By Dan Murphy
Representatives from the city unveiled a web-based, interactive StoryMap for the Fenway Transportation Action Plan during a public meeting on Monday, March 24, at the Fenway Community Center.
The Fenway TAP – a joint effort of the City of Boston’s Planning and Transportation departments – will help determine changes to three Design Areas, including Kenmore Square, Brookline Avenue, and Van Ness Street/Ipswich Street, as well as introduce a westward extension of the Roxbury-Fenway Connector Green Links project.
The plan has three goals, said Sam Roy, a city transportation planner,, including “expanding Fenway walking, biking, and transit networks that are safe, comfortable, and connected; ensuring Fenway remains a welcoming urban neighborhood for all people; and ensuring Fenway is resilient to a changing climate.” (Roy has been named the Planning Department’s senior transportation planner for the Fenway, replacing Nick Schmidt, who previously served in that role.)
Meanwhile, the StoryMap, said Naoise McDonnell, community engagement manager for the Planning Department, has been informed by “reviewing and responding to known plans, projects, challenges, and opportunities,” and introduces ‘multimodal priorities maps,’ including the public realm, which focuses on “enhancing the walking environment and create public space’; the bike network, which will help determine where to create new connections and upgrade existing connections; the bus network, which shows “where to focus bus priority treatments and enhance bus stops”; and the curbside, which shows “where to update regulations to better manage curbside activity.”
“The StoryMap covers a lot of information and highlights what the plan is all about…as well as some early multi-modal priorities and what we’ve heard from the public,” added McDonnell.
Visit https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/b52bdced63ec465fbc8d5c164d4967e1 to view and provide your input on the StoryMap for the Fenway TAP while the city’s online survey can also be found at https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/9a5360ef325a44fe81fbf28d2fbef01d
The city’s Planning Department will also hold its second of two virtual office hours to provide opportunities for residents to provide feedback and ask questions to City staff related to the StoryMap on Monday, March 31 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Register online in advance at bosplans.org/FTAPofficehours2