The Department of Conservation & Recreation recently held a “listening session” with Melrose residents and elected officials regarding a potential redesign of the intersection of Fellsway East at Washington, in order to promote traffic calming. The Ped/Bike Committee fully agrees that vehicle speeds are unsafe at this location, and that traffic calming measures are appropriate. While we do not yet know what the final designs will be — DCR representatives only presented sketches, based on the existing roadway — we have submitted the below letter to DCR which encourages them to pursue traffic calming designs which narrow the roadway and which, critically, provide safer pedestrian passage across the Fellway to the Middlesex Fells conservation area. Please find our public comment submitted below. We will provide further updates and comments on these efforts as the process continues.
Re: Fellsway East & Washington Street Intersection
Date: January 21st, 2021
To the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR):
The Melrose Pedestrian and Bicyclist Committee (PBC) is a volunteer group of Melrose residents who collaborate with residents, city staff, and elected officials to advocate for safer streets and public space in the City of Melrose, with a special emphasis on walking, bicycling, and accessing transit. Our members represent a broad cross section of residents from all walks of life, and include professional engineers, planners, architects, and others with a skillset that allows our group to provide technical recommendations to the City, typically aligned with existing and proposed state and local funding opportunities, including MassDOT’s Complete Streets, Shared Streets and Spaces, and Safe Routes to School grant programs.
In our role as an advocacy group, two of the most common concerns we hear are that vehicles travel along DCR parkways at dangerous speeds, and that DCR trailheads within Melrose are difficult to safely access by foot or by bike. We are therefore very appreciative of the DCR’s recent “listening session” held with residents regarding the area of Fellsway East near the intersection of Washington Street, and are extremely supportive of the prospect of implementing traffic calming measures at this intersection. It is our Committee’s opinion that roadway narrowing is appropriate at this intersection, and that designs must be developed which feature a marked crossing to improve existing conditions for people accessing the trailheads at this location.
In recent public meetings held with Melrose residents, DCR staff has stressed that the parkways should provide access to the conservation which DCR managed. Present conditions in this region of the Fellsway fall short of this standard. Accessing the conservation trails to the west of the Fellway is virtually impossible from Melrose, and requires either driving to a trailhead or making a dangerous crossing at an unmarked location. Despite these dangers, hikers routinely make unprotected crossings of the Fellsway, and we urge the DCR to acknowledge and take responsibility for providing safer access at these trailheads, of which there are three located within or directly next to the project area.
One potential intervention which may be appropriate for this location, and we believe is supported by MUTCD, would be the presence of a crosswalk featuring one or more Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs), including on the approach if sightlines were viewed as a potential concern. We believe there is flexibility within the project area to locate the crosswalk in a fashion which optimizes site distances, since such a crosswalk could connect to one of the three aforementioned trailheads between Washington St and Aaron St. In the example image below, a crosswalk with a pedestrian-actuated RRFB could be located between Washington and Aaron St (circled), with the option of providing additional RRFBs on the advance(s) in the regions of Washington and Aaron Street.
While we understand Aaron Street to be technically outside of the project scope as presented, that intersection has had 40% more crashes in the last ten years than the intersection of Glen Street, which is within the project area. If traffic calming benefits can be implemented at this intersection within the project budget, they should strongly be considered.
Finally, we encourage the placement of wayfinding signage and installation of a bicycle rack at this location. We applaud the proposed sketches for featuring improved cycling infrastructure, but our membership notes that an individual who wishes to cycle to these trails currently has no place to safely lock that bicycle upon arrival. This undoubtedly causes some cyclists to violate DCR rules by, for example, walking off-trail and potentially securing a bicycle to a tree. Placing a secure bike rack here will prevent such behavior while promoting equal access to the trails. The area could additionally be improved by the placement of context-appropriate signage. In a recent survey of Melrose residents, conducted as part of the city’s Wayfinding and Placemaking Initiative, one of the most commonly-requested suggestions from residents was improved wayfinding to the beautiful trails our residents have access to.
Thank you again for providing the opportunity to discuss this intersection, and we look forward to continued engagement as we pursue our shared goal of improving sustainable, responsible access to the DCR’s beautiful conservation land.