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Date: 11/13/2015
WEST SPRINGFIELD – Residents and business owners had the chance to give feedback to proposed designs for the Memorial Avenue Corridor and Union Street Extension Transportation Improvement Project on Nov. 9.
The meeting mostly focused on the work to Memorial Avenue.
Though no official designs have been drafted, Greenman-Pederson, Inc. brought several ideas to the meeting in search of input from stakeholders. This included the engineering company’s preferred design, which would define Memorial Avenue’s lanes, add a two-way left hand turn lane and a bike lane, among other additions.
The meeting provided a chance for people to “mull and shape” the design going forward, according to Jason DeGray, the project manager with Greenman-Pederson.
The issues with Memorial Avenue, he said, are systemic. The road is rutted, wide and undefined, and the goal of the project was to utilize the space in a way the welcomes all forms of transportation.
In a study of the Merrick and Memorial Avenue neighborhoods last year, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission found a high concentration of pedestrian and bicycle use, DeGray said.
About 23 percent of homes in the Merrick and Memorial Avenue neighborhoods do not have access to a car. Not creating a walkable space is a “socioeconomic injustice” to those in the neighborhood, he said.
“Memorial Avenue is a vehicle dominated place because it’s communicating that this is a place for vehicles … It’s not just a place for vehicles,” DeGray said. “There is a significant amount of pedestrian and bicycle activity that’s taking place along this corridor today that doesn’t have the infrastructure to support that use. It is not a pedestrian friendly environment.”
By creating “complete streets,” or streets that “encompass all modes of transportation,” according to Assistant Town Engineer Jim Czach, the roadway becomes safer.
DeGray said the current lanes on Memorial Avenue are too wide, and by reducing lane width to 11 ft., the city can create a more economic space.
The preferred project design included features like a right turn only lane into Gate 1 of the Eastern States Exposition, a two-way bike lane on one side of the road, and two-way left turn lanes.
Concerns were raised about bike lanes and whether or not amateur cyclists would feel comfortable taking to the streets, but DeGray said a three feet buffer between the lane and traffic has, in other cities, increased bike traffic.
DeGray also countered concerns about drivers using the left turn lane as a third lane of forward moving traffic, but sporadic raised center islands would prevent that and also create “refuge” for pedestrians crossing the street.
These lanes, he said, also create “no loss in vehicle capacity” on the road and can be used by the Police Department to create left turn only lanes during the Big E to alleviate traffic.
DeGray raised concerns about the high volume of accidents and the issues of speeding on stretches of Memorial Avenue. He said changes in the street design will cause drivers to react differently to the conditions and, hopefully, operate more mindfully.
“You have a highway out there today,” he said. “It feels like the Autobahn. Traffic needs to slow down.”
Those in attendance, for the most part, agreed and made suggestions regarding cyclist safety and Eastern States Exposition traffic.
DeGray said he and his staff will take the feedback and turn it into a formal design proposal to submit to Massachusetts Department of Transportation. While the design phase of the project is moving forward, Czach said it may be five or six years before a shovel is in the ground on Memorial Avenue.
The Union Street Extension project has the potential to move quicker, Czach said, pending a MassWorks Grant application.
Mayor Edward Sullivan said the city is seeking funding from the state for both projects.
For more information or to give feedback on the design proposals, visit www.townofwestspringfield.org/#!memorial-avenue-project/cr9c.