West Medford pedestrian safety, accessibility project breaks ground

Rachel Tanner never thought she’d live to see it started, let alone finished. But as a friend of hers joked Friday morning, “Rachel, you ain’t dead yet!”

It turns out Tanner has spent close to 10 years pushing for the state to put in a sidewalk and crosswalk that would allow seniors, kids and residents to safely navigate from the rear of the West Medford Community Center (WMCC) to either walk along or cross Mystic River Road to Dugger Park.

But on May 9, Tanner was all smiles as her efforts finally paid off. The city was about to officially break ground on a new pedestrian safety and accessibility project.

“I never thought I’d live to see it,” Tanner said, looking around as seniors, area residents and city and state officials gathered for the moment she’s been waiting for all these years. “The [Metropolitan District Commission] originally told us no. Then we went through [former mayor] Mike McGlynn, then [former mayor] Stephanie [Burke] tried and nothing happened. Then I decided to try with this guy.”

This guy is Rep. Sean Garballey, who represents the area of West Medford where the WMCC is located.

“Sean said he’d help and he’s been with us ever since,” Tanner said. “We had many, many disappointments and I’ve lost many of my seniors waiting for this pathway to be done. But it’s at long last come to fruition and it’s long overdue.”

Garballey was also all smiles on Friday morning, happy to see the project off the ground and underway at long last.

“We worked to get money along various stages of the budget and we’d put that in [over the years],” said Garballey, who credited Sen. Pat Jehlen for working with him on the project from the Senate side. “There was a lot of red tape, even though the [Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)] commissioner agreed with us. The folks at the DCR really tried to be helpful.”

Garballey said when he first received the call from Tanner, he told her this should be an easy project to get done. But as DCR commissioner after DCR commissioner left their post after agreeing to help, Garballey said it became a frustrating situation.

City steps in

With $500,000 in state funds waiting to be used for the project, it looked like the nothing would ever happen.

Then two years ago everything changed as complaints reached Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, who decided enough was enough.

“We took over the funds from the DCR and came down here with the city team,” Lungo-Koehn said.

Officials quickly scoped out what needed to be done to make the neighborhood safe but decided to expand and create an entire accessibility project for everyone who uses the area.

Director of Traffic and Transportation Todd Blake said once the money came in from the DCR, the city’s team was able to get the specs together and put the project out to bid. That was last fall, Blake said, with the goal of starting the project in the spring.

Blake said the highlights of the project include new walkways along Mystic River Road, a new crosswalk, new bike lanes, realigned parking, and a pick-up/drop-off area behind the WMCC.

“The goal was to increase pedestrian safety and access,” Blake said.

Jim Nishina is the project manager for J.J. Phelan & Son, which is the contractor on the project. He said crews have been working in the area for about two weeks. He estimated it will take about five weeks, or sometime in mid-June, for the project to be complete.

“This whole project has been wonderful to work on,” Nishina said, adding that residents and folks using the center have been incredibly patient with all the noise and equipment.

Reactions

WMCC Executive Director Lisa Crossman also had a big smile on her face Friday, especially at the news the project could be so close to being done after a decade of trying by residents.

“Rachel has been after me about this since day one,” Crossman said, laughing. “We have a preschool upstairs and after-school program, seniors and summer events coming and this will be a wonderful addition. It will make everything so much safer.”

Crossman added she was very excited, as crews worked to make the improvements.

“The workers have just been wonderful, and each day you can see more and more progress,” she said.

Lungo-Koehn  said she was pleased to see how quickly things were coming together.

“I’m so excited,” she said, “not for myself, but for the people in the area who have been asking for this for a decade. This will be a safer area for everyone.”