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Walsh vows annoying Readville bridge will finally get traffic lights

Mayor Walsh today announced a $1.4-million project to improve traffic in Readville, including traffic lights at either end of the short but clogged and dangerous Father Hart bridge that has bedeviled drivers for years as they try to cross over the train tracks that split the neighborhood.

The city will also install upgraded signals in Wolcott Square itself, where Hyde Park Avenue and Neponset Valley Parkway also come together.

Readville traffic has become such nightmare that the city says has agreed to bear the full costs of the traffic-light upgrades at the bridge and in Wolcott Square rather than spending several years in possibly fruitless negotiations with MassDOT, which owns the bridge and DCR, which owns Neponset Valley Parkway.

Also:

At the Wolcott Square intersection, the MBTA bus stop will be relocated and the traffic signals reprogrammed to provide a better approach to Neponset Valley Parkway and smoother traffic flow.

The city will even try to connect all the signals to the traffic-management system in City Hall, to bring Readville traffic control from the 1950s all the way into the 21st century.

ADA-compliant wheelchair ramps will be installed at key Readville intersections.

The work should begin this fall and take about a year.

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Comments

More traffic regulations will only make things worse. Ever notice how you get where you're going faster when the lights are out of order, and you can always find a spot on Sunday when most parking regulations aren't enforced?

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We're talking physical changes and upgrades to roads here, not speed limits. As for parking, that's not an issue in Wolcott Square.

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It's in his budget. You have to ask why it became a priority now but not when we were dicking around with the Olympics and Indy car.

Story at BayStateBanner
Capital Plan at budget.boston.gov
Capital plan interactive map

I surveyed the plan for capital projects in schools. What surprised me most about the budget is all the talk about investing in our school infrastructure, by the mayor, and relatively unambitious capitol projects in Boston Schools.

Instead capital projects include items like new furniture, broadband, building access and and security systems and window replacement. I saw no plan to fix lead contaminated water papers or new schools except for the ones already under construction.

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And your candidate would do things differently I suppose?

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on that bridge.

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In that case, hooray for election years - they work!

And it's not like Walsh is just gifting something to the neighborhood. The Father Hart Bridge, which ends on one side in a really nasty intersection, has been frustrating people for years. In the greater scheme of things, it's perhaps a bit annoying that the state, which owns the bridge and the parkway, gets off without having to pay to fix the problems there, but Boston's hardly a struggling city with empty coffers at this point.

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And we are rich enough to throw $100,000,000 on a replacement bridge for GE.

IIRC, your kidlet goes/went to BLS. Do you know if the exhaust hoods in the BLS science lab are functional? Have lab classes resumed?

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Dollar stores and check cashing businesses are the green shoots of the new economy.

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So weird how there's less traffic at times when no one is driving.

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The signals they installed at Walter and bussey in Roslindale have been awesome. Order from chaos. If you are serious, you must be either driving when no one is on the road or one of those people who likes white knuckle commuting.

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Your theory is good, but the reality of the intersections on either side of the Hart Bridge say otherwise. I never even try to go over that bridge it is so messed up.

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It's when there are either no or not enough traffic regulations that anarchy on the roads rules.

One has to bear in mind that one's not supposed to stop in the middle of the trackbed(s) either. I'm not a resident of the Readville area, but it sounds like the traffic light is long overdue, given the set of circumstances there.

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Great locations for a roundabout! More efficient then a traffic light, no future traffic light maintenance. Should be no problem with space at Hyde Park Ave (will need some land from the T). At the Neponset Pkwy side, not enough room unless considering a European style mini roundabout.

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The city does not own these facilities.

Another big something you missed: roundabouts take a lot of land. A third something: you need sight lines to run a roundabout.

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There needs to be another way to access route 128. Most of the traffic is either going to or coming from there. Dedham and route 138 can't handle the volume and a traffic light will only back things up further.

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But "another way to access route 128", if at all feasible/possible, probably ain't going to happen in my lifetime. And if the lights are timed well, the traffic should flow.

As someone who lives in the area and has to navigate those intersections on a regular basis, I am thrilled with this news.

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is HORRENDOUS. Street layout (including very narrow 2 lane main streets) traffic patterns, Wolcott Sq itself (a text book clusterfuck). And the unusually (even for Boston area) rude, psychotic drivers doesn't help.

My solution: Nuke it from space.

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This project has gone silent and another year has gone by...It was supposed to be finished summer 2018. I can't find any updates...Anyone have news?

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