This public meeting, hosted by the Mayor and city officials, provided an update on the West Hollis Street corridor improvement project. The project aims to address safety, traffic, and pedestrian concerns along the 2.9-mile stretch from Riverside Street to the Hollis town line. Engineers presented the preferred alternative, a nine-phase phasing plan, and funding challenges. Residents provided extensive input on specific intersections, roundabouts, traffic signals, and shared-use path design.
We have some of our public officials here who I want to introduce you to. President of the Board of Alderman Laurie Welsher is in the back. Thank you, Laurie. Paula Johnson is the first the Alderman from Board 5. Ernie, who we miss. Two different personalities. It's nice having Ernie on the board of Alderman, but here he is, and he retired and Paul was elected. So what we wanted to do tonight is brief you on kind of where we are with the uh with the West Hollow Street corridor. We've had some other meetings. Some of you may have been here before, but this is more or less of an update. And again, get your input or thoughts regarding anything that's presented. Now, in addition to me, we have Dan Hudson, who's the city, he's the city engineer, so he'll be talking through some of the project. Mark Sonders is the deputy city. Of course, you know Lisa Fogo, directly public works. So our underlying purpose here is we realize that the West Hollow Street Corridor, you know, has become, and it's gotten worse over time. Uh a very heavily traveled corridor, kind of a speedway. And we know that it is very difficult for many of the people who live along the corridor. Uh the various neighborhoods that we have, really nice neighborhoods. Often it's a hard, it's hard even getting onto the street. Um, and certainly uh the corridor is not pedestrian friendly and not neighborhood friendly. So we are trying to design and hopefully implement a number of changes that will improve the situation. And the as you will hear from the engineers, the uh project is at least as we've outlined it, is designed is is divided into various phases. Uh you'll hear the details, but the first phase is as we've discussed it. The first phase is near the charter school, the micro society charter school, where we think there's a dangerous situation because many people are coming in and out, uh the parents that uh picking up and leaving off the kids, and many have to make a left turn coming back towards the city, towards you know, downtown, uh heading east. So they have to turn uh across book two lanes or two two directions of travel. Uh so you'll hear what the details are there in terms of what we think would improve that situation. Uh both both from a safety and a kind of a traffic comment point of view. Uh so I'm gonna turn you over to the engineers, but uh Paul wanted to, I think uh say a few words, and um so here's Paul. Thank you, Maya. Appreciate it. I just want to thank everybody for coming tonight. I appreciate it. Um I could tell probably a lot of you get my newsletter, and I appreciate all the support. I just want to say one thing. I'm looking at the map, and I live right by the micro society school, is that's how come I know it's so bad. But the other part is I think you can't do that unless you take a look at Riverside, the way the merging comes in. Because when it merges, there is no lane. They marched from the left to the right, and they're cutting everybody off. And now the school is lining up for pickup in the morning and even drop off, and there's no lane there. So now you've got emerging this way, you got them going this way, and you got cars here. So I think you've got to take a look at whereas number nine comes. I should say this, I'm not an engineer, but I've lived there for 42 years. Um, and that light at um Wellesley, I was part of that. Remember Don Dyer, Alderman Don Dyer? Okay. I know, I know, but that's okay because when they were building Ledgewood Hills, and I wasn't even involved in politics. I said we maybe maybe we should get a light over there because one day West Holler Street is going to become busy. So that's how I started back then, and I think that you have to take a look at Riverside and the micro society school as like one piece because of the way the school was. The school is wonderful, nobody has any problem with it, but the planning board didn't, in my opinion, didn't do their job right when they allowed it to go in to take a look at how the traffic was going to be, and that's all I wanted to say. Thank you very much.