Question about Derby Street (between Cherry and Waltham) pavement markings
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Michael Halle
May 13, 2024, 8:21:38 PMMay 13
to West Newton Community, Pamela Wright, Andrea W. Kelley, Julia Malakie
Dear neighbors,
The city is setting up to do a lot of paving in the Waltham Street area of West Newton. One of those locations is Derby Street between Cherry and Waltham.
The city is looking for feedback on how the street should be striped for maximum pedestrian safety. There is one very specific question for the West Newton Community (and particularly Franklin and Day families):
***Specifically, should Derby Street have a double yellow stripe along its length, or only at its ends like it currently has?***
In slightly more detail, the city saves a lot of money paving Derby at the same time as Waltham. They have the funding to pave the road and repaint new markings to promote safety for all road users. I’ve made sure everyone in DPW and Planning knows what a pedestrian and bicyclist “superhighway” this section of Derby Street is for Franklin and Day students.
Unfortunately, the city will not at this time have the ability to fix the very wide intersections at the cross streets for Derby or replace sidewalks. Newton Transportation has said that they will be able to consider those kinds of changes as a second stage of planning and construction. Again, they understand this importance of this work, particularly with the investment the city is making in the new Franklin School, but the road surface on Derby is objectively awful and needs fixing.
Derby used to have a continuous double yellow stripe. At the time, parents complained that cars and landscaping trucks were driving too close to the sidewalks on this narrow street. To fix that, DPW removed the double yellow along most of the length of the street, only keeping them at the ends to help drivers position themselves better.
I personally felt that removing the double yellow lines did help move vehicles away from the sidewalks, but the collective day-to-day experience of the West Newton community is uniquely useful for this kind of planning. One option would be to paint the street the same way as the rest of Derby Street, with edge lines, crosswalks across side streets, and bike “sharrows" in the travel lane.
You can send any thoughts you might have on this topic to me, our Ward’s Councilors (cc’ed), directly to Traffic Engineer Isaac Prizant (ipri...@newtonma.gov), or all of the above?
Thanks.
—Mike
P.S. The City is installing three new pedestrian crossings for Waltham Street as part of its paving and sidewalk work, including a new crossing at Pleasant Street and Waltham. This crossing in particular will make getting over to the Fessenden fields much more visible and safer. Thanks to the DPW team for their work on this important addition to Waltham Street!
The city is setting up to do a lot of paving in the Waltham Street area of West Newton. One of those locations is Derby Street between Cherry and Waltham.
The city is looking for feedback on how the street should be striped for maximum pedestrian safety. There is one very specific question for the West Newton Community (and particularly Franklin and Day families):
***Specifically, should Derby Street have a double yellow stripe along its length, or only at its ends like it currently has?***
In slightly more detail, the city saves a lot of money paving Derby at the same time as Waltham. They have the funding to pave the road and repaint new markings to promote safety for all road users. I’ve made sure everyone in DPW and Planning knows what a pedestrian and bicyclist “superhighway” this section of Derby Street is for Franklin and Day students.
Unfortunately, the city will not at this time have the ability to fix the very wide intersections at the cross streets for Derby or replace sidewalks. Newton Transportation has said that they will be able to consider those kinds of changes as a second stage of planning and construction. Again, they understand this importance of this work, particularly with the investment the city is making in the new Franklin School, but the road surface on Derby is objectively awful and needs fixing.
Derby used to have a continuous double yellow stripe. At the time, parents complained that cars and landscaping trucks were driving too close to the sidewalks on this narrow street. To fix that, DPW removed the double yellow along most of the length of the street, only keeping them at the ends to help drivers position themselves better.
I personally felt that removing the double yellow lines did help move vehicles away from the sidewalks, but the collective day-to-day experience of the West Newton community is uniquely useful for this kind of planning. One option would be to paint the street the same way as the rest of Derby Street, with edge lines, crosswalks across side streets, and bike “sharrows" in the travel lane.
You can send any thoughts you might have on this topic to me, our Ward’s Councilors (cc’ed), directly to Traffic Engineer Isaac Prizant (ipri...@newtonma.gov), or all of the above?
Thanks.
—Mike
P.S. The City is installing three new pedestrian crossings for Waltham Street as part of its paving and sidewalk work, including a new crossing at Pleasant Street and Waltham. This crossing in particular will make getting over to the Fessenden fields much more visible and safer. Thanks to the DPW team for their work on this important addition to Waltham Street!
Jim Cote
May 13, 2024, 9:53:49 PMMay 13
to westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com, Pamela Wright, Andrea W. Kelley, Julia Malakie
Mike you're correct in preferring the way it is painted currently. We had a number of community meetings over this matter and the "no line" solution was the favorite of everyone as cars weren't forced to drive up against the sidewalks. Once Derby was painted in that fashion the number of close calls and complaints seemed to disappear.
Jim
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BCrosby
May 14, 2024, 4:45:22 PMMay 14
to West Newton Community
I like the "no line" solution - I believe that removing the center line has has been known to slow traffic as well.
Adding "sharrows" for bike sharing would be a nice touch too and if room, white lines close to the curbs.
Thanks Mike!
Best,
Ben
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