Harvard wants to build a 3,000 seat basketball arena right near the intersection of Western Ave & North Harvard Street. This intersection is already frequently congested and difficult for drivers and pedestrians.
Harvard has decided, that because heavy use of the facility may not occur during the "typical morning or evening peak hours" that it can therefore pretend that this 3,000 seat arena will have no traffic impact at all.
Of course Harvard rents its athletic facilities to many non-Harvard organizations, and things change about when and how Harvard facilities are used. It wasn't that long ago that Harvard Stadium was used only during the day.
It is fine if Harvard wants to build a grand and glorious basketball arena and rent it to private teams, organizations, and events. But Harvard could also admit that this will bring new traffic into our community and that merits study and roadway improvements.
 |
| Harvard IMP page 185 |
They're planning over 3,000 institutional parking spaces to be distributed throughout the IMP area (and 500+ non-institutional). Some will replace existing parking spaces (not entirely clear what happens along Western Ave in the long term) but I can only imagine that this parking lot expansion will bring more and more traffic problems.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is adhering to their "Transportation Demand Management" program.
Get rid of the bike lane. I never see anyone walking on the sidewalks, so why can't the bikes use them? We did as kids. I used to ride my bike on the sidewalks on Harvard Avenue and those sidewalks are narrow. That's what the bell was for or we yelled beep! beep! Coming thru!! The bike lane is too wide and the cars parked there are just dangerous. I noticed in your vidoe you didn't use the bike lane or the sidewalk. You drove next to the parked cars. As for the light at the parking lot, maybe it should be a blinking red. The problem is that you get stuck there when no one is coming out of the parking lot and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, much appreciate the time you took to write this
ReplyDelete