Based on Complete Streets Working Group comments, City will investigate 10.5’ travel lanes. Will review suggestion for a buffered bike lane, but there’s a question about narrowing the lane to 4’ just for paint. Nicole asked about 10.5’ with flex posts, but Jason said that Transportation isn’t comfortable with 10.5’ lanes and flex posts from a maintenance perspective.
The crosswalk at Whole Foods south of Beacon is still on the north side of the WF parking lot, but the move to the south side of the driveway is still being considered.
Transportation will investigate options and come back with comments.
Great to see these plans. Thanks, Mike! I’m a little surprised to see the Whole Foods crosswalk placed to the north of the driveway. It seems like anyone desiring to go to the north would just use the existing crosswalk. This means anyone going south must cross an active driveway, cross in conflict with turning traffic, and backtrack. I’m wondering why it couldn’t be placed to the south.
So I think ideally the crosswalk would extend from the walkway at the front of the store, but that aligns with the middle of Carthay Circle. The crosswalk would have to be set to the south a bit, around the corner from the front of Whole Foods. Maybe someone thought his was awkward (it is, a bit, but still better than the alternative imho)
Note also that there is a bus stop there along the side of the building. Another reason to relocate the crosswalk.
OTOH, there is a bus stop on the west side of the street near the crosswalk as marked… maybe that was driving the decision? (better to move the bus stop so they align?).
It doesn’t seem like it would help traffic operations to have the RRFB blocking traffic upstream near the intersection for those exiting WFM taking a right.
Noting also that the RRFB did make it into the plans, so getting this right really matters.
Nice to see they’re squaring the corners at Cathay Circle!
The first time Green Newton donated a bus shelter to Newton, most of the $s came from Whole Foods and WF was hoping to get a bus shelter by the wine store on Walnut St. Quite a few of their employees take the T to Newton Highlands and the #59 to the store. Just FYI - Lucia
Another good thing to consider… now! If the wine store is truly the right place for the Needham-bound bus stop, it still might make more sense for peds to cross Carthay circle than navigate the parking lot entrance.
I’d love a crosswalk somewhere in this area because of the two aqueduct trails that go through this section with no existing crosswalks. It’s also easier and much quicker to cross here when headed west rather than navigate the Beacon St. crossing of Walnut with its two right-turn yield lanes and waiting for the pedestrian light. Regulars are used to the police detail stopping traffic right there to allow them to cross in that area during peak Whole Foods hours, and most of Vino di Vino’s customers come from the Whole Foods parking lot.
See response from BETA regarding the proposed crosswalk and “do not block the box” at Whole Foods. We did discuss this at length during the design process.
Construction will begin in October, at the Newton Cemetery side. Work will not begin at Whole Foods until next spring/summer.
Lou
Beta Group, Inc.:
Considerations at the time included the following:
Combination of crosswalk and “do not block the box” more compact in this configuration (about 60 feet). If cross walk added to the south then combination of impact could be 80 to 100 feet and there were some concerns about compliance of queuing traffic with a larger gap leading to peds crossing around queuing vehicles. We may also be further increasing queue length to the intersection.
Adjustment of the bus stop required.
Potentially a better location from ped desire from north west, Cathay.
That said, a location on the south side may be feasible and could be further evaluated if preferred/desired by the City. We could look at this fairly quickly.
I’m having a little trouble unpacking this response. Can anyone help?
Not sure why adjustment of the bus stop would be required, and no mention of peds negotiating the busy driveway. Would love to see a clear explanation of pros/cons with pictures for each.
There was a Complete Streets Working Group update of the preliminary plan for this section of Walnut St. I have updated the topic with the preliminary plans and status. Please comment.
