2019-11-12-CEC-STM1-rpt - Laserfiche WebLink

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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO 2019-1 STM This request is for $1.5 million for the services of transportation engineers and a public-engagement specialist to develop that Report for the Hartwell Avenue/Bedford Street area. It will be based on a review of present and future conditions, including current and projected traffic volumes, traffic management, safety requirements, signal warrants, and a general operational analysis. Proposed preliminary designs are expected to include dimensions and cross-sections, horizontal and vertical alignments, and identified easements and/or land takings. It will explore alternatives for multimodal transportation in the area. The Report will review previous plans and proposals and examine the feasibility of roundabouts and/or improved traffic signals and slip lanes at the Bedford/Route 128 and Bedford/Hartwell junctions. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has indicated support for investigating these concepts. Hartwell Avenue is Lexington's largest commercial zone, serving as a town and regional hub in an area of 20,000 employees. Its buildings are generally outdated and limited by dimensional and density restrictions imposed in past years. It presents the best opportunity to grow the Town's commercial tax base by increasing the density of its development. The Planning Board and staff have been working on an updated zoning plan for Hartwell for several years and anticipate bringing it to Town Meeting in the future. However, Town residents, particularly those in the immediate area whose lives are most affected by the growing congestion, have indicated that any support for such a rezoning initiative would be contingent on a genuine effort to address the existing and projected traffic problems. Preparation of the Report would include continuing public input, including formal hearings, before MassDOT considers approval of a design. If the 25% Design is approved, the Town will seek additional funding approval from Town Meeting to bring the design to the 100% level and to prepare applications for Federal monies (to be allocated by the State) for construction. Because Bedford Street(Route 4/225) is a State road, funding of up to$48 million may be available. Lexington has already invested almost $9 million in anticipation of this project, including $7 million for the Hartwell Avenue/Maguire Road intersection and bridge replacement; $1 million for the ongoing replacement of Hartwell Avenue water mains; and $1 million for safety improvements to the Bedford Street/Eldred Street pedestrian crossing, a bus shelter, a mixed-use path and landscaping. The majority of this Committee supports this funding request as a necessary step to address a significant problem that has been in discussion for decades. Funding design work to the 25% level is necessary to understand what level of traffic-congestion mitigation might be achieved and to remain in the queue for State and Federal funding, hopefully advancing a future project to 2024-2029. However, even if Lexington were not to receive outside funding going forward, the need to address the traffic problem remains. The results of this study should be important input to the discussion of potential zoning changes on Hartwell Avenue, and thus are needed as soon as possible. In short, this study is important to undertake now to address a problem of long standing, hopefully to advance the timeline for a construction project to the near future, and to provide critical information to help guide zoning change discussions The minority of this Committee is opposed to funding at this time the 25% Design Report. It is deemed premature because (without priority order): (1) Nothing has been identified to indicate whether any of the potential changes to be addressed by the 25% Design Report have been shown in prior applications meaningfully to mitigate an already severe traffic situation as is Lexington's instant case—especially considered that it is agreed that even with the current zoning of that area the traffic volume will increase over time. $1.5 million is far too much to appropriate—even ifjustified(which hasn't been shown)—without having a reasonable expectation that the current traffic could be mitigated. Just rearranging the traffic pattern might only reposition the "parking-lot"situation. (2) It appears that little can be done to materially enhance the safety of the area without further aggravating the severe traffic problem. (3) The proposed Project will be addressing future, unspecified, conditions; however, the current, underway, "Hartwell District Zoning Initiative" proposes a wide range of re-zoning-related, 3