Dear Neighbors,
Somerville residents and leaders have been very active recently in demanding action from the Department of Transportation to save lives by improving pedestrian safety. There's also been a decades-long effort to save lives by providing barriers along I-93 that would block both noise and pollution.
We hope to hear an update this evening (Wednesday, June 30, 6 pm) on these issues, at an update on the project to preserve the viaduct, the raised portion of I-93. You can register here.
The rest of this newsletter is about those two campaigns to save lives, as well as an update on the Green Line Extension.
PEDESTRIAN SAFETY IN THE "CORRIDOR OF DEATH"
In the past two years, three pedestrians - Cheryl Richards, Kevin Dumont, and Marshall Mac - have been killed in the area where Mystic Avenue, McGrath Highway, and I-93 come together. For a comprehensive history of problems and activism in this area, see this post by Rep. Mike Connolly.
On May 26, a day almost as hot as this, hundreds of residents organized by Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets (SASS) rallied with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Representatives Mike Connolly, Christine Barber, and Erika Uyterhoeven to demand that the Department of Transportation (DOT) accelerate improvements along McGrath/Mystic, create a Blakeley Avenue crosswalk, enact traffic calming measures immediately, and erect sound barriers along I-93. The Globe story is here. (I was attending formal Senate budget debate and couldn't attend, though I've joined our delegation in many letters, meetings, and hearings with DOT and with SASS and others.)
On Friday, we learned from Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver that work on the Blakeley Ave. signalized crosswalk (between Foss Park and Stop and Shop) was underway, and that DOT is developing designs for raised crosswalks at four locations – including three around the Kensington Connector and one at 28/38. Other pedestrian improvements are also being designed. Here's the Journal's report. We are hoping to hear more soon about improved ADA accessibility to crosswalks throughout the area.
SOUND AND POLLUTION BARRIERS
For 60 years, traffic on I-93 has poured air pollution and noise onto residents along its path in the lowest income part of Somerville. For decades, activists have pushed for sound barriers along the highway to protect those residents. Researchers have documented the devastating damage and continuing danger to people who live along I-93 that runs through the part of Somerville with the lowest income, and the most Black and Latino people. They have also documented that that area has been most affected by COVID-19, for many reasons including lung damage from long-term exposure to pollution. (Illustration by Somerville Director of Transportation and Infrastructure Brad Rawson, showing environmental justice communities along I-93)
This indispensable and engaging CAFEH report by Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP), Tufts University Medical School, Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), and the Welcome Project has history, data, visuals, maps of the area, and potential solutions.
There's also recent Metropolitan Area Planning Council report, which summarizes research on particulate matter and the estimated new cases of lung cancer, diabetes, stroke and other diseases among residents within 400 meters of the highway, as well as potential solutions.
Rep. Connolly created this slide, which we shared in a recent meeting with Acting Transportation Secretary Jamie Tesler, where we asked for immediate action to install barriers. It shows a leafy suburb with sound barriers, which also protect against pollution, and Somerville's dense neighborhoods without them.
The Mystic Housing project is within 50-100 m of Rtes 38 and 93. At those distances they have a 54% higher death rate from heart disease and a 60% higher rate of lung cancer. By definition, the people who live there are low-income (with less than 80% of the area’s median household income) and the proportion of Black and Latino people is twice as high as in the rest of Somerville and 3 times as high as in Massachusetts. (This CAFEH report image shows how close the buildings are to Route 38 and I-93.)
The States Avenues section of East Somerville, where some houses are within less than 30 feet of highways with 7 or more lanes of traffic, is also an environmental justice community. The research helps us understand why people in that neighborhood have died of lung cancer who never smoked a cigarette. (Image from CAFEH report)
In 2020, Rep. Connolly and I secured $2 million in a bond bill for East Somerville noise barriers, but that money still has to be released. We also added $30,000 to the FY 2022 budget (which isn't finally adopted yet) for a design study for sound walls in that area. The Senate version includes examining the possibility of reducing lanes in that section of Mystic Avenue, which would allow for more potential solutions.
In 2020, Rep. Barber and I secured $2 million in a different bond bill for triple glazed windows in the Mystic Housing buildings to mitigate noise and air pollution, since sound walls may not be possible in that area. We are working with the Housing Authority, the city, and DHCD to release and spend those funds.
Working with Ellin Reisner and Wig Zamore of the Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership as well as many others, Representatives Barber and Connolly and I filed legislation (H2230 and S1447, An Act to Improve Outdoor and Indoor Air Quality for Communities Burdened by Transportation Pollution) which had a well-attended hearing last week. It's endorsed by the EJ Table and many other groups, shown in the graphic. You can watch the hearing here. (Our delegation speaks at about 7:00 minutes in; other testimony, including Ellin and Wig, starts at about 2:50:00.)
GREEN LINE EXTENSION NEWS
The Somerville delegation met last week with John Dalton, Program Manager for the Green Line Extension (GLX), who told us that construction is 80% complete, with 65% of the track laid.
However, COVID-related and other delays have led to later opening of GLX service. The Union Square branch is now expected to open this December, and the full line to Medford/Tufts will open in May 2022.
In 2016, Gov. Baker required Cambridge and Somerville to contribute $25 million and $50 million respectively to keep the GLX alive. Manager Dalton told us good news: costs have been contained and most if not all those contributions will no longer be required.
As always, stay in touch on these and other issues,