Rte. 128 communities unite on traffic future
Communities join to face the future
Worried about an estimated 100,000 new daily vehicle trips that could be generated by 15 proposed developments on a local stretch of Interstate 95, several communities in this area have formed a collaborative to brainstorm strategies for reducing the traffic.
The 128 Central Corridor Coalition, comprising officials from Lexington, Lincoln, Waltham, and Weston, aims to build new safeguards into state permitting rules that would allow communities to coordinate alternatives to driving for the developments in the pipeline, two of which would be so large they would dwarf the Burlington Mall.
"Now, it's a very haphazard process," said Marc Draisen, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which is helping the communities to formulate alternatives. "What we want to do is develop a corridor plan that would assess impacts in a common way and try to get all the developers to contribute in a way that would really mitigate the impacts."
The coalition members say I-95 (or Route 128 locally) - famous for its stop-and-crawl traffic at peak commuting times - is destined to become a parking lot if the new developments proceed without collaborative planning. If they succeed in reducing traffic, the group could become a model for the state in how to plan for other development hotspots, they say.
However, the members add, their push for more planning and mitigation measures should not be seen as anti-development.
"It's really not our intention to block development," said Lexington Selectwoman Jeanne K. Krieger, a member of the coalition. "It's our intention to have development that's sustainable."
Draisen said the state should favor formation of "mitigation banks" to which developers would contribute. The banks could finance regional transportation programs, such as shuttle buses, to relieve roads of congestion. The banks also could support other regional initiatives, such as protections for drinking water supplies.
Draisen argues that development without adequate traffic controls stymies not just residents but also the businesses themselves, stalling receipt and delivery of goods and employee commuting.
The ideas made sense to local leaders. Earlier this month, representatives from the four communities signed a memorandum of understanding pledging to cooperate on increasing mass transit options, creating mitigation banks, developing shared zoning bylaws to standardize traffic mitigation, and coordinating planning on the stretch of I-95 between the Massachusetts Turnpike and Route 3.
Lincoln Selectwoman Sara A. Mattes, a coalition member, said local officials long have worried about the prospect of being choked by traffic from rapid economic development along I-95, and were frustrated by their inability to control it community by community. Now they will be able to coordinate plans.
"We all have micro-agendas that are different, but our macro-agenda is totally shared," Mattes said.
The coalition's first major challenge came from the proposed Commons at Prospect Hill, an office, retail, and restaurant project planned for the former Polaroid site in Waltham. At 1.7 million square feet, the $800 million project would be larger than the Burlington Mall, at 1.4 million square feet.
According to the developer, Related Cos LP, of New York, known for its
The four communities requested the help of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council after it informed them at a meeting in January that the Commons at Prospect Hill was only one of 15 developments in the works. Seven of that number are being planned in Waltham, as well as five in Burlington, two in Lexington, and one in Weston. In addition, the council said there was the potential for 11 other projects - one in Lexington, two in Lincoln, seven in Waltham, and one in Weston - that had not been formally proposed.
Connie Paige can be reached at connie_paige@com.
