Charlestown Neighborhood Council (CNC) member Mary Boucher and a coalition of neighbors – particularly from the Bunker Hill Street and Medford Street areas – are calling for at least three streets between Elm and Shorts Streets be reversed in direction to help better serve all residents of the area.
Boucher and members of the CNC have been calling for some sort of change over the past year, particularly since the direction of Allston Street was changed in 2017. With that change, it left only Polk Street and Monument Street (a two-way) as a way to go “up” to Bunker Hill Street without having to venture to Sullivan Square.
“The current configuration no longer works,” wrote Boucher. “There are 15 connecting streets and only two neighborhood streets allow access to Bunker Hill Street from Medford Street…For 10 straight blocks you cannot go from Medford Street to Bunker Hill. The last stop is Sullivan Square where traffic is gridlocked with cars coming from Medford Street, Bunker Hill Street and Main Street, especially between 5 and 7 p.m. With the construction of the Alford Street Bridge over the next six months and the work to begin on the North Washington Street Bridge, there is no end in sight…We are trapped within the town and not able to travel freely through the town because of these conditions.”
Boucher said she and those looking for the change will be at the Whole Foods and CVS in the Bunker Hill Mall on Oct. 13 and 14 to gather signatures in favor of the change. The petition will be used to push for reversing the direction of at least three streets, a request that has fallen on deaf ears at the City level up to now.
They would propose that three of the following streets be reversed so that they go “up” the hill to Bunker Hill Street from Medford Street.
The possible streets include: Decatur, Corey, Tuft, Elm, Mystic, Pearl, Allston, Cook, Sackville, Belmont, Chappie, Baldwin, and Short Street.