A Town Council Subcommittee supported the idea of doing a pilot program to close a portion of Greenough Boulevards to traffic on weekends during parts of the year, similar to Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
The section of the roadway, sometimes called Little Greenough, runs between North Beacon and Arsenal streets, and provides a link between the two thoroughfares. On Dec. 10, the Committee on Economic Development and Planning voted to recommend that the full Council request that the state do a pilot study of closing the road on the weekends during the spring, summer and fall, and examine the impact on traffic.
The roadway is controlled by the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), which closed it during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea proved popular with many said Watertown Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee member Amy Plovnick said.
“I think the closure of Little Greenough over the spring and summer opened our eyes to what this road could be — having access to the river for recreation,” Plovnick said. “And a lot of people in Watertown and nearby communities enjoyed using the road when it was closed to vehicles during that time.”
A petition asking the close Little Greenough got more than 400 signatures, Plovnick said. Some people wrote in that they enjoyed using the road to inline skate, and one family said their children learned to ride their bikes without training wheels on Little Greenough during the closure, she added.
The petition called for closing the roadway full-time, but in the fall, when the Bike & Ped Committee presented the petition to the Town Council, the request was to close the roadway on weekends.
Some worried about what closing the roadway would do to traffic in East Watertown, even if only on weekends. They noted that the nearest link between North Beacon Street and Arsenal Street is Louise Street, a residential road west of the Arsenal on the Charles. Others said that the Town already has plenty of pathways along the river for residents to use.
Greenough sits near the Arsenal Yards, the redeveloped portion of the former U.S. Army Arsenal, which became the Arsenal Mall. Other developments have been built on Arsenal Street and East End Town Councilor Angeline Kounelis said she worries about the traffic impact if Little Greenough is closed off.
“I am not opposed to open green space, it’s not that I oppose recreation, it’s an issue of the happening on Arsenal Street and all of the surrounding area and the congestion we are going to be facing as a community. And by closing this roadway we are eliminating this one link this area has that can give us a little bit of relief, like an expansion valve that could be available,” Kounelis said. “We are looking at weekend closings. When look at the Traffic Impact study of Arsenal Yards, the greatest impact on the community, based on the theater and retail space, would be on weekends.”
Some asked if the parking areas on either end of Little Greenough would be accessible for people with limited mobility, or families with small children who must drive to the area. Councilor Vincent Piccirilli said he would like to see those parking areas remain open.
Who owns the roadway is not quite clear. While the DCR has taken control over the road, former Watertown Recreation Director Tom Sullivan wrote an email to the subcommittee saying that when the former Arsenal was sold by the Federal government to the Town of Watertown in the 1980s the property went all the way to the Charles River, including the roadway. The Committee asked Assistant Town Manager Steve Magoon to look into who exactly controls Little Greenough and the surrounding area.
Councilor Lisa Feltner, who is on the subcommittee, supported the recommendation to have the full Council reach out to the DCR to see if the road could be closed on weekends. She noted that the Town is looking at things it never had during the pandemic.
“COVID-19 had such as huge impact, we were willing to do some things, such as closing (Little Greenough). Another example was outdoor dining (on sidewalks),” Feltner said. “Things we as a community were afraid to do because we were afraid of the impact.”
Piccirilli said he supported the pilot study, noting that it could always be stopped.
“The worst thing that could happen, we close it and after three weeks of total mayhem surrounding Arsenal Yards and we call it off,” Piccirilli said. “We are closing it with cones and barricades, not a physical structure.”
Councilor Ken Woodland, the third subcommittee member, had to leave the meeting for another engagement before the vote was taken. The subcommittee voted 2-0 to support the recommendation.
Please, don’t copy Cambridge in any way whatsoever.
Cambridge’s closing Memorial Drive on Sundays, especially in bad weather, creates traffic snarls and sometimes is barely used anyway.
There is plenty of open space around in Watertown and adjoining towns already, including parks/playgrounds, conservation land, and walking and bikepath paths along the river on both sides, along with nice views.
No need to create a problem where none exists.
Go to the North Shore, South Shore, Central Mass., and other places. Explore.
This knee jerk hatred of all things Cambridge has gotten ridiculous. It reeks of long ago rivalries that have grown moldy and irrelevant. Time to put it aside and live in the 21st century.
The reference to “fools” actually makes me wonder about the speaker more than his subjects.
What’s good for Watertown should be decided on the merits, not whether Cambridge does or doesn’t do it. Cambridge collects garbage. Should we stop?
It’s not about “rivalries”, “rivalries” have nothing to do with it. It’s about not becoming a national liberal laughing stock and embarrassment like Portland, Seattle, San Fransisco, Berkeley and of course Cambridge. Somerville is not far behind.
Maybe that’s fine with you, but some of us actually have some pride, and roots in this community and not cater to the self serving interests of those who wish us to bring us into “the 21st century”.
David, I stand by every word that I wrote. You imply that I have no pride in the town? That’s (malarky). I think that my pride and concern for the town are well documented. It proves your ridiculousness that you seem to think that only people who think like yourself take pride in Watertown.
As far as the towns you mention as “laughing stocks”, that may be your opinion, but it is not widely shared outside your circle.
Watertown cannot avoid change. It is inevitable that it will not be the same place in the future as it was back in your day, just as it was not the same place then as it had been decades before.
Look at the history and see the changes Watertown has gone through from agrarian community, to industrial center, to street care suburb and so on. All in a little more than one hundred years.
To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, to expect Watertown not to change would be like requiring the grown man to wear the same clothes that fitted him as a child.
I think that it is change that you fear. Too bad. The rest of us are working to try to make the change as positive as possible as it is one of the few inevitabilities in life.
Please don’t close the Blvd. already narrowed to one lane either way to make way for pedestrians and bikers. Have considerations for people who live right off there in apartments. As a taxpayer we strongly protest.
Not sure if I was clear, this is the section of Greenough below the Home Depot parking lot. Not the section near Grove Street.
It’s sad that many here really DO NOT have pride for this town. Just because you brag about it online doesn’t mean you actually do. It’s nothing more than just self gratification. Many outsiders indeed are trying to make Watertown the “cheaper to live cambridge”. They’d rather work in Cambridge but pay cheaper Watertown rent along with the no parking fees or taxes.
You can actually tell who’s from here and honestly cares about the town and who isn’t and is merely just trying to run it into the ground. Not that they care, because they just pick up and move onto the next town.
Ok, who gets to decide who has pride and who doesn’t–you? Piffle.
Many people who migrated here made a conscious choice to settle in Watertown. They chose the town. It’s not an accident of birth. They love the town.
Sorry, but you don’t get to decide who belongs and who doesn’t.
If the traffic impact of the Arsenal Yards development in so great that we can’t have more greenspace, perhaps that development shouldn’t have been approved in the first place.
A pilot program is the correct approach here. The traffic concerns are valid as is the opportunity for more outdoor recreation space! Let’s see how this goes folks! I certainly will be open to ride my bike down there or even walk in the winter with more space between people.