Decorative Crosswalks on Huntington Avenue Are Terrible!

Posted by John B. Kelly

Have you seen the new crosswalks along Huntington Avenue? They are really quite pretty.

The only problem is that some of them, like this one crossing Forsyth Way, are very bumpy.

"It's just one thing after another," Symphony Towers resident Pam Beeler told me. "First you have the brick, and then you have the bumpy brick street. There's no relief! Whose fault is this? Is it Menino's?"

I thought the fact that no brick crosswalks had been installed represented a small victory for us, and the first few thermoplastic crosswalks I went over were smooth. But the latest ones we've ridden over are awful. It's just adding insult to injury.

I first heard about this "steelprint" process at a meeting with the Department of public Works on September 29. Other advocates and I heard about a crosswalk that had been placed on Melnea Cass Boulevard as a test. The process supposedly resulted in perfectly smooth crosswalks.

Next thing we know, they start popping up all over Huntington Avenue. First few seemed great, but I still felt sour that the city was spending money on decoration rather than repairing the dangerous brick sidewalks.

So far as I know, Forsyth Way, and both sides of Gainsborough Street are terrible. I wrote our liaison at the Department of Public Works about this, and am still waiting for an answer.