ITEM FILE PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
BY THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — While the city has cleared the way to redevelop 300 acres of underutilized land on the Lynnway, the road is a barrier to transforming the waterfront into a vibrant destination point, according to a new study.
The 102-page document by the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, the agency whose mission is to develop regional transportation solutions and decide how to allocate tax dollars to make them happen, will unveil the survey at the State Transportation Building today.
Planners developed short- and long-term alternatives to revamp the Lynnway and Carroll Parkway into a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly boulevard. A long-term fix will cost as much as $20 million, take up to 15 years and it’s unclear who will pay for it. A more modest alternative with short-term solutions would cost up to $7 million.
The most expensive option would include the removal of a travel lane in each direction on the Lynnway and the Carroll Parkway, create a wider median, wider sidewalks, shorter crosswalks, add a separate bicycle lane and more landscaping.
A second, less dramatic and cheaper option would be to maintain the existing roadway and make improvements that would enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety. The short-term alternative estimated to cost up to $7 million would retime and coordinate traffic signals, convert curb lanes into shared-use lanes for bicycles, convince the city, MBTA and businesses to increase the number of bus shelters and improve bus service frequency, add countdown timers at intersections that have high volumes of pedestrians and bicycles and repair broken sidewalks and remove obstructions from crosswalks.
In 2006, the city collaborated with Sasaki Associates to create a master plan to guide development of waterfront parcels. The Watertown-based planner determined that the Lynnway’s waterfront could accommodate 4 million square feet of apartments and condominiums, 2 million square feet of retail, office, hotel and light manufacturing, 5,000 permanent jobs and a whopping $18 million in real estate tax revenues.
But the Lynnway is standing in the way of the rebirth by being a barrier to connecting the waterfront to the downtown and the neighborhoods, the study found.
The Lynnway’s problems cited in the study includes:
- Crosswalks as long as 100 feet and inadequate medians make crossing a challenge and put pedestrians at risk.
- Sidewalks that put pedestrians too close to the travel lanes.
- A lack of trees, which would separate pedestrians and vehicles, encourages speeding and fails to provide a welcoming environment for pedestrians or bicyclists.
- Six-to-seven travel lanes results in a wide roadway, encouraging higher vehicle speeds and placing motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists at risk.
- A lack of bike lanes or shared-lane markings makes the roadway unsafe for bicyclists and forces them to ride on the sidewalks.
- Many of the side streets at the unsignalized intersections lack stop signs, and at the signalized intersections some lack pedestrian signals with pushbuttons, which put pedestrians at risk.
- The high volume of heavy trucks in the corridor poses safety problems for pedestrians and bicycles.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected]
