Latest news with #TransitMatters
Boston Globe
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Blue Hill Avenue redesign in Mattapan draws ire from area residents
Discussions about upgrading Blue Hill Avenue have been going on since at least 2006. Today, the busy corridor, which commuters from Mattapan and surrounding areas use to travel north to the South End, sees Jascher Franklin-Hodge, chief of streets for the city of Boston, said the latest plan for Blue Hill Avenue would retain 90 percent of the existing parking spots. Advertisement Mattapan residents are concerned that city and state officials are not listening to them when they discussed the impact the project would have on parking, driving and pedestrian access in the neighborhood. Three city councilors, Julia Mejia, Tania Fernandes Anderson and Brian Worrell, called Tuesday's community meeting in response to citizen concerns. Advertisement Commuters, people running errands, and parents driving to child care pickups were concerned that the proposal would make their trips longer. State Rep. Russell Holmes, and citizens who spoke in favor of the center bus lane, were heckled by audience members on their view that the project would make the street safer for cyclists and some pedestrians. Residents were also concerned the project would make it harder for seniors and those with disabilities to board buses because they would have to cross traffic to get to the middle lane. 'I have a cane as a result of surviving three strokes,' said Sharon Hinton, a council candidate running in District 5, where the project is partially located. 'There is no way that something like me or someone in a wheelchair or an elder … is going to make it into the middle of the street.' In addition to low community buy-in, the project also faces uncertainty related to funding. Around $44 million — a mix of local, state and federal funding — has been allocated to the project, which At Tuesday's meeting, city officials, and residents, agreed that the project could cost a lot more. Franklin-Hodge, the city's chief of streets, agreed with Ali-Salaam of the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council, who said the project needs around $100 million in total. Franklin-Hodge said the city and the MBTA jointly applied for Small Starts, a Advertisement 'Although we expect the project to be scored very highly in the review of that grant, the change in presidential administrations means that there is a great deal of uncertainty about any future federal funding,' Franklin-Hodge said. Vivian Ortiz, a car-free Mattapan resident who bikes and rides transit, and who leads bike rides for young people at the Mattahunt Community Center, spoke in support of the plan. 'I was really terrified of biking on Cummins highway and Blue Hill Avenue … I wasn't able to come up with a route where I felt comfortable having the young people ride with me,' Ortiz said. Katie Calandriello, interim executive director of Transit Matters, a public transportation advocacy group, who spoke on a panel with Ortiz at Tuesday's meeting, talked about how the project would benefit riders that use 10 bus routes, including the much-used route 28. 'The Blue Hill Avenue project area encompasses a majority of our system's worst performing buses. The completion of this redesign can make these buses better,' Calandriello said, 'the time savings are predicted to be between 12 and 15 minutes.' Calandriello said the project would also help address 'bus bunching' — when delayed buses come one after another instead of on schedule, making bus headways unpredictable and unreliable. The concept of a center bus lane being proposed for Blue Hill Avenue has already debuted in Jamaica Plain starting October 2021 where a 0.7 mile section of Advertisement Denise O'Marde, owner of Cafe Juice Up, said she was worried that the proposed center bus lane and the current lack of parking enforcement would make it hard for her customers to drive to her business. Rather than focusing on transit solutions, she wanted city leaders to address double parking in Mattapan and reduce the maximum limits for street parking spots along Blue Hill Avenue to 15-minute spots to discourage long-term parking on the street. 'What will the impact control strategy be for small businesses in this plan' O'Marde said, 'and the potential loss of revenue that small businesses will realize because of the potential redesign?' Angela Mathew can be reached at
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MBTA announces commuter rail schedule change to allow major rail replacement
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will soon launch an extensive rail replacement project covering 30 miles of tracks in Boston, forcing schedule changes for one commuter rail line. The $12 million project will replace all rail on the Fairmount Line of the commuter rail, going 'well beyond the amount of rail replacement work typically done in a year,' the MBTA said. It will set up the T to introduce battery-electric trains to the Fairmount Line in 2028, a milestone for the state to meet its goal of eliminating carbon emissions from public transit. But to accomplish that work in a timely manner, the MBTA must limit service on the Fairmount Line from June 2 through the fall. The line will run with reduced service from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and weekends until the work is completed. The Fairmount Line provides service from South Station to Hyde Park, Boston's southernmost neighborhood, winding primarily through Dorchester and Mattapan on the way. It serves approximately 4,000 riders daily during the workweek, according to data from the public transit advocacy group TransitMatters. While construction is underway, work crews will also deep clean and power wash all stations along the Fairmount Line, remove graffiti, clear trash and brush from the tracks, and improve water drainage. Passengers can take nearby bus routes for alternate service, the MBTA said. On weekends through the fall, the T also said three inbound trains and four outbound trains on the Franklin Line will operate on the Northeast Corridor route between Readville and South Station, instead of taking their normal route on the Fairmount Line. A separate schedule change will also come on June 2 when construction ends on the Lowell and Newburyport/Rockport lines of the commuter rail. The T plans to return midday trains to the schedules for both lines. The Lowell Line schedule change allowed for the reconstruction of Winchester Center Station, which is expected to reopen in early June. On the Newburyport/Rockport Line, the T said it focused on track and other infrastructure upgrades. MBTA Orange Line floods during nor'easter; shuts down service Foxboro MBTA commuter rail station work rushing to be ready by FIFA games Mass. man struck and killed by Commuter Rail train remembered as 'dear and humble' Berated, spat on, and even stabbed: Can a new bill stop assaults on bus and train drivers? Your MBTA Commuter Rail train may now run on vegetable oil Read the original article on MassLive.
