An $11.1 million rebuild of Woodrow Avenue starts in Dorchester, making 2019's slow-streets changes permanent

Construction has started on an $11.1 million rebuild of Woodrow Avenue and six connecting side streets off Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester, the Dorchester Reporter reported. The project includes new sidewalks, paving, redesigned intersections, trees, better lighting and speed humps on Woodrow and on Jones, Ballou, Dumas, Mascot, Willowwood and Jacob streets.

For people who live there, it means months of construction and, when it's done, permanent versions of the temporary traffic-calming changes the city installed in 2019 under its Neighborhood Slow Streets program. Permanent designs began in 2022 but stalled for years, the Reporter wrote.

What the city says

• The approach. Chris Osgood, the city's interim chief of streets, described the project as a step from quick-build changes to permanent construction. "We are literally building on our past work," he told the Reporter.
• What's happening now. Crews are fixing drainage on Ballou Avenue and Willowwood Street and replacing sidewalks along Ballou.
• Crossings. At Jones and Ballou and at Willowwood and Dumas, curb lines will change. Bump-outs on Jones Avenue will shorten pedestrian crossings by about a quarter to a third.
• A new model. City Streets officials described a clustered approach to rolling out sidewalk and safety work across the city, the paper reported. The Reporter did not report a completion date.

A neighborhood association has pushed for the work since 2016, and neighbors cite speeding cut-through traffic and past crashes, the Reporter wrote. The group also wants a deteriorating staircase between the Norfolk Street bridge and Mascot Street repaired.

What our records add

The administration told the council this was coming. At a May 4 budget hearing, City Councilor Henry Santana asked about future plans for bike and pedestrian safety. A city streets official answered that six neighborhood safety projects were moving into construction this year, most with some bike connections, and that the city was replacing quick-build installations with permanent infrastructure such as cast-in-place curbs (watch at 1:05:55).

Speed humps are still a sore point. StreetsblogMASS reported this week that the city's speed hump program has largely stalled, and Osgood told the outlet the city will build traffic calming into capital projects like this one (our Nov. 4 story). Council President Liz Breadon's Aug. 26 Section 17F order for a full accounting of speed humps installed and planned (docket 1605) has been waiting 71 days. We have not found a response on council agendas, including Nov. 4.

A reporting requirement is waiting. City Councilor Enrique Pepén's ordinance requiring annual reports on street projects (docket 1415), with 10 sponsors, has been in the Government Operations Committee for 106 days. Annual reports would show residents which projects are funded and when they are scheduled.

Today's hearing. The Planning, Development and Transportation Committee meets Thursday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m. on the city's bike network plan and heavy truck safety (dockets 1418 and 1542; our preview). It is the council's first public session with city streets officials since the speed hump reports.

What's next

• Construction continues on Ballou and Willowwood. The city's Streets Cabinet lists project updates.
• The 17F answer on speed humps would appear on a council agenda as a message from the mayor. The next regular meeting is Nov. 18.
• The Nov. 5 hearing streams at boston.gov/city-council-tv. We will link timestamped remarks once the recording is posted.