Yes, please. It's particularly difficult when you are out with young kids. You either have to run across without a crosswalk (not a great message to send kids) or walk quite aways to get to a safe crossing point.

The lack of a pedestrian signal on the northwest corner is also challenging for peds crossing Beacon Street. Hoping that the Beacon Street reconstruction fixes these problems in the long term.

http://www.somervillema.gov/beaconstreet

Oops, I'm thinking of the wrong intersection (Beacon/Park). I agree about Park/Ivaloo, too.

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for reaching out to the city about this issue. I have created a work order on your behalf to have the engineering department look into this 459815. Have a Great Day

Any updates here?

How can we view the work order(459815)?

Any updates here? I see that Park St will now be the official detour for much of the summer due to construction on Beacon St. With even more cars on Park St a crosswalk near Ivaloo St is even more important than when I first reported this issue.

Good Afternoon,

Outside of Central Business Districts (CBD) crosswalks are generally not installed at mid block locations. Across Park St at Ivaloo St would be considered a mid block location. Studies have shown that when crosswalks are installed in mid block locations pedestrian accidents increase. This phenomenon is caused by motorists not having proper perception reaction time to stop for a pedestrian at a location where generally a crosswalk is not expected.
In addition there must be a need for a crosswalk. Pedestrian crossings in an area must be apparent. Transportation Industry/Traffic Engineering Standards require either 20 pedestrian per hour or 60 pedestrians per four hour period for a new crosswalk. This figure must be documented by a valid survey.
To install a new crosswalk, a new crosswalk is mandated to comply with the standards of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). These standards mandate ADA ramps (in compliance with the latest ADA ramp specifications) at each end of the crosswalk. There are no ADA ramps for a crosswalk across Park St at Ivaloo St.

Based on the above Traffic and Parking does not support a new crosswalk at this location.

So...why did it take 4+ months to get a boilerplate answer? I literally just got an email about Park St becoming the main detour for Beacon St, meaning all of the traffic on Beacon St will now move to Park St, meaning a crosswalk here is going to be even more important.

Oh well, I'll just take this denial from the City as approval to jaywalk here. I'm trying really hard to do the right thing, and make the city streets reflect the usage patterns of the residents that live there, but if the city is unwilling to do so I guess a good dose of what is probably the world's lamest civil disobedience is in order.

So...that's unfortunate. It would have been nice to have gotten this information several months ago, without repeated prompting for it. It *really* sucks to wait for months, assuming someone is seriously looking at your concerns, and then basically be told "go away, we're not even entertaining your request, and here's some boilerplate reasons why."

Are there any other ways we can explore this issue further? There are numerous "mid-block" crosswalks on Beacon St that were installed, presumably, because the "end block" crosswalks were too far away. Considering that Park St will soon have the same levels of traffic as Beacon St, I assume whatever reasons provided for "non-standard" crosswalks on Beacon St should also apply to Park St?