DCR unwraps latest plans for Arborway: Would turn rotaries into signalized intersections with turn lanes, add dedicated bike, pedestrian paths from Jamaica Plain to Forest Hills

Unlike the weather, DCR says this time it's really going to do something to make the Arborway safer for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists, possibly in 2027, through a host of improvements that will include changing the giant circle of doom by the Arboretum known as Murray Circle and the smaller ellipsoid of confusion up by Jamaica Pond known as Kelley Circle into large intersections, with traffic lights and turn lanes and "highly visible" crosswalks and pedestrian-crossing signals.

At a Zoom community meeting this evening, planners from DCR and its traffic consultant said they're also looking at adding dedicated pathways along the roughly mile of highway from the pond to Forest Hills for pedestrians and bicyclists - and possibly separate paths for each - reducing the number of crosswalks where pedestrians can now get pancaked by speeders and ensuring the lights at the new signalized intersections mostly don't put walkers in the way of turning cars.

As one example, they pointed to the proposed re-do of Kelley Circle, where people who want to walk to Jamaica Pond from the south now have to hope motorists will stop for them at three separate unsignalized crossings in a short space - one at Prince Street and two at Parkman Drive. Under the proposal, parkland around the pond would be extended south, with the current parkway route eliminated and Parkman Drive extended to a new intersection with Pond Street - which would have pedestrian-crossing lights.

Before and after:

Signals would be timed to try to encourage motorists to go no faster than 25 m.p.h. along the stretch of roadway, they said, adding that just south of Murray Circle, they are looking at adding what would appear to be a mini-rotary but which would actually be two u-turn lanes so motorists could avoid Murray.

Possible dedicated bike lanes on what is now a little used median:

Also in the works: Returning the carriageways to their original purpose as local roads to handle mainly people going to and from all the homes along the Arborway, rather than serving as congested throughways for people who only find themselves in Jamaica Plain as a way to get somewhere else.

Eliminating the two rotaries would all by itself make the roads safer for motorists, who would no longer get into sideswipe crashes due to all the confusing weaving they currently have to do to get through rotaries - a task not helped by DCR itself a few years back when it reconfigured Murray Circle itself and put in a southbound sort-of bike lane without much signage telling motorists which lanes to take to go where.

Planners added that between Murray Circle and Forest Hills, they are looking at removing the narrow median and using the land gained that way for bolstering pedestrian and bicycle pathways along the Arboretum. However, the plans call for continued Arborway parking along the stretch of road past what is now Murray Circle.

DCR project manager John Cavanaro said the current Arborway configuration, which dates back several decades "has sort of outlived its useful life" and that DCR wants to try to make it safer for people using it to get somewhere and to "support Olmsted's vision for the parkway as a green, recreational space."

In total, planners said, the revised parkway would lose three acres of pavement and another 1.5 acres of currently impervious areas, letting them use the land for passive recreational areas people could actually use - as opposed to the current large areas inside rotaries or along medians that no sane person would ever try to get to.

Planners said this would include planting new trees that would ultimately provide a canopy for as much as 10,000 square feet of currently bare land. Some current trees might have to be uprooted, but Cavanaro said the plans would try to minimize that through steps such as shifting the new Murray Circle intersection away from the current rotary to protect the trees now growing in the middle.

Cavanaro said the current timeline calls for DCR and its consultant, Howard Stein Hudson, to analyze comments from tonight's meeting, better refine the plans, hold another public hearing this fall and begin to draw up "100% design" plans that would be used to solicit construction bids by late 2026.

Residents and drivers, who have been complaining about the stretch of road for years, seemed mostly pleased that DCR was heading in the right direction at the meeting.

However, residents of Pondside - the area between roughly the Arborway and Centre Street across from Jamaica Pond, expressed concern that the new road configuration would make it harder for them to get between their homes and areas to the north, such as downtown, without going through a convoluted set of turns or, in the case of coming home at night, being forced to try to make a left turn through an intersection with no traffic signals across northbound traffic.

Residents on the other side of the Arborway and Centre Street heading towards Faulkner also worried if the changes would send more motorists down their roads as shortcuts to avoid the Arborway. One resident also expressed concern that eliminating even the thin median between Murray Circle and Forest Hills would be a problem given that motorists particularly love to speed on that stretch - and the lack of a barrier could lead to head-on crashes.

Resident Eric Herot, though, said he's concerned that if the state does too good a job easing congestion on the Arborway, online route planners such as Google Maps would start sending drivers back onto the parkway, meaning it could return to its current state of congestion. He also urged DCR to ensure the new crosswalks are well lit at night - he said that in other areas where DCR has put in new crosswalks, it's often skimped on ensuring the crosswalks have adequate lighting.