The Boston Globe
June 19, 2004
A10  Editorial
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
 

Rushing on
Centre St.
 
 

Centre Street in West Roxbury is scheduled for a facelift, including repaving, new traffic signals, and brick crosswalks. But what the commercial district in Boston's most suburban-like neighborhood needs even more is a personality change.  A small group - Walkable West Roxbury - made a compelling case to reduce traffic from the current two lanes in each direction to one, with a designated left-turn lane in the center. The plan, developed by the transportation consultant Cranston Rogers, also envisions the introduction of parking meters on Centre Street to discourage downtown commuters from hogging spaces that could be better used by local shoppers.  The Boston Transportation Department, however, rejected the plan and with it the neighborhood's hopes to slow traffic, improve pathways for pedestrians, and create a bike path. Speeding traffic, unfortunately, is likely to remain the signature of Centre Street.

Andrea d'Amato, the outgoing director of the Transportation Department, defends the decision and says the combination of street scape improvements and the timing of new traffic signals will enhance the area. City officials, she said, needed to balance the concerns of business owners who fear that fewer lanes equals fewer potential customers, residents who fear that lane reductions would push traffic onto residential streets, and the need to accommodate buses on several routes.  Another disappointment was the decision of the nonprofit West Roxbury Main Streets to stay out of the fray despite its current effort to promote strolling and shopping on Centre Street. Like the Menino administration, the group seems timid about tangling with politically muscular residents and business owners who view the street more as a major artery than a neighborhood roadway.