Mayor Proposes Immediate Investments To Improve Street Safety

SOMERVILLE, MA — Mayor Joseph Curtatone submitted a proposal to the City Council this week immediately raising investments in street safety and sustainable transportation.

The proposal creates three new full-time staff positions in the Mobility Division to support traffic-calming, transit-focused projects, public engagement, long-range policy planning and complete streets engineering.

The roles would increase Somerville's ability to fulfill its Vision Zero commitment to eliminate crashes resulting in severe injury or fatality, the mayor said, as well as its Climate Forward goal of decreasing carbon emissions to zero.

New positions are typically proposed through the city's annual budget process in June, but the mayor's mid-year request is intended to facilitate hiring in time for the 2021 construction season.

"These needed investments would accelerate and expand our community's efforts to save lives and combat climate change with the scale and urgency required," Curtatone said in a statement. "We've made enormous progress, from saving the Green Line and Community Path from cancellation, to constructing miles of accessible sidewalks and new bike facilities, but we must maintain progress and accelerate our efforts if we are to achieve Vision Zero and our Somerville Climate Forward goals. This proposal is an important step toward that."

In 2010 and 2011, Somerville experienced 25 crashes that resulted in severe injuries or fatalities per year. By 2018, that number fell to 10; however, four fatal crashes in 2019 and one in 2020 have galvanized the community to accelerate investment in safe streets projects.

Since 2015, Mayor Curtatone and the City Council have collaborated to allocate resources in support of Somerville’s goal to be the most walkable, bikeable, and transit-accessible city in the country.

Dozens of safety and accessibility projects have been successfully implemented over the past six years, including rebuilding more than 10 miles of accessible sidewalks, expanding the city’s bicycle network by approximately 10 miles, and creating five dedicated bus lane facilities.

The proposed staff positions and related funding would help deliver new traffic-calming and pedestrian safety projects, rapid expansion of protected bike lanes and system-wide improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.