MassDOT Awards Arlington $50K+ In Shared Streets Grants

ARLINGTON, MA — Arlington has received two Shared Streets and Spaces grants totaling $57,674 from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The Shared Streets and Spaces Program is intended to support projects that promote public health, safe mobility, and renewed commerce by quickly providing new or repurposed space for socially-distanced walking, bicycling, dining, retail and bus travel.

The first award, totaling $46,727, will enhance public and private outdoor seating, ensure pedestrian safety and provide bicycle parking infrastructure in Arlington Center and Arlington Heights. The conversion of parking spaces, small roadways, and pedestrian alleyways into safer areas to dine outdoors, walk and travel by bicycle will assist businesses by providing additional public space for their customers' use and safer means of access to commercial centers.

In Arlington Center, dining spaces will be installed along Alton Street and Medford Street. A section of Park Terrace will be closed to vehicle traffic and turned into an outdoor seating area and pedestrian plaza. Lighting and bike racks will be installed along the pedestrian walkway on Old Mystic Street adjacent to Whittemore Park to transform the pedestrian experience. In the Heights, a parklet and an outdoor seating area will be installed in front of 1306-1308 Massachusetts Avenue.

The second award, totaling $10,947, will support the installation of shared street components in East Arlington to provide safe social distancing space for pedestrians and bicyclists. Slowing vehicle speeds on these roadways is especially important, as lower traffic levels in recent months facilitate faster vehicle travel. Shared street components will be installed along Brooks Avenue, several side streets between Brooks Avenue and Herbert Road, and along Mary Street as approved by the Select Board in August 2020 and building on the Brooks Avenue pilot held in May 2020 and continued in August.

Project components include using portable materials such as traffic delineators, sandwich boards, sawhorses, and signs, to create traffic-calming elements on these streets. Both of these projects will be implemented quickly and efficiently due to the portability of the project components. The installations will remain in place until late fall 2020.

To learn more about the shared streets project, contact Daniel Amstutz, Senior Transportation Planner, at damstutz@town.arlington.ma.us. To learn more about the outdoor dining project, contact Ali Carter, Economic Development Coordinator, at acarter@town.arlington.ma.us.