transportation

This Wednesday, the Norfolk County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on proposed changes to Canton street related to Westwood Station development. According to the Canton Citizen, Canton selectmen will attend and oppose these changes because they lack adequate data about traffic. Traffic data compiled as part of the Canton-Everett-Forbes traffic calming study can be downloaded from here. The full set of documents posted to the Westwood town web site is available here. The Planning Board from Westwood will also attend. Might be worth missing an episode of "So you think you can dance..."

The hearing will be held in the Main Courtroom of the Norfolk County Superior Court, in Dedham, at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, September 30, 2009.

The Board of Selectmen will meet tonight, Monday, at 7:30pm, "on location" at the Downey School to consider the final report from Urban Engineers, the company that has been working with Canton/Everett/Forbes neighborhood residents to devise traffic calming measures. The report is the product of months of neighborhood meetings and discussions. It maps out numerous engineering modifications to slow down and reduce traffic in the area--in anticipation of the increased demand for roadway use with the development of Westwood Station. The document is available online here or directly from the town website.

Friday was a great day to bike commute. Leaving home a litter later than usual, I found the traffic was not bad. I took along a camera and shot the following photos, (making me even later for work).To see my route, follow this link to a map.

Tip: for anyone who is working on Monday, Columbus Day, I know the traffic is almost nonexistant--another great day to ride a bike in to Boston.

Who needs a car to shop in Westwood? Thanks to perfect weather and my wife taking our other two kids to a birthday party, I was able to try something I've thought about for awhile. I took my son to Powisset Farm, then Roche Bros., to pick up our weekly produce and do a little grocery shopping--on my bike.

I have a mountain bike with a bike seat and a Burley solo trailer. Normally, the trailer would be hauling our youngest child, but a trailer can also be used to haul groceries. Also, given the winding, blind-curve nature of the road to the farm, I felt a little more comfortable with only groceries in that trailer and my son right behind me on the bike.

This weekend, I noticed again how much foot traffic passes in front of my house on Gay Street. Nearly every time I looked out the window, I saw people walking up the hill toward the Hanlon School, pushing strollers, riding bikes with their kids and kids riding bikes with their friends. As I went for a run, I ran into more people. It all all reinforces my impression that we already live in a fairly walkable town and, given some basic improvements in safety and convenience, we could encourage more walking and all the advantages that come from that:

• it promotes good health by giving residents the opportunity for simple exercise,
• it reduces traffic and saves gas by making it possible to avoid car trips for short errands,
• it increases public safety by putting more "eyes on the street," and
• it increases the opportunities for building community as we see our neighbors and have more opportunities for informal conversations.

Walkable communities are more liveable communities and lead to whole, happy, healthy lives for the people who live in them. In the rest of this article, I will describe my personal vision for a Walkable Westwood (please comment!) and link to a number of resources--local, regional, and national that I think can help us kick off a project to make walkability one of the things people cite as a reason they love to live here.

I was unable to attend tonight's Westwood Traffic Advisory Board meeting but hope to hear some progress as I know many residents have been working hard to review proposals for re-engineering intersections in that area. If anyone want to send me any official documents that came out of that meeting, I would be happy to publish them here.

The Fox News crew was greeted by a few residents in the early dawn hours, but alas, no one joined me for the bike ride to Boston on Bike Friday.

I did however pick up a couple of riders in Dedham who then met up with
a group of a dozen or so in West Roxbury.

By the time we reached City Hall, we had probably 20 or more riders in our group, accompanied by several Boston police officers on bikes. At City Hall Plaza, we found well over 100 cyclists coming in from all parts of the Boston metro area. A free cup of coffee, a bagel and on to work by around 8:30.

This Friday is Bike Friday. Cyclists from all over the Boston metro area will be riding in to the city with police escorts and meeting up at Boston City Hall for a rally and free breakfast before work. The nearest starting point from Westwood leaves from the West Roxbury Roche Brothers parking lot at 7:00am this Friday, August 22 (see the map on the Boston city website).

The West Roxbury starting point is a little over 7 miles from Buckmaster Pond--basically a straight shot down 109 and Spring St that would probably take about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to ride. The official "convoy" from that point is another 8.2 miles for a total of 15-16 miles.

If anyone is interested in forming a "Westwood Convoy," we could meet at Buckmaster Pond at 6am--and maybe even get on Fox25's Zip Trip. Send me an email using the Email the editor link on this site if you are interested and serious.

Last Thursday's Hometown Weekly had an article on page 7 by Abby Davidson about biking to work that inspired me to share my experiences in the hope others may take up the challenge. Last year, I rode my bike about 1250 miles around 50 days of the year from my home in Westwood to my office near South Station. I wish I could do it more often; the only thing that gets in the way for me now is the heat of the summer and lack of a shower at my new office location. But there are many steps you can take to get started small and work up to more activity...

I've probably annoyed a few impatient drivers as I work hard to adhere to the speed limits on Gay Street, but as I drove home the other day I was reminded how the street itself is just too fast. No amount of signage and good intentions can overcome the fact that it is a wide country road that invites drivers to go 50mph or more in many sections.