How Can Traveling Along Main Street Be Improved?

In trying to make it easier and more pleasant to travel Main Street in Melrose—and further north—city officials are tapping the wisdom of crowds.

On Wednesday night, members of the public were invited to a brainstorming session with Melrose City Hall representatives and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), which to study the approximately 9-mile long corridor from Reading Depot to the Oak Grove MBTA Station over the border in Malden.

A community meeting was held in Wakefield on Monday night as well, and a final community meeting will be . The MAPC aims to provide a final report with recommendations, based on feedback and research, by the end of the year.

Before breaking off into small groups to mark up maps and share ideas about improving transit along the corridor, MAPC transportation planners Alison Felix and Sarah Kurpiel provided an overview of the preliminary data and research undertaken before Wednesday's meeting.

Pros and cons of traveling Main Street in Melrose

Felix said that each community had its own highlights along the corridor. Reading has an "excellent streetscape and well-design sidewalks," along with strong amenities for bicyclists and pedestrians, while Wakefield has a strong landscape and recreation component with Lake Quannapowitt on the north side of the town.

"In Melrose, we were very impressed with your compressed downtown," Felix said, pointing out buildings that are generally the same height with no gaps between them, and parking tucked away behind the buildings. ""That lends itself to a lot of street activity."

In drilling down some of the observations for Melrose specifically, Kurpiel said the MAPC noted good sidewalks that conform with the Americans with Disabilities Act downtown and at the Wyoming and Cedar Park commuter rail stops, although the Highlands stop didn't have newer sidewalks yet.

Also bicycle amenities were lacking downtown, where some of the pedestrian crosswalk buttons for traffic signals "weren't working exactly as we hoped," Kurpiel said.

Some amenities lacking were shelters at bus stops and some of the commuter rail stops, she continued, and a lack of directional signs on Main Street pointing people towards the nearby commuter rail stations—and maps or signage letting people at the commuter rail stations know that downtown is a 5-minute walk away. similarly found a lack of signage on Main Street directing drivers towards the city's municipal parking lots.

For some of the more cutting-edge ideas, Kurpiel mentioned electric vehicle charging stations; a bike-sharing program, such as the Hubway program ; and neighborhood electric vehicles—essentially shuttles that can run shorter routes than MBTA buses; and car-sharing programs, such as Zipcar. The only Zipcar stations in the entire 9-mile corridor are at Oak Grove Village and Oak Grove Station.

Brainstorming ideas

After soliciting feedback on a series of multiple choice questions by using remote keypads handed out to those in attendance—26 people answered each question—the meeting broke off into five small groups.

Each group had either a representative from Melrose City Hall or the MAPC and members from the public, who shared their ideas for improving transit along the corridor. Those ideas were compiled and shared at the end of the meeting

Below are some of the ideas aired on Wednesday night. Which ideas do you agree with? Disagree with? Have your own ideas not listed here? Tell us in the comments section below. Residents can also check the project's website for further updates.

Bicycles

• Main Street bike lanes from Wakefield-Melrose town line to Main Street and Upham Street, and from Wyoming Avenue to Malden-Melrose city line.

• Because downtown Main Street from Upham Street to Wyoming Avenue is crowded and narrow, a bike lane along Lebanon Street, down Sylvan Street, leading bicyclists to Oak Grove.

• Exploring whether the right-of-way for the commuter rail is wide enough to accommodate a bike lane that runs alongside the commuter rail tracks, from Reading possibly all the way to North Station in Boston.

• More bike parking downtown. One idea included on-street bike parking in a current Main Street parking space next to a crosswalk, which would provide more bike parking in a visible spot—where the bikes are less likely to be stolen—and improve visibility for cars and pedestrians at the crosswalk.

• Bicycle rentals around recreational areas.

Pedestrians

• More crosswalks between Wyoming Avenue and Malden-Melrose line, across Main Street. MAPC survey showed highest density of Melrose population is south of Wyoming Avenue, but few crosswalks across Main Street there.

• Re-cast or rework parking lot entrances off Main Street downtown to make them safer for pedestrians. One idea: install bike racks in those alleys. D'Amici's outdoor seating in alley cited as example of way to make alleys more friendly. A subject also brought up in .

• Make sure sidewalks in neighborhoods on Wyoming Avenue and Franklin Street funnel pedestrians to Main Street.

• Improve pedestrian traffic near Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. Lack of crosswalks, poor intersection cited.

• Because crosswalks hidden by parking and pedestrians can suddenly appear to a driver, sidewalk crosswalk bump-outs downtown to encourage safer crosswalks. Possible problem: plowing snow in the winter.

• Modern, updated lighting systems downtown. Includes pedestrian countdown timers.

• Recreationally, creating a pedestrian loop around Ell Pond, similar to loop around Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield.

Public Transportation

• Expand east-west transportation along corridor. Comments about lots of north-south routes, and meanwhile Square One Mall is a mile away, but there's no public tranportation there.

• Expand Orange Line north, replacing Wyoming MBTA commuter rail stop. According to MAPC numbers from February 2009, Highlands at 380 daily inbound boardings, Cedar Park had 230 and Wyoming at 184. If Wyoming underutilized because of proximity to Oak Grove, perhaps expand Orange Line.

• Bus shelters. Can provide both shade from sun and protection from rain, snow. Downtown, find tasteful advertising that fits with historic downtown area.

• Bus tracking readouts as stops. Buses equipped with GPS devices and can be tracked by smartphone, but not everyone has a smartphone. Displays at stops could relay information.

• A neighborhood electric vehicle that could run a Melrose loop and provide better access for seniors to downtown, and could also be used by other residents.

• Better lighting at commuter rail stations to make people feel more comfortable there at night.

Driving

• Parking spaces exclusively for compact cars.

• More car-sharing spaces in high density areas, such as around Wyoming Hill MBTA stop and downtown, where most of the jobs are located.

• Additional car-sharing and Zipcar spaces at Oak Grove.

• Improvements at Lebanon Street-Main Street-Green Street intersection. Better lane markings could benefit drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.

• Parking improvements at the Highlands MBTA station.