Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about MassDOT

In June, the MBTA issued a solicitation for bids from private developers for the use of this mile-long rail corridor in East Boston. The corridor connects the Logan Airport area to the doorstep of Suffolk Downs, where builders have proposed 10.5 million square feet of new development.

Advocacy Works: MBTA Cancels East Boston Rail Corridor Sale

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 22, 2019 | No Comments

After receiving intense scrutiny from transit advocates, the MBTA is withdrawing its effort to sell easement rights to an abandoned mile-long rail corridor along the Chelsea Creek waterfront in East Boston. As reported last week on StreetsblogMASS, the MBTA quietly issued an “invitation for bids” on June 21 to sell off a non-exclusive easement to […]

The Mystic Avenue crosswalk at the Kensington pedestrian underpass in East Somerville.

Hit-and-Run Driver Kills Woman in Crosswalk in Somerville

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 22, 2019 | 2 Comments

Massachusetts State Police have arrested Zewdu Abate Gedamu, 64, of Roxbury, for killing Cheryl Pauline Richards, 52, of Somerville, as she was walking across Mystic Avenue in the crosswalk Saturday evening near Assembly Square. Gedamu, who was driving a 2008 Mercedes-Benz E350, struck Richards shortly before 8 p.m. on the crosswalk that connects Stop and […]

The Registry of Motor Vehicles office building on Haymarket Square in downtown Boston.

Suspended Licenses Are a Weak Deterrent for Dangerous Drivers

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 17, 2019 | No Comments

Last month, Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, a 23-year-old from West Springfield, drove his pickup truck into a group of motorcyclists on a rural New Hampshire road, killing seven of them and injuring three more. The tragedy revealed a stunning bureaucratic failure at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), a subdivision of MassDOT. Zhukovskyy had been arrested for […]

A person rides a bike along the Minuteman path in East Arlington.

New MassTrails Program Funds 71 Trail Projects on a Shoestring

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 9, 2019 | 1 Comment

A new statewide grant program has released its first round of awards, stretching $5 million in state and federal funds to advance dozens of trail projects across the state. MassTrails, a relatively new collaboration between the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and MassDOT, aims to fill gaps in the state’s growing network of […]

The proposed Red/Blue connection would extend the downtown terminus of the Blue Line a few blocks westward to link with the Red Line, and a major transit destination, at Charles/MGH.

Transit Advocates Press State to Build Long-Awaited Blue Line/Red Line Connection

By Christian MilNeil | Jun 7, 2019 | 4 Comments

A quarter of a century ago, Massachusetts promised environmentalists a broad array of transit improvements in order to mitigate air pollution impacts from the “Big Dig” highway expansion. Among those commitments was a short extension to the Blue Line, tunneling a few blocks westward under Cambridge Street, to enable direct transfers to the Red Line […]

A December 2016 Google Street View image of Kelley Square in Worcester, looking north towards Water Street and the Canal District.

Worcester's Crash-Prone Kelley Square Will Get a Makeover

By Christian MilNeil | May 14, 2019 | 2 Comments

Worcester's Kelley Square, a junction of 7 busy streets near an interstate highway interchange, has the dubious honor of being the intersection with the most crashes in Massachusetts.

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