McGrath Highway Resurfacing
Resurfacing, safety and healthy transportation improvements on Route 28 (McGrath/O’Brien Highway) in Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts
Introduction
Project Background
The McGrath Highway corridor was last repaved in 2009 and is due for routine maintenance. While MassDOT undertakes the 25% design for the full McGrath Boulevard project (more details below), MassDOT will maintain the state of good repair on McGrath Highway: resurfacing from Third Street in Cambridge to Broadway in Somerville.
Resurfacing gives us an opportunity to improve on existing infrastructure. With new striping on top of the new pavement, we can incorporate bicycle and pedestrian improvements and improve safety by implementing a road diet within the project area.
McGrath Boulevard project status: From 2015 to 2018, MassDOT led a conceptual design process with the Somerville community and other regional stakeholders. This led to a consensus-driven conceptual design that grounds McGrath Highway and replaces it with a street-level multimodal boulevard. This project (#607981) is identified in the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Destination 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan in the FFY 2025-2030 timeband. MassDOT is now advancing the project into the 25% design process, which will include substantial public outreach and opportunities for feedback. MassDOT will be in touch with everyone who comments on the McGrath Highway Resurfacing Project when public engagement for the McGrath Boulevard Project 25% design gets underway.
Road Diet
While we are resurfacing the roadway, we will implement a road diet—reducing the existing roadway by one vehicle lane in each direction—and repurpose the space to add buffered bike lanes in both directions.
A road diet approach balances multi-modal demands with improved safety by re-purposing existing roadway space. Road diets are locally- and nationally-proven roadway interventions that improve safety for all roadway users and create bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly environments without requiring full-scale reconstruction of the roadway.
Current MassDOT Policies
The Healthy Transportation Policy Directive requires that all MassDOT-funded and/or -designed projects shall seek to increase and encourage more pedestrian, bicycle and transit trips. By leveraging the opportunity provided by this resurfacing to implement the road diet and add safe, buffered bicycle facilities to the highway, the project furthers MassDOT’s commitment to this important directive.
This project also addresses the traveling public's desire to bike by following the principles of MassDOT's Bike Plan :
- Principle 1 - Value people bicycling and their travel needs, especially the most vulnerable - children, elderly, people with disabilities - to ensure they can safely bicycle.
- Principle 2 - Prioritize improvements for people bicycling by proactively addressing gaps and barriers that discourage bicycling and are known to increase likelihood of crashes.
As part of the Bike Plan, MassDOT surveyed 2,246 MA residents about which destinations they want to reach by bike. Those results are shown on the graphic displayed.
Potential for Everyday Biking
As part of the Massachusetts Bicycle Transportation Plan, MassDOT performed a geospatial analysis that identifies areas with Potential for Everyday Biking (i.e., going to work, visiting family and friends, shopping, dining, or any other utility trip for non-recreational purposes).
McGrath Highway's Potential
The sections of McGrath Highway that need to be resurfaced have been classified as having 99% or higher potential for Everyday Biking.
The result of this analysis establishes McGrath Highway as a prime location to construct bicycle facilities that the public can expect to utilize for everyday travel. Implementing a road diet creates a safe, comfortable and connected bike network that realizes McGrath Highways's potential for everyday biking.
Proposed Design
Existing Conditions (Left): The existing McGrath Highway corridor is a divided highway with two segments of six-lanes separated by a four-lane segment.
Proposed Design (Right): The proposed treatment restripes the existing roadway to provide a consistent four-lane divided highway, with a buffered bicycle lane in each direction.
To view the project's restriping plans click here.
Typical Design
In typical sections of the corridor, street buffers will range from 5-13 ft. To view the existing conditions and proposed typical design, drag the slider below.
Constrained Design
In constrained sections of the corridor, street buffers will be narrowed to a minimum of 2 ft. To view the existing conditions and proposed constrained design, drag the slider below.
Project Benefits
Local Examples
The City of Somerville has already successfully implemented road diets on Central and Eastern Broadway.
Click on the blue or orange lines on the map to see more information and benefits of these two road diets.
Regional Examples
Road diets have also proven to be successful throughout Massachusetts.
Click on one of the boxes below to zoom to Road Diet success stories in Massachusetts. Click on the blue lines on the map to see more information for each road diet.
Improved Bicycle and Pedestrian Network
Somerville Bike Routes
Improved Bicycle and Pedestrian Network
The City of Somerville has committed in policy and projects to advance the goal of becoming “the most walkable, bikeable, and transit-accessible city in the United States.” The map to the right shows the City’s current bicycle infrastructure.
The City supported MassDOT’s efforts to secure funding for the McGrath Highway Resurfacing Project and has formally supported the bike lane and road diet implementation.
Project Impacts
Diversion
MassDOT has performed its standard traffic modeling analyses for the Project. These analyses show that travel times may moderately increase—by half a minute up to a minute to travel the mile-long corridor—and that some vehicles may choose to divert away from McGrath Highway to I-93, local streets in Winter Hill and East Somerville, and Rutherford Avenue. These moderate diversions, should they occur, are not expected to have a substantial impact on the surrounding street system.
The visualizations below show the model results during peak traffic hours. Each band on the left represents a direction of travel in the morning and in the afternoon peak hour, with lines showing the breakdown of where traffic may divert.
How to use these: click anywhere in the white box to interact with the visualization. You can hover over specific segments to view the breakdown and click on a box (for instance, “Northbound AM Peak”) to highlight just that flow. If you are using a screen-reader, these will be read as a data table with columns for traffic source, destination and hourly diversion. If you are on a mobile device, click the URL to view the visualization.
McGrath North Segment - Peak Diversions Flow Diagram
McGrath South Segment - Peak Diversions Flow Diagram
Travel Times
Based on the traffic analysis, travel times along McGrath Highway between Broadway and Medford Street/Highland Avenue would be expected to increase by 30 to 60 seconds on average during the weekday peak hours with the proposed configuration and anticipated diversions in place. Fewer instances of increased travel times are anticipated outside of weekday peak periods and in off-peak directions.
Next Steps
We expect to advertise for construction at the end of March 2021, with construction taking place over this summer. We are asking for feedback on the design now so that people who bike, walk, drive, and take the bus around Somerville and on McGrath – or would like to – can tell us what they think about the design and ask any questions that they have about the plan.
McGrath Boulevard next steps: MassDOT is also advancing the redesign project of McGrath Boulevard into the 25% design process, which will include substantial public outreach and opportunities for feedback. MassDOT will alert everyone who comments on the McGrath Highway Resurfacing Project when public engagement for the McGrath Boulevard Project 25% design gets underway.
Prior two lane configuration on McGrath in August 2018.
Comment Form
Thank you for taking the time to review the project presentation. The comment period for this project has concluded.
