Letter to the Newton Traffic Council

December 7, 2022

To the Newton Traffic Council, 

We, the board of Friends of Albemarle, are writing in strong support of the item TC58 -22, being considered by the Council on December 15. It reads as follows:

JASON SOBEL, DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION OPERATIONS, requesting to permanently close the northbound block of Albemarle Road to vehicular traffic, in both directions, between Crafts Street and North Street, except for bicycles.  This portion of Albemarle Road has been closed since September 2020 as part of an on-going Traffic Council trial.

We are confident that permanent closure will have a significant positive impact on the safety of those who use this intersection, which has been identified by Mass DOT as a high-crash intersection. 

We are eager to see safer walking and biking conditions characterize the roads and intersections leading to the park. 

Albemarle hosts not only the city’s largest middle school with an enrollment of nearly 1,000 children, but soon, a city-wide preschool as well. It holds the city’s only outdoor swimming pool and the city’s largest playing field. With limited parking and public-transit options, we all want people to choose non-vehicular methods of getting there…and to stay safe doing so.

The area proposed for closure has been used by cyclists, rollerbladers, pedestrians and more since being closed—and we’ve heard, and observed, highly positive improvements to the experience of crossing to and from Albemarle with this closure.

Permanent closure would also create safer conditions for the drivers in that intersection; fewer options for drivers heading northbound on Albemarle strengthens the safety of the area. Although, as is very clear from last month’s crash at that intersection, it is still very susceptible to speed-related accidents.

We are eager to see the continued evolution of that block into something that resembles less of a street and more of a green-space friendly bike and walking path that supports a link to the Charles River Greenway. We request that the North St. end be blocked off as well, to make it functionally safe from any vehicles that could pull in without warning. 

We look forward to supporting additional future improvements at that intersection.

Sincerely, 

Cedar Pruitt, Jacqueline Freeman, Megan Anapolle

Board, Friends of Albemarle