Traffic Commission in brief: Traffic team pushes back on funding delays

J. Michael Garvin, the city’s traffic engineer, said funding delays are currently holding up traffic signal maintenance around Waltham.

At the Traffic Commission’s meeting this week, he said the team regularly studies traffic signals and reports any maintenance needs to the commission. Garvin said the city completed most of the maintenance approved over the last three years — but he identified 14 cases where the city has blocked progress at the funding stage, sometimes requiring that the commission complete other projects before proceeding.

Garvin showed videos of the signal timing and vehicle detection issues at some of these intersections. He emphasized that as of the commission’s June meeting, the city’s traffic mitigation fund had the capacity to cover these projects.

“When people complain about traffic through the city, added delay at traffic signals is the main reason,” Garvin said.

The commission voted to re-request funding for these signals.

Waiting for a car charger contract

The city also hasn’t yet received a contract for ChargePoint, the company operating its new electric vehicle chargers.

Garvin told commissioners the Wires Department has installed new ChargePoint chargers at public lots around the city.

Without the contract, however, the city isn’t yet collecting any of the revenue from its electric car chargers. Furthermore, the company is charging the city a significant cloud subscription fee without a clearly defined purpose.

Garvin recommended the city turn off all chargers until finalizing a contract with ChargePoint.

The commission voted to keep chargers operational after assurance from Director of Wires Tim Kelly that his department was actively working with ChargePoint to get the contract.

The commission also approved two additional electric charging spots and reduced overtime fees for cars that remain at charging stations beyond the permitted two hours. The change followed technical issues with fees the commission approved in February. It also approved a new contract with PayByPhone, the city’s mobile parking payment service, which raised SMS costs for users by five cents per message.

Additionally, the Traffic Commission:

• Agreed to remove a disability-accessible parking space on Clinton Street.
• Approved an all-way stop on the South Side intersection of Adams and Walnut streets, and requested Garvin study the width of the parking lane on Adams Street to make sure it’s large enough.
• Approved a new Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon on Linden Street. It asked Garvin to study a possible RRFB on Beaver Street, between Waltham Fields Community Farm and the Girl Scout camp, and tabled a proposal to add one on Moody Street while waiting to hear updates on the city’s long-term plans for the street.
• Approved a stop sign on the Lakeview intersection between Mokema and Seminole avenues.
• Approved a traffic study for an apartment building at the reservoir-adjacent Bay Colony property.
• Approved free parking vouchers for participants in a November event held by Waltham Open Studios.
• Approved signal timings for a redesign of the Gore Place intersection between Main Street and Warren Street, Gore Street and Barbara Road.
• Approved stop signs to protect crosswalks in the city’s Embassy Garage.
• Considered traffic improvements to the South Side’s Pine Street. Ward 9 Councilor Robert G. Logan requested protected left-turn phases for its intersections with Newton and Moody streets, and asked the city to install no-parking poles to prevent illegal parking where it would block driver sightlines. The commission requested Garvin study the two intersections further and asked him to look into alternatives to deter parking along the street.
• Heard an update on the MBTA’s ongoing bus map redesign. Garvin said he’s written a letter to the state asking it to reconsider plans that would break up service to Market Basket and the Lakeview neighborhood and entirely remove service to some areas in North Waltham, Highlands, Cedarwood and the Bleachery.
• Heard an update on the redesign of the Beaver Street railroad crossing, whose final design is slated to come out this fall.
• Heard updates on projects the city completed over the summer, including:
  • New signs advertising parking regulations
  • Improved traffic detection at three intersections and approved or added signage at four more
  • Repositioned pedestrian crossing buttons at the Charles River Greenway
  • A study of possible crosswalk locations near Whittemore Elementary, and
  • The removal of a disability-accessible parking space.
• Requested that Garvin study parking requirements on Grant Street, near the Main Street post office, at the request of a resident petition.
• Requested that Garvin study traffic safety at the South Side’s Wadsworth Street and Fuller Avenue, as well as the corner between Angleside and Charles River roads, near Brandeis’s Charles River Apartments.
• Updated the city’s traffic regulations to include recent changes to signage and traffic patterns.