Project aims to improve safety on streets that serve as key connections to civic life
SOMERVILLE – If you want to see how people move around Somerville, visiting Elm Street by the Kennedy
School on any weekday morning would be a good place to start.
Standing on the corner of Elm Street and Hancock Street, you’d see younger children arriving at school
with their caregivers and older students making the trip on their own. Mixed with the students are harried commuters rushing to the Red Line or commuter rail, or waiting for the 87 to take them to Union Square, and people out running morning errands at the
Porter Square shopping center. You’d also see people biking toward Beacon Street–to work in Kendall Square and beyond.
Unfortunately, Elm Street along with nearby Somerville Avenue and Beacon Street are high-crash streets
for people walking and riding bikes. Fortunately, the City’s upcoming Elm-Beacon
Connector project aims to improve safety for everyone.
As a next step, Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, Ward 6 Councilor Lance Davis, Ward 5 Councilor Naima Sait,
Ward 3 Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen, Ward 2 Councilor J.T. Scott, and City Staff are excited to invite all community members to come to an open house to learn more about the effort, see community feedback and data gathered, review the preliminary design and share
their input at a project open house.
When? Monday, March 10, between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Where?
John F. Kennedy School at 5 Cherry Street
“Our
Vision
Zero approach reminds us that crashes such as those we have experienced in our city are
not acceptable or inevitable. As a City, we’re working daily to prevent them by prioritizing safe street design and aggressively investing in traffic calming. This project is another opportunity to take a significant step forward in an area that serves as
a critical connection for our community,” said Mayor Katjana Ballantyne.
After hearing community feedback about transportation safety concerns and priorities through community
meetings, street outreach pop-ups, and feedback surveys, the project team has developed preliminary plans for the project.
At the open house, community members can explore different stations describing aspects of the design
and talk directly to the project team about their questions and comments. If community members cannot attend, there will be multiple other ways to share feedback such as through an online feedback survey, virtual office hours, street outreach pop-ups and more. Visit
somervillema.gov/elmbeacon
for more details.