'Smart' Transit Grant For Main Street Corridor Study Awarded to Melrose

Would you like a to see a bike lane on Main Street? What about a bus shelter? ZipCars?

Any or all of those things could be headed to Melrose in the future as the result of a planning grant recently awarded to Melrose, Wakefield and Reading.

The $15,000 grant from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) aims to help planners view the corridor from Reading Depot to the Oak Grove MBTA Station as a single unit.

“We’re looking for ways to collaborate,” said Reading Town Planner Jean Delios. “Sustainability is really the key to this—and looking at ways to get people out of their cars.”

Delios said the project, which is limited by the grant to a total cost of $25,000, will look at the existing resources along the corridor and find ways to better use them. That could include adjusting MBTA bus routes, Delios said, or combining the use of some of Reading’s senior citizens’ shuttles.

 Wakefield Town Planner Paul Reavis said one of the goals of the project is to encourage drivers to use other forms of transportation to get to each town’s downtown, and also into Boston.

“The reason people use their car is a lot of times, they can’t get there without using it,” said Reavis. “Then there’s the convenience factor: How long before the train comes how long waiting for the bus, how awful is the weather, how unpredictable is it? If you can add more predictability and make the journey more pleasant, then people will use it more."

The project is currently in its scoping phase, meaning that land surveys and planners will be exploring the area and mapping out ideas for what improvements could look like. A series of public meetings will be held in the coming months to discuss the proposed changes to the area.

Melrose City Planner Denise Gaffey said the collaboration will mainly gather information from the public, take stock of transit options along the corridor and develop strategies for the future.

"Obviously it’s not a lot funding to study for three communities, so we really think a lot of it's going to be awareness: holding public hearings and getting input from the public, and then maybe some strategies in terms of land use, zoning and things of that nature," Gaffey said.

The project also ties in with MAPC's MetroFuture plan, Gaffey said, which is the organization's long range master planning study.

The Melrose-Wakefield-Reading project is still in very preliminary stages, according to Mark Racicot, manager of the MAPC Land Use Division. The planning will encompass studies of commuter rail services, bus services, bicycle and pedestrian amenities, and other alternatives to driving.

“Our transportation folks are going to be in contact with the three communities,” Racicot said, adding that Reading, Wakefield and Melrose jointly submitted an application for the grant earlier this year. “It’s a very interesting project with the three communities … the next stage is to work out exactly how many meetings we have, what particular detailed analyses they’d like us to undertake, and what they envision for the final project.”

Asked what the $15,000 specifically pays for, Racicot said “it’s not a cash grant.” Rather, the funds cover the cost of time spent by MAPC staffers—land use planners, transportation planners and engineers—working with the communities on the project.

The funds come from District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA) a state fund established in 2006 that enables regional planning agencies—such as the MAPC—to provide technical assistance to communities on projects such as the Reading-Wakefield-Melrose transportation corridor. Other projects funded this year through DLTA,  Racicot cited as examples, include studying whether Ashland and Hopkinton could merge fire departments, and energy planning underway for 17 communities within the MAPC region.

“Actually, we are—in addition—planning to put in some of our own funding that is not out of the District Local Technical Assistance fund,” he said. “I think that the commitment was for up to $25,000, $15,000 of which would be the DLTA. We’re planning on putting some of our transportation dollars towards this as well."

Despite ongoing discussions on Beacon Hill about looming budget cuts, the grant funding is “firmly in hand,” Racicot said, as it comes from the current year’s state budget.

“There is a continuing discussion about whether or not the funds will continue to be provided in next year’s budget, but that discussion will not impact this project,” he said.