[SBC] Lombardi St

[Charlie Denison]

Sorry I had some typos.  Corrected version:

Alan and I took a little site tour of Lombardi Way this morning to see 
what it is like now and visualize what it will be like after the 
proposed "improvements".

What we determined is that the proposed removal of the west sidewalk and 
the resulting missing two crosswalks at Mystic Ave will result in a very 
pedestrian unfriendly situation.

We observed 15 or so pedestrians walk down Lombardi Way for the 10 
minutes or so we were there this morning.  Almost every one of them used 
the west sidewalk at some point, as most of them were coming from or 
going towards the Circuit City/Home Depot area.

My own experience has shown has that even if you remove a sidewalk and 
crosswalks, people will continue to take the shortest route possible, 
often dangerously.  If we are to make Assembly Square as easy to get to 
as possible for pedestrians (and cyclists) it is essential that 
sidewalks exist on both sides of Lombardi Way and crosswalks exist on 
all legs of both intersections.

Looking at the proposed plans, Alan and I believe that a reconfiguration 
of lanes in two places can achieve the goal of leaving room to keep the 
west sidewalk (while also retaining space for bike lanes):

1. At Lombardi St and Mystic Ave, the current proposal has 1 southbound 
lane from Assembly Square Drive and 1 left turn lane from Mystic Ave 
each feeding into 2 lanes on Lombardi St.  One of these lanes on 
Lombardi St could be removed, and then it could fan out to two lanes as 
it approaches the intersection with Broadway.

2. At Lombardi St and Broadway, the current proposal has one lane from 
Mt Vernon St and one left turn lane from Broadway feeding into two lanes 
on Lombardi St.  This could be reduced to one lane on Lombardi St, and 
then fan out to the three lanes at Mystic Ave.

These changes (lane drops and crosswalk additions) will probably have 
some effect on traffic throughput, but to me (and I think Alan as well) 
it is absolutely essential that pedestrians be accommodated to the 
fullest extent through this area that is already very car-oriented and 
intimidating to traverse.  The small effect on traffic throughput is 
acceptable given the importance of this connection for ALL users.

I will draw up a proposal for the changes I think could be made.

Alan, who should we forward these comments to?

Charlie