Mayor Menino Announces Jamaica Plain,

Centre and South Streets Redesign

City Will Work With Citizen’s Advisory Group to Create a More Vibrant Transportation Corridor

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced that Centre and South Streets, from Jackson Square to Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, will be redesigned by the City of Boston.  To launch the redesign effort, the City has selected a citizen’s advisory group and a team of consultants and will kick-off the work with a public meeting on July 15 at Curtis Hall, 20 South Street, Jamaica Plain.

“The time is right to re-envision Centre and South Streets in Jamaica Plain,” said Mayor Menino.  “We now have the opportunity to create a more vibrant transportation corridor through Jamaica Plain, providing safer pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and vehicle connections, as well as a livelier street environment that will promote local business.  Today, I am proud to announce that we will be working hand in hand with the community to upgrade Centre and South Streets.”

The project area runs along Centre and South Streets between Forest Hills and Jackson Square, encompassing both Hyde Square and Monument Square.  Heavy through and local traffic, and the corridor’s busy intersections, currently present many conflict points for vehicles and pedestrians.  The City will redesign the corridor to improve traffic flow, simplify and improve pedestrian crossings and sidewalks, explore the addition of bike lanes, and create space for usable street furniture, landscaping and art.

The redesign is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.  The Boston Transportation Department (BTD), in partnership with the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), will lead the City’s effort to develop a consensus design.  The consulting team of McMahon and Associates has been retained to work with the City and the community.  Von Grossman & Company, a landscape architecture firm that also worked on the Dorchester Avenue Roadway Design Project, is part of the design team as well as the engineering firm of HDR Engineering.

The Centre and South Streets redesign process will work in tandem with the MBTA’s ongoing effort to improve bus service on Route 39, which runs along Centre and South Streets, through the consolidation of bus stops and the addition of new bus shelters.

BTD and the BRA have held three community meetings since November 2008 to identify key issues and to develop a scope of work for the consultant team.  The citizens’ advisory group, consisting of local business owners, residents, and representatives of neighborhood groups, has been actively involved in the process.  At the July 15 community meeting, work will begin with the consultant team to develop an overarching vision for the corridor that will guide the design process.  Additional items in the scope of work include the development of corridor-wide streetscape guidelines, the redesign of major intersections, such as Hyde Square, and a parking management strategy.

Boston Transportation Commissioner Thomas J. Tinlin said, “The City will work with the community to make sure that Centre and South Streets will accommodate all modes of travel and be an asset for local residents and businesses.”