otherwise travel to our schools and other destinations.

Safety First

Between 2022 and 2024, Newton saw 205 crashes involving people walking and biking, including 3 fatalities and 23 serious injuries. The plan directly addresses these safety concerns by identifying high-crash corridors and prioritizing improvements where they're needed most.

School Safety

Newton has over 30 schools serving thousands of students. Under the city's transportation policy, students living within one mile of elementary schools or two miles of secondary schools are ineligible for school buses (with few exceptions). The more students walk, bike, or roll, the less congestion we will have on the roads near our schools. The plan identifies priority improvements around all Newton schools, recognizing that children and families are among the most vulnerable users in our local transportation system.

Accessibility for people of all abilities

Newton maintains 420 miles of sidewalks and 5,200 curb ramps, but many need repair or don't yet meet ADA standards. Approximately 12% of Newton's population has a disability and depends on safe, accessible infrastructure, with this number likely growing over time. The plan prioritizes making the network fully accessible for people with disabilities, older adults, and children.

The plan creates comprehensive networks connecting Newton's 13 village centers, 30+ schools, parks, libraries, and MBTA stations with "low-stress" routes for people who would walk or bike more often if they felt safer.

Strategies

* Reducing vehicle speeds through traffic calming, especially near schools and in areas with vulnerable users
* Enhancing crossings with better signals, crosswalk design, and turn restrictions
* Creating bike lanes and wider sidewalks with clear space for different modes
* Maintaining over 80 miles of plowed sidewalks strategically prioritized for school access, ensuring safe year-round travel for students
* Upgrading non-compliant curb ramps and sidewalks, particularly on routes to schools
* Improving dangerous intersections and creating safe crossings over Route 9, I-90, and I-95
* Working with Newton Safe Routes to School program to provide education, encouragement, and infrastructure improvements

Data-Driven

* The plan is built on extensive data including crash history, traffic stress levels, sidewalk inventories, and over 1,800 community comments
* The plan uses pilot projects to test designs before permanent construction ("test before you invest")
* The plan prioritizes projects based on objective stores that include crash data, traffic counts, safety risk, proximity to schools, and vulnerable populations
* The plan will track metrics including traffic counts, improved infrastructure, percentage of children walking or biking to school, and modal shift patterns

Implementation

The plan coordinates federal safety grants (including Safe Routes to School funding), state Complete Streets funding, the Capital Improvement Plan, and development requirements to gradually build out the network over coming years, focusing on routes to schools, transit, and village centers.

Like all other city projects, projects designed as part of this plan must go through the Newton public process including public meetings and approval by City Council. 

[Ann Beaton]

Excellent letter. Thank you for articulating the situation so clearly. It'll be interesting to see if there's any response from the council, and in particular from Marc Laredo.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/westnewtonneighborhood/790841252.6130623.1762700410392%40mail.yahoo.com.

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Ann Beaton
anncb...@gmail.com