Kate Lusignan | The Boston Globe | June 11, 2021
The Department of Conservation and Recreation released a $200 million Parkways Master Plan on Friday that outlines proposals to improve the utility of its roads in Greater Boston.
The plan, which was completed in August 2020, outlines templates for all of the agency’s roads, referred to as parkways, and individual plans for properties spanning 30 municipalities between Wakefield and Milton, and east of Waltham.
In a statement to the Globe, a spokeswoman for DCR wrote that “final review and release was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Short-term modifications include adding crosswalks, shared-use paths, marked bicycle lanes, and curb ramps for increased accessibility. Longer-term goals include full parkway reconstruction and raised bike lanes that offer a height separation from vehicular traffic. In an effort to prioritize these goals, DCR created an office of Green Transportation last year to oversee its parkway projects.
The recommendations are based on findings from a 2015 study conducted by Toole Design Group.
DCR Commissioner Jim Montgomery said he hopes the plan will “guide DCR’s plans in a more equitable and environmentally beneficial direction.”
“The primary objective behind the development of the DCR parkway master plan was to create a comprehensive document to inform the future planning for DCR parkway reconstruction and maintenance initiatives, a strategic plan, if you will, for our existing capital expenditures,” said Montgomery during a telephone conference call Friday.
A priority, he said, will be implementing more wheelchair ramps on sidewalks to make them more ADA compliant, which community organizers have said is necessary to make the parkways safer as well as more accessible.
Brendan Kearney, deputy director of WalkBoston, said the 2015 study commissioned by DCR was a necessary first step toward expanded accessibility.
“We’ve definitely seen more people in the last year embracing being outdoors [because of COVID-19]. It’s good they got a sense of what’s missing to make their paths and parkways fully compliant for people in wheelchairs, people pushing strollers, and bikes of all shapes and sizes,” he said in an interview.
Montgomery said DCR plans to fund the improvements through capital investments over the next 20 years, and the department believes it will not have to request additional funding beyond the capital improvement maintenance programs already in place.
The Friday announcement came as a surprise to some advocacy groups, who said they had not been updated about the project in nearly four years.
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