West Newton - traffic, lights, parking, etc.

[Ellen Whalley]

I am interested in hearing what West Newton residents think about the narrowing of Washington Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Auburndale - timing of the lights, traffic, bike lanes, etc.   

I think this is a good platform to express our thoughts about this change.  My understanding is that the Washington Street Project is a 10 year pilot.

Thanking you in advance,

Ellen Whalley 

[didi_614]

HI Ellen

Personally I avoid that part of Washington Street and no longer go to the Trader Joes in West Newton as it is too dangerous to drive out of the parking lot.  The narrowing and changes in Auburndale are also a mess but unfortunately if we need to get onto 95 or go to Rte 30 we are stuck driving down that way.
It is disappointing that Washington Street is a 10 year pilot.  We shall see how it works when it snows this winter.

Thanks Joanne 

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[Nancy Mazzapica]

Thanks Ellen for posting . I avoid traveling down Washington St at all costs and now use Austin St and Watertown st . I no longer use the Trader Joe s due to lack of sufficient parking and difficulty with egressing the lot .   So if accidents are down on Washington St I would bet  it’ related to less traffic .

The narrow lanes and curves , turning lanes, stripes of green and white and yellow and the barriers are daunting and remind me of a go cart track !  Not sure what it will be like once winter sets in 

The number of cars idling at Lowell St is a major concern for the environmental impact of air pollution 

It s not a pretty design and resembles the mess on North Beacon St and Western Ave in Brighton 

It would be helpful to get opinions from the many businesses on Washington St about the impact. 

Ten years is way too long 

Thank you  

Nancy  

I agree about the western section of Commonwealth Sve being a mess but need it travel thus to get to 128 and the Pike 

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[bethunelarry]

Welcome to Los Angeles!  I almost always am supportive of changes to improve traffic and safety.  My wife and usually buy groceries at Star over the Pike and Ido a lot of errands in Newtonville.   Since the changes, it takes me 3 or 4 changes of the light at Lowell and Washington.  Once, I counted 30 cars waiting to go through the light (maybe 830a).  Used to be an easy chore, now it IS A CHORE.  

I get traffic calming and bicycle lanes (have only seen one cyclist the past 2 weeks ???)

But the road itself is now so jam-packed with extra and somewhat unneeded barriers.  Would have thought that at each intersection it would be in the interests of ALL drivers and cyclists to have dedictaed left/right turn lanes.  Now everyone is in one lane.

Now that I am done complaining, I must admit I have no better solution that would meet the varying wishes of us all. 

[Anne Goldbach]

I believe the road diet on Washington St. is for 3 years but could be expanded up to 10 years.  I too am concerned about the traffic jams and emissions from idling cars.  I think we are going to need to educate and lobby Marc Laredo and the new city council in order to get them to implement ways to measure traffic on alternate routes as well emissions.

John Oliver wrote about his concerns on the pilot in two posts in May 2024.

https://www.johnoliver4newton.org/?offset=1719718200925

In his May 18 post, this is part of what he posted:

I was one of only a few councilors who did not vote for this project. Again, while I support improving the safety of our roads, I believe that too many questions are unanswered. These include how much traffic do we think will be displaced onto side streets (eg., Watertown St.), how are we measuring the pilot, what does success (or failure) look like.

Anne Goldbach

On Nov 7, 2025, at 8:35 AM, Nancy Mazzapica <nsm...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Noa Rensing]

Some specific issues with the new design that seem like they could be addressed: 

Left turn from Eddy is tight and tough to make. This would be a good place for a short merge lane to turn into. Instead, we get a cross walk with a raised island and a bus stop. Those could have gone on the west side of the intersection. 

Left turn from trader Joe's is very difficult to make, which is extra problematic with Dunstan being one way so a right from trader Joe's funnels traffic all the way to the square. Again, this seems like an obvious place for an eastbound merge lane to turn into. 

Right turn from Dunstan is challenging especially given the poor sightlines to the east. That merge lane needs to be longer. 

 i don't mind the road diet elsewhere, except that the implementation is very cluttered and distracting with all the planters, poles, bumps, and sandwich boards.

Noa

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[Larry Bethune]

Noa, well put.  Cynthia and I agree 100% with your take on this. Larry

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[René Milet]

I thoroughly agree with Noa that specific intersections need to be addressed ASAP, like the left hand turn off Eddy.  Overall though I think the redesign is a vast improvement.   

As a driver, I don't find the slightly slower traffic a problem at all. 

On foot, crossing Washington after parking on the Pike-side curb (e.g., to go into one of the stores) no longer feels like fording the mighty Mississippi.  It used to be the case that, especially on days when my dodgy hip was acting up, I used to have to make mental calculations of how fast I'd be able to limp across before a car going at highway speeds would flatten me like a squirrel.   

And of course cycling to Newtonville or the library by bike now feels like a civilized pleasure. 

The trees, the medians, the bike lane, and the pedestrian crossings:   to me these are all improvements to a thoroughfare that I used to find desolate, inhospitable, and vaguely intimidating.

René

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[Peter F. Harrington, Esq.]

It's to early to decide on the Washington Street improvements. After all, it is going to be a 10 year pilot.

There are some benefits.  

As a senior citizen, I find it helps me concentrate, since I have to watch carefully as I drive through the narrow sections to avoid hitting something, like a car door opening onto Washington Street.

It helps my memory because I have to remember it may be to dangerous to drive the zig-zag course at night.

The long waits in traffic are a good time to switch stations on the radio.  If you don't listen to the radio you should.   It will give you other things to worry about

The speeders get to relax because they learn that blowing the horn is not going to help.  Their frustration level declines as they learn the best solution is to leave home earlier.

All in all, I guess we'll just have to wait a few years for a preliminary report.  It is probably to soon for traffic consultants to make adjustments to such a well thought out, expensive plan.  After all, we have to consider how hard everyone involved in the project worked on the preparation of the plan.  Remember the Washington Street Vision Plan.  Neighbors didn't like it and "they" had to work so long and hard to make the neighbors understand that the plan was better than than they thought.

Peter F. Harrington

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/westnewtonneighborhood/0770cf55-5c2c-477d-b342-9baab085a8fan%40googlegroups.com

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[Emily Honig]

Totally agree with Rene. It's not perfect, but I think it's an enormous improvement (and I personally think it is vastly safer to turn left or right out of Trader Joe's than it used to be).

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Best,

Emily

[Michael Halle]

Thanks to Noa for these comments.

To address those specific points:

The crosswalk, island and bus stop at Eddy do make for a tight turn. Here were the constraints. The crosswalk used to be on the west side of Eddy. It had to move to the east to make space the left turn pocket on Washington St turning into Eddy. The crosswalk across Washington needed to be close to the intersection to fit the curb cut and make it convenient was people walking.

Trader Joe's: this area is very tight as well. The only was to get more space on Washington would be to remove parking. TJ's employees heavily use that parking. Merge lanes have their own challenges with driver conflicts. I agree that leaving TJs was a challenge with four lanes of traffic as well. It only got a little better when Dunstan East construction converted the outbound westbound lane into a turn lane. That was never going to be permanent.

Dunstan St: that's all about the construction, not the pilot design. I assume that once the construction is off the street, Washington will have a center two way turn lane at that location and it will be easier to see.

--Mike

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From: westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Noa Rensing <noa.r...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, November 7, 2025 11:18:04 AM
To: westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [WNewton] West Newton - traffic, lights, parking, etc.

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[Anne Goldbach]

To all on this thread as well as other members of this group - if you believe that the Washington Street pilot is a mistake, or needs to be changed, *please* send your experiences, thoughts and concerns to the city council as well as to the mayor and to Marc Laredo.   If you have emails for incoming new councilors please send it to them too. 

It would be great if you could also post your letters here on the list as well to inspire more people to send their thoughts too.  

Thank you very much!

Anne

Anne Goldbach

On Nov 7, 2025, at 2:46 PM, 'Peter F. Harrington, Esq.' via West Newton Community <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[Damien Croteau-Chonka]

A reminder that more ongoing information about the project (plans, metrics, construction updates, etc.) can be found on-line: https://www.newtonma.gov/WashingtonStreet

The city site also includes a specific e-mail address for feedback: Washingt...@newtonma.gov

I've sent my own positive feedback to that address and to at least one city councilor who solicited feedback in their newsletter.

In short, all of the safety improvements and tweaks mean I'm using Washington Street more than I did before the pilot.

On Fri, Nov 7, 2025 at 1:13 PM René Milet <renem...@gmail.com> wrote:

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