At a recent public presentation on the status of the East Milton parking study, Keri Pyke of Howard/Stein-Hudson, the firm managing the study, updated the public and invited comments.
She noted the following:
- she restated that the goal are to provide the town with 3-5 options for improving the traffic and parking situation. The town will select the option, which in fact, may be a blend of options presented.
- She estimates the project will be complete in May of 2011
- Data collection has been delayed due MWRA work
- Next steps are to perform a parking turnover study and a recount of the Adams Street and Centre Street intersection
- the options they present will be driven by the data. They have determined that there are 244 public parking spaces in East Milton
- Public input is critical to their work and there will be two more public meetings to update community and solicit input
Members of the community who spoke reiterated long-standing concerns about the traffic; safety and congestion. Cars are being pushed onto cut through streets.They travel at excessive speed and there is a lot of it. (The link to Ms. Pyke’s presentation includes a diagram of the coverage area of the study).
Ed Duffy, an East Milton resident and member of the Planning Board, likened the increased traffic to “an invasion.” And resident Steve Driscoll, referencing a Seinfeld episode, lamented “The show is about nothing. . . nothing has ever been done.”
The next steps for Howard/Hudson – Stein are to begin developing alternatives and conduct preliminary engineering. They will be meeting with the BCAC on 12/15.
The presentation can be found here. You can find all presentation materials and related collateral on the web site they’ve launched for this project here.