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Brookline Select Board remands Pierce School curb-cut decision, urges safe alternatives
Summary
After a contentious hearing, the Select Board sent the Transportation Boarddecision on a Harvard Street curb cut and elimination of a left-turn lane back for further study, directing staff to avoid an active curb cut on Harvard, preserve the left-turn option, and explore nonstructural fixes for the Washington Street entrance.
The Brookline Select Board on Tuesday remanded a Transportation Board decision on the Pierce Schoolproject, instructing staff and the Transportation Board to revisit plans that would create a curb cut on Harvard Street and remove a northbound left-turn lane at School Street.
The hearing brought residents, traffic engineers and school-designers to the microphone in packed public testimony and a multi-hour staff presentation. John Hebert, a town meeting member and petitioner, argued the decision to eliminate the left-turn lane relied on limited data and would shift hazardous left-turning traffic two blocks north to the Harvard/Auburn intersection, where he said daycare driveways, a gas station and frequent pedestrian activity create a complex and risky environment. "This intersection is extremely busy," Hebert said, urging the board to consider pedestrian safety and parking impacts.
Designers and traffic consultants from Vanasse Associates defended the Transportation Boarddecision…
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