Eyes On the Street: More Space for Pedestrians and Bikes in Somerville

StreetsblogMASS took a bike tour through Somerville during an unseasonably warm October evening on Thursday afternoon to check out two projects that are nearing completion: the reconstruction of Somerville Avenue in Union Square, and the quick-build reconfiguration of Powder House Circle near Tufts University (previously covered here).

Somerville Avenue has been under construction for as long as StreetsblogMASS has existed, and the project's main focus was to replace aging sewer pipes that had been causing flooding problems in the neighborhood.

But because the entire street was being torn up, it also presented an opportunity to upgrade the street with protected bike lanes, new trees, and improved crosswalks.

The trees and landscaped bump-outs are integrated into the street's new stormwater collection system, so that runoff has a chance to filter through gardens before it flows into Boston Harbor:

The improvements are being finished just in time to be ready for the opening of Somerville's new Union Square Green Line stop, which will be the first branch of the Green Line Extension to open later this winter.

On the northern side of the city, a quick-build project to reconfigure Powder House Circle is also nearing completion: just a few flexible-post bollards remain to be installed.

The traffic through the new version of Powder House Circle feels considerably calmer than it did before, with cars forced into a single file through the circle itself, which had previously been a multi-lane free-for-all.

The circle's traffic is calm and slow enough that a number of people on bikes on Thursday evening opted to avoid the protected bike lanes around the edges, and simply ride through the circle among the cars.