Last updated on May 15, 2015
UPDATE: That cut-through will be fenced off as the T moves the 39 Bus. We’ve added more details below.
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It’s a commonplace of road design: Pedestrians will make their own paths, no matter what authorities envision. That’s what’s happening in the current phase of the Casey Arborway project at the busy intersection where South meets New Washington.
Department of Transportation engineers want pedestrians coming from South Street or the Southwest Corridor Park on their way to Forest Hills Station to juke around the intersection instead of crossing directly at New Washington. Here’s their plan:
But the way walkers actually use the intersection is to hustle across New Washington where there’s no sidewalk.
A temporary crossing light has been set up for pedestrians to get across South Street.
This intersection was the subject of several concerned comments at the most recent community meeting on the project. Bike riders coming up the Southwest Corridor Park face much the same problem as pedestrians here. The Casey Overpass is being torn down in favor of a network of surface roads.
A Department of Transportation spokesperson emailed the following response to the pedestrian situation at South and New Washington:
MassDOT is in the process of implementing a new entrance for the Route 39 bus into the Forest Hills Station loop. The current entrance at the corner of South and New Washington streets acted as a de facto walkway for pedestrians. The new entrance will be half way down the “New Washington St” portion of the temporary East-West roadway. The old entrance will be fenced off, along with the remainder of the sidewalk down to where South and Washington streets intersect. This removes the immediate cut-through, and will better direct pedestrians to the appropriate crossing points.
And here’s what the intersection should look like once construction is done in fall 2016. The green crossings are for bikes:
