Western Pearl Street Reconstruction

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As part of the City’s Pavement and Sidewalk Management program, the City plans to reconstruct sidewalks and repave Pearl Street from McGrath Highway to Medford Street. Since 2015, the City has taken a data driven approach to analyze street and sidewalk quality and prioritize locations rooted in equity, safety, and accessibility for this program. With the opportunity to reconstruct the street, the City aims to increase safety, improve accessibility, incorporate more sustainability, and create a more comfortable street. We aim to do this by:

  • Reconstructing all the sidewalks along Pearl Street from Medford Street to McGrath Highway, along with approximately 20 feet into intersecting streets
  • Repaving the street from sidewalk curb to sidewalk curb
  • Adding accessible curb ramps to all existing crosswalks
  • Exploring opportunities for new crossings in addition to installing safety improvements like raised crosswalks/intersection or curb extensions
  • Identifying locations for new trees, replacing tree stumps, and considering tree bump outs or expanding the tree wells to support tree longevity
  • Installing protected bicycle facilities
  • Incorporating “Clear Corners” at each intersection to increase the visibility for people driving turning or moving through the intersections

This segment of Pearl Street is designated for two-way protected bicycle facilities in the Somerville Bicycle Network Plan and codified in the Safe Streets Ordinance. Pearl Street is narrow enough that implementing two-way protected bike lanes would require removing all existing parking on the street. This narrow width could also limit the ability to shorten crossing distances with curb extensions, expand the sidewalk to provide more space for people walking and rolling, and provide curb access for activities like deliveries or some residential parking.

With these potential significant trade-offs, we want to facilitate a robust community engagement process to better understand the community’s needs for the street and explore options. These options may include providing one direction of protected bike facility on Pearl Street and using a different neighborhood street to serve the other direction. Another option may be to consider one-way motor vehicle travel on Pearl Street in order to achieve other community goals for the street.

From October through November 2024, we aim to gather your feedback on transportation safety concerns you have for the street and your priorities for the future. Over the winter, we will work on a concept design shaped by the feedback we heard in addition to analysis of data we aim to collect such as vehicle speed, vehicle volume, and parking utilization. In Spring 2025, we aim to publish a concept design and conduct another round of community engagement. Over the summer, we will work to refine the design to bring an updated version in Fall 2025 for more community input. We will then work to finalize the design to prepare for construction between 2026 and 2027.

To learn more about the project and keep up to date, please check out the information below and the materials in the toolbar.

Information in other languages

Si necesita ayuda en su idioma, comuníquese con nosotros a través de somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva o llame al 311 (617-666-3311)      

Caso precise de assistência em seu idioma, entre em contato conosco por meio deste formulário online: somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva ou ligue para 311 (617-666-3311)      

Si ou bezwen asistans nan lang ou a, kontakte nou nan somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva oswa rele 311 (617-666-3311)    

यदि आफ्नो भाषामा सहायता चाहिन्छ भने कृपया सम्पर्क गर्नुहोस: www.somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva गर्नुहोस् वा यो ३११ (६१७-६६६-३३११) / 311 (617-666-3311)   

如果您需要語言方面的協助 請撥打 311 (617-666-3311) 或於somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva 聯絡 彩薩默: 移民事務辦公室。  

如果您需要语言方面的协助，请联系 (somervillema.gov/ContactSomerViva)或者请拨打 311（617-666-3311）。

As part of the City’s Pavement and Sidewalk Management program, the City plans to reconstruct sidewalks and repave Pearl Street from McGrath Highway to Medford Street. Since 2015, the City has taken a data driven approach to analyze street and sidewalk quality and prioritize locations rooted in equity, safety, and accessibility for this program. With the opportunity to reconstruct the street, the City aims to increase safety, improve accessibility, incorporate more sustainability, and create a more comfortable street. We aim to do this by:

  • Reconstructing all the sidewalks along Pearl Street from Medford Street to McGrath Highway, along with approximately 20 feet into intersecting streets
  • Repaving the street from sidewalk curb to sidewalk curb
  • Adding accessible curb ramps to all existing crosswalks
  • Exploring opportunities for new crossings in addition to installing safety improvements like raised crosswalks/intersection or curb extensions
  • Identifying locations for new trees, replacing tree stumps, and considering tree bump outs or expanding the tree wells to support tree longevity
  • Installing protected bicycle facilities
  • Incorporating “Clear Corners” at each intersection to increase the visibility for people driving turning or moving through the intersections

This segment of Pearl Street is designated for two-way protected bicycle facilities in the Somerville Bicycle Network Plan and codified in the Safe Streets Ordinance. Pearl Street is narrow enough that implementing two-way protected bike lanes would require removing all existing parking on the street. This narrow width could also limit the ability to shorten crossing distances with curb extensions, expand the sidewalk to provide more space for people walking and rolling, and provide curb access for activities like deliveries or some residential parking.

With these potential significant trade-offs, we want to facilitate a robust community engagement process to better understand the community’s needs for the street and explore options. These options may include providing one direction of protected bike facility on Pearl Street and using a different neighborhood street to serve the other direction. Another option may be to consider one-way motor vehicle travel on Pearl Street in order to achieve other community goals for the street.

From October through November 2024, we aim to gather your feedback on transportation safety concerns you have for the street and your priorities for the future. Over the winter, we will work on a concept design shaped by the feedback we heard in addition to analysis of data we aim to collect such as vehicle speed, vehicle volume, and parking utilization. In Spring 2025, we aim to publish a concept design and conduct another round of community engagement. Over the summer, we will work to refine the design to bring an updated version in Fall 2025 for more community input. We will then work to finalize the design to prepare for construction between 2026 and 2027.

To learn more about the project and keep up to date, please check out the information below and the materials in the toolbar.

Information in other languages

Si necesita ayuda en su idioma, comuníquese con nosotros a través de somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva o llame al 311 (617-666-3311)      

Caso precise de assistência em seu idioma, entre em contato conosco por meio deste formulário online: somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva ou ligue para 311 (617-666-3311)      

Si ou bezwen asistans nan lang ou a, kontakte nou nan somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva oswa rele 311 (617-666-3311)    

यदि आफ्नो भाषामा सहायता चाहिन्छ भने कृपया सम्पर्क गर्नुहोस: www.somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva गर्नुहोस् वा यो ३११ (६१७-६६६-३३११) / 311 (617-666-3311)   

如果您需要語言方面的協助 請撥打 311 (617-666-3311) 或於somervillema.gov/ContactSomerviva 聯絡 彩薩默: 移民事務辦公室。  

如果您需要语言方面的协助，请联系 (somervillema.gov/ContactSomerViva)或者请拨打 311（617-666-3311）。

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Western Pearl Street Public Input Map

7 days

The City of Somerville needs your input for the Western Pearl Street Reconstruction project. 

Writing your comments on this map will let the City’s project team know what you see as issues and opportunities in the project area. Use the different color pins to highlight locations that you think are important for staff to prioritize for changes or improvements, as well as locations that are currently working well. Once you add a pin, you can also include comments and images to highlight specific priorities or concerns. 

Click on the marker button (+) to start adding pins. Note that the project area is outlined in orange.

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Page last updated: 17 Oct 2024, 10:46 AM