Manager says total cost involves 2 lights, improvements
Concept of Lake/bikeway intersection from July. / Green International Affiliates
The Town of Arlington has missed out on $400,000 to help pay for a coordinated light on Lake Street at the Minuteman Bikeway.
The news was first reported by Adam Auster in his blog, Word on the Street, on March 14.
Asked about it the next day, Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine told YourArlington, “We certainly were disappointed to not receive this grant, but it is a very competitive program, so there was never any guarantee of a grant award.
“We’re currently discussing next steps, and we’ll need to ultimately decide if we pursue the next round of Complete Streets funding or if we seek funding via the capital plan.”
Auster reported: “The grant awards are described in a memo dated February 15, but news that the project had not made the cut seemed to catch Town officials by surprise this week.”
Chapdelaine responded: “This was not a surprise. We learned of it a week or so ago.”
On March 18, Auster posted a second piece about the lights involved titled “$700,000.” That is the estimate cost of the light, reported last October, which would coordinate with one at Brooks Avenue.
Auster compared that estimate with the original one, $150,000, and asked “Why so much.” He goes on to explain in some detail.
Asked March 19 about Auster’s second blog posting, Chapdelaine wrote: “In regard to the Lake Street matter, there is more work for the Design Review Committee to do before I can comment on any potential changes to the cost estimates.
“I will say that a simple installation of lights can be done for far less than $700K, but the current design, which was put together with significant public feedback and discussion includes a newly installed light at the intersection of Lake Street and the Bikeway, a new traffic signal to replace the aging equipment at the intersection of Lake St. and Brooks Ave., and significant landscape improvements to the Bikeway intersection.
“I think it is fairly disingenuous to label this project a ‘$700K Traffic Signal.’ It is clearly two signals and significant human-scale design improvements to the intersection of the Bikeway and Lake Street. We want to implement this project as cost efficiently and as effectively as possible, but it is important to accurately acknowledge what the $700K estimate is proposing to buy when assessing this project.”
Watch ACMi video of 75% hearing in October 2017 >>
Oct. 4, 2017: Lake St./bikeway project, at 75%, runs into resistance
June 30, 2017: Targeting safety, new bikeway/Lake design draws variety of views
ACMi broadcast of July 26 hearing
July 26 slide show online
Feb.-Jan. 2016: emails, memo
Design review committee, appointed Jan. 17
This news summary was published Wednesday, March 21, 2018.
