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The City of Somerville will install protected bike lanes on Route 28 across the Wellington Bridge thanks to a MassDOT Shared Streets and Spaces Program grant award. This new statewide funding program supports public health by facilitating quick-build projects that provide new or repurposed space for socially-distanced walking, bicycling, dining, retail, and bus travel during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Wellington Bridge has long represented a gap in the regional network of walking and biking routes along the Mystic River. A narrow 4-foot sidewalk prevents social distancing for people walking, jogging, rolling, and biking across the bridge. Local and regional policy plans identify this crossing as a priority for upgrades to better connect the riverside parklands, employment centers, and transit hubs of Somerville, Medford, Everett, and Boston. Although the City of Somerville will perform the work, the project was planned in partnership with the City of Medford and with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Installation is expected to take place in late fall 2020.
The grant-funded project will reconfigure pavement markings on the bridge, reducing the width of the motor vehicle lanes and using the reclaimed space to establish a physically-separated bike lane in each direction that connects to existing pathways in Assembly Square, Station Landing, MacDonald Park, and Blessing of the Bay Park. The separated bike lanes will reduce crowding on the sidewalks, improving comfort and safety for people on foot or on wheels. Narrower lane widths for motor vehicles are intended to reduce speeding, improving safety for all road users.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Somerville has prepared and implemented strategies for safe and equitable mobility. A citywide Shared Streets network was established to better connect residents to essential services and destinations. A major outdoor dining initiative transformed streets into restaurant seating spaces to support the economic recovery. And to reduce crowding on MBTA buses, the city will build new on-street transit lanes, including a dedicated bus lane and protected bike lane along Washington Street in East Somerville.
For more information and regular COVID-19 updates, visit somervillema.gov/covid19 and sign up for city alerts at www.somervillema.gov/Alerts. We urge you to sign up for every alert method you are able to receive: phone call, text, email. Also follow FB.com/SomervilleCity and @SomervilleCity.
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Great news! It’s been a while since the grumpy grandpas have been on here bitching about bike lanes. I miss that.
Ha ha! Yes, bring on the flexposts and the grumpy grandpas! This is a critical gap in the network and it won’t worsen traffic in this already clogged area one iota. Now if they could just cut out those massive concrete walls separating the sidewalk from the bridge’s roadway and widen the actual sidewalk…
This bridge is actually a pain in the ass to cross by foot / bike. Not enough room for both bikers and pedestrians in that little space, and as a biker you feel like you’re riding on a highway if you stay on the road. So I’m in favor of this, as long as they don’t reduce the number of lanes for cars (since they’re like 99.9999999% of the users of the bridge). I’m happy to squish a bit when I’m driving.
Cute that they mentioned social distancing, since it’s so not a risk on that bridge. Your risk of getting enough of the bug from quick, passing encounters on the street is minimal, and that bridge is such a wind tunnel you could walk 2” from someone and be ok.
Exciting! The narrower lanes hopefully will also help with the rampant speeding on that stroad..
Wonderful news! Thanks Somerville!
Well done Somerville! On a run yesterday to the Everett Costco at the Gateway Plaza, I noticed what an excellent job they did on the Revere Beach Parkway bridge over the Malden River, and I noticed tons of people using it. Many many moons ago, I did the same walk on the old bridge and narrow sidewalk. It was treacherous and I think I was the only person on the whole stretch. It’s amazing what a difference it has made!
I hear you, Sloppy! If you think running across that bridge laden with 12 packs of chili, detergent and paper towels from your trip to Costco is easier now, imagine how much easier it is for me, running back across that bridge from Home Depot with 2×12’s, cinder blocks and mulch. I literally had to back all the way up every time someone came waking the other direction!
Well, Casimir’s back to denigrating senior posters on this site…
Guess you get your jollies watching senior pedestrians dodging sidewalk
cyclists too?
Your ageist posts display what a truly arrogant and tiresome jerk you really are.
And we have a winner!
Ageist? Arrogant? Jerk? Moi? Pish tosh. You, on the other hand…
All I do is push back against obvious trolls with an anti-bike agenda and smack awake over- (or under-) medicated goofs who have no idea what they’re talking about. Not exactly sure where to pigeon hole you. Maybe both things.
One thing’s for sure, you’re consistently off the mark in any conversation here. When it comes to bike lanes, their purpose is to keep everyone safe while NOT biking on sidewalks.
Wait. Seriously. Please pay attention now: bike lanes are meant to keep bikes off the sidewalk. That simple. Repeat until comprehended.
And I can’t think of anyone here who is advocating terrorising seniors on the sidewalks. If you’re hallucinating this stuff then you definitely need your meds either increased, decreased, changed or confiscated.
In the meantime, you might consider not getting on here and insulting people the way you do. This is a place for civil discourse, not a venue for fossil fuel industry shills or muddled shut-ins.
And btw, I myself am in my sixties (I might even be senior to you) so lay off the abuse. There are laws against this.
Your “ageist” pal,
CHP Jr.
(kissy noises)
@ CHP –
If “this is a place for civil discourse,” then what are YOU doing on here?
Ah, CHP can dish it out, but can’t take it!
Who needs the Sunday comics when CHP is on his game?
BTW, a) I have no problems with bike lanes, and b) I’m older then you.
Sayonara.
Ooo-hoo-hoo! Somebody call the burn unit! Sick burn! Not.
You sound like you’re 12. Probably so, mentally. Seriously. Get those meds checked.
At least you’re not having problems with bike lanes.
Happy landings.
@ CHP –
Lame, lame.
You’re off your game.
How cute, you’re flirting. Sorry though, I’m not into dudes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
There are plenty of websites you can go to for that sort of…um…action. This place is for something else.
So take care and, for God’s sake, stay off of those sidewalks. And get those meds checked.
Your (platonic) pal,
CHP Jr.
(hearty handshake)