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Date: 8/17/2021
HOLYOKE – The city is continuing their work to make streets as safe as possible for pedestrians and those riding bicycles.
The grant was announced on July 26 by the Baker-Polito Administration as part of the Shared Streets and Spaces Grant Program. The program, which was created in June of 2020, which according to a press release aims to provide “technical and funding assistance to help Massachusetts municipalities conceive, design and implement changes to curbs, streets, plazas and parking areas in support of public health, safe ability, renewed commerce and community betterment.”
Senior Project Manager for Holyoke Cynthia Marie Espinosa said the city had received multiple rounds of funding through the program.
“The first round we got was in early April, that was about $72,000. We used that for the foundation and installation of three new ValleyBike stations,” she said.
The stations, she said, were installed at Eli Court “in the Flats neighborhood,” in front of the YMCA on Appleton Street and on Main Street “near the gas station.” Espinosa said the installation of the three stations brought the city to having a total of 12 stations in various neighborhoods.
She said the stations were well used. “We’ve been having a good amount of users of the Valley Bikes in the city,” she said. In June of 2021 for nine of the stations, she said “1,459 bikes came out of this station and these nine stations were destinations for 1,439.”
In the most recent round of funding, the city of Holyoke was awarded $73,100 to “install pedestrian safety beacons to better serve recreational and open spaces, the senior center and multiple schools.” City Engineer Robert Peirent said the money would fund the purchase of devices called rabbit flashing beacons in five locations around the city.
“Two are going in at the Dean Campus on Main Street, there will be one going at Springdale Park on Springdale Street, there will be two going in at [the Joe] Mayer Field at Vermont Street and Rhode Island Street,” he said. “There will be two going in on Homestead Avenue by the school and athletic fields, one will be going in at the intersection of Kane [Road] and Homestead [Avenue], and [one at] Pincheon [Road] and Homestead [Avenue.] The last location is at the Holyoke Senior Center, [at] two intersections near the senior center.”
Peirent said these locations were identified as areas of improvement for pedestrians in the city, including the installation of the beacon near the McMahon Elementary School at the intersection of Kane Road and Homestead Avenue for the city a while ago. “One of them, the McMahon School, was on a list of improvements that the city had developed a number of years ago as part of the complete streets project,” he said. “It was flagged as part of this purpose, but [the city] didn’t have funding.”
He explained other areas of concern where the beacons were installed were identified “by consulting the director of the senior center [and] coordinating with the Parks and Recreation Director Terry Shepard.”
In a further attempt to increase pedestrian safety, Peirent said raised sidewalks would be installed at locations where the flashing beacons were also installed. “Two of the locations will coincide with the Mayer Field and the Dean Campus. The City Council appropriated funds to construct raised sidewalks at these locations,” he said. The purpose of this, he explained, was to “improve pedestrian safety and visibility.”
The benefit of the raised sidewalks, he explained, was to “both improve safety and reduce vehicle speed.” An additional two raised crosswalks will also be installed at West Franklin Street. He said pedestrian safety began with driver’s focusing on the road. “It starts with drivers paying attention, the number one problem in pedestrian and bike safety is distracted driving,” he said.