By AUBREY HAWKE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
Residents of Ward 8 crowded into the City Council chamber last week to hear the latest news in their ongoing struggle to stop speeding traffic on Crescent Street.
Their petition, led by Councilor Cathyann Harris, is simple: install a speed cushion.
Harris said all 37 Ward 8 residents who attended a recent community forum voted unanimously in favor of the recommendation to install a speed cushion.
A speed cushion is like a speed bump, except a speed cushion is temporary. It would be removed during the winter to allow snowplows to clear the street without issue. It also has gaps strategically placed to allow fire trucks to pass over the mat without slowing down.
If installed as proposed, the cushion on Crescent Street would be removed in November for the winter season and then re-installed in April.
Fire Chief Andrew Mullin spoke against the petition, saying that he believed the placement of the speed cushion would force fire trucks to cross the yellow margin line and go into oncoming traffic to pass through the cushion’s gaps.
In response to Mullin’s comments, Waltham’s traffic engineer, Michael Garvin, said the speed cushion would be placed so that a fire truck could pass through without slowing down and without crossing into oncoming traffic.
In an email to The Waltham Times Mullin further explained his opposition to the plan.
“I voted against the installation of speed cushions on Crescent St.,” he wrote. “As every Fire Chief before me has done, I have consistently voted against installing any traffic calming measures which impede emergency response (speed bumps, speed tables, raised crosswalks, speed cushions) since my first meeting on the Traffic Commission. I have instead consistently voted for calming measures including additional signage, lane markings, and strict enforcement.”
Other commissioners, however, spoke at the meeting in favor of the speed cushions.
“This is a pilot where we’re trying to figure out, if we install something like this, if it works. I think we should install it and see if it works,” said commission member Joe Vizard, who is also city clerk.
“I’m going to be honest: Everyone in Waltham knows that all the communities around us have installed these, and we’re lagging. We can continue to table things, do studies, talk about them, or we can just install them,” Vizard said, part of a longer commentary that earned him a round of applause from the meeting’s audience.
In an email to The Waltham Times, commission member and Waltham’s inspector of wires Tim Kelly said he voted in favor of the speed cushions because he sees speeding on Crescent Street as a public safety issue.
The Traffic Commission voted four in favor and two opposed to the motion. The speed cushion will be installed in April 2025. Commission members will revisit the subject and review the effects of the cushion in November 2025, after it has been installed for a full season.