The intersection of East Berkeley Street and Harrison Avenue in the South End.
(Christina Pazzanese for The Boston Globe)
Globewatch
South End block needs attention
The intersection of East Berkeley Street and Harrison Avenue in the South End.
(Christina Pazzanese for The Boston Globe)
June 20, 2009
- |
The South End. Too Much Parking. It’s certainly not often these two phrases meet. When people contact GlobeWatch about parking in the South End, they usually complain about the persistent shortage of valuable street spaces. But tipster David Whitman of South Boston says one particular block in the South End generously offers, perhaps too generously, parking on both sides of the one-way street for much of the workday. The problem, he says, is that parked vehicles force drivers to merge from three lanes into a single lane, a difficult task that inevitably results in a frustrating and slow-moving bottleneck.
“I travel on East Berkeley Street on a daily basis as I live in South Boston and work in the Back Bay,’’ Whitman writes in an e-mail. “Since I have to have access to my car to show clients properties around Boston, I am unable to take public transportation to work. At the intersection of East Berkeley and Harrison Avenue, the three-lane road turns into a one-lane road. On this block, the city [allows] parking on both sides of the street, except during rush hour. There are no left or right turn only lanes, so all three lanes try to squeeze into one lane causing traffic backups, which at times run all the way back to Albany Street. Once past Washington Street, parking is only allowed on one side of the street, so things open up quite a bit. I feel that the city should eliminate parking on one side of the street and have either a left turn or right [turn] only lane. This would keep two lanes of traffic moving through this block.’’
A Globe reporter who travels East Berkeley on a near-daily basis confirms Whitman’s observations. Because the street serves as a key feeder route into the South End and Back Bay for drivers coming from both South Boston and Route 93, East Berkeley is often clogged with cars, trucks, and buses all day long, not just during the morning and afternoon commutes. It often takes two to three traffic signal cycles for drivers to advance what is a fairly short distance from Harrison Avenue to Washington Street.
THE CITY RESPONDS
“BTD Engineering Division has been looking at this block of East Berkeley Street for improvement,’’ writes Tracey Ganiatsos, a spokeswoman for the Boston Transportation Department, which oversees street parking regulations. “The goal is to maximize traffic and pedestrian safety and decrease congestion, and rush-hour parking restrictions already in place go a long way toward meeting our objective. Additional measures are available that may further help traffic flow on East Berkeley Street, and these should be considered, as well. However, since we would not want any decisions that we make to adversely impact the local business community, we hope to receive neighborhood input on any traffic and parking changes, and we want a community process in place prior to any final decisions being implemented.’’ Ganiatsos said once engineers assess the situation and recommend a solution, the department will put the subject before the relevant neighborhood groups for public feedback before implementing any temporary or permanent changes.
CHRISTINA PAZZANESE
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
