Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transit Tsp topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Select Board delays vote on MBTA pilot to upgrade Beacon Street transit‑signal priority after safety questions
Summary
DPW and MBTA officials proposed a one‑year trial to upgrade transit‑signal priority on Beacon Street at two intersections, saying the newer system would better detect Green Line vehicles and provide remote performance monitoring.
Town transportation staff and MBTA project managers presented a proposal to upgrade the Beacon Street transit‑signal priority system at Washington and Marion Streets, an initiative intended to reduce Green Line delays by giving trolleys priority at signals.
Dan Martin, transportation engineer for the Brookline Department of Public Works, told the Select Board the upgrades were part of a regional TSP effort and would be paid initially by the MBTA under a one‑year technical support agreement. "We are not asking the town for funding today," Martin said, while also noting the town would remain responsible for typical signal maintenance and cabinet equipment.
An MBTA project manager described the new vendor‑hosted TSP as more interoperable and less aggressive than legacy systems, adding it would provide continuous remote monitoring and data collection to measure system performance. "Traffic coordination is maintained, so it's minor changes, adding a few seconds here to help the Green Line without reducing pedestrian phases," the MBTA presenter said.
However, board members and multiple residents pressed for more detail after hearing an engineering study on the corridor. Testimony and several residents’ accounts focused on Beacon at Carlton Street, where drivers reported short cycles that left motorists unexpectedly facing oncoming traffic. “I totaled my car when a light short‑cycled,” one resident said; board members demanded a crash‑history audit and clearer cost allocation before the town agreed to proceed.
Questions before the board included: a list of all Beacon Street intersections that would experience similar short‑cycling; whether TSP can be applied on an intersection‑by‑intersection basis or corridor‑wide only; whether upgrades to town‑owned signal cabinets would be necessary and who would pay; and whether the MBTA's draft MOU properly allocates technical support responsibilities — one clause limits MBTA technical support to 20 hours per year.
Board action: Select Board members declined to sign the MOU at the Oct. 28 meeting and asked staff to bring back the 56‑page consultant report and a written list of affected intersections, cost estimates for any required town signal upgrades, and revised MOU language clarifying responsibilities and support levels.
Ending: Town staff and MBTA officials agreed to return with the requested information. Multiple residents urged the board to seek a formal road‑safety audit of Beacon Street intersections before any activation of the upgraded system.
