I am continually amazed by the ineptitude of City and MBTA officials when it comes to community transit planning and by the obtuseness of some residents and businesses when it comes to life in the urban core.
The Dorchester Reporter reported on its website last week that the T is planning three community meetings to discuss a study project for transit strategies in the Dorchester-Mattapan-Roxbury corridor. The Reporter posted the following article, which appears below in part, and on its website.
The $291,000 project, which will focus on areas between the Red and Orange Lines on the MBTA that are not within a half-mile walk of stations on either line, comes after state lawmakers representing the three neighborhoods called on transportation officials to pull back on the proposal for an express busway along Blue Hill Ave. Community members raised concerns about the proposal, dubbed “Route 28X,” because they said it would tear up the street for the busway and eliminate parking spaces.
The reason the City and the T are in a fix about what to do in the heavily transit-dependent Blue Hill Avenue corridor is because they did not adequately discuss the options with the residents and businesses when the 28X project was first proposed in 2009.
Further, the City provided no proactive support for the idea of forcing automobiles to share Blue Hill Avenue with a transit right of way. A transit right of way for the Avenue would not be a novelty, however, as there was one in place for streetcars until the late 1950s.
In urban transit planning the T needs to do its homework, the City needs to provide a vision and support for transit projects, and community residents need to consider life in their neighborhoods if there are no attractive transit alternatives to the automobile.
Perhaps the City and the T will get if right this time—although I doubt it.
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