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Revere council hears plan to pilot Harris Street one-way conversion; residents ask for delay and more data
Summary
Planning staff presented a Dec. 6 pilot to reconfigure Harris Street traffic and collect 90 days of data; residents and several councilors urged more outreach, asked to postpone the pilot until spring, and pressed for baseline counts and emergency-access studies.
Revere City planning staff presented a proposed pilot to convert segments of Harris Street to new one-way/dual-direction operations and test the changes starting Dec. 6, describing a 90-day monitoring period and outreach materials in multiple languages. Staff said the project—developed over several years and reviewed for mitigation considerations under MEPA/Section 61—would be coordinated with utilities and the police department and adjusted based on collected data.
The presentation said staff will collect 24-hour volumes and 48-hour spot counts at locations along Harris, Route 16 and nearby links, then compare baseline data to operations during the 90-day pilot. "Vamos a tener 24 horas TMC colectar volúmenes, movimientos en la intersección... en tiempo de 48 horas," staff said during the presentation.
During the public-comment period and council questioning, Councilor Mackenna and multiple residents said they had not received adequate notice and that the pilot risks displacing traffic and creating parking shortages on smaller residential streets such as Soul Street and Elm Street. "Nos sentamos en el frente del tráfico... preocupados de la forma que qué va a pasar," Councilor Mackenna said, calling for immediate counts and better communication. Several speakers urged postponing implementation until April so data collected in non-winter months can better reflect regular traffic patterns.
Council members asked whether winter data would be representative, pressed staff on enforcement (the department said police will assist during the first-day rollout and signage would be increased) and requested that fire and EMS access studies be reviewed before final changes. Staff described options for signal-phase adjustments and the possibility of removing or modifying a signal phase to streamline flow.
Staff emphasized the pilot’s adaptability: if the 90-day review shows negative impacts, the city would adjust or reverse configurations. Residents and some councilors nevertheless pressed for an extended outreach schedule, a public meeting after initial data collection and clearer multilingual materials ahead of any physical changes.
The next procedural steps offered in the meeting were: proceed with the planned counting schedule, monitor operations for 90 days after installation, and hold a community meeting between January and March to review the findings. The council did not record a formal vote on postponement in the transcript; the discussion closed with staff agreeing to continue coordination and data collection.
