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Blanchard Road
What's Happening Now
Roadway and sidewalk improvements on Blanchard Road between Grove Street and Concord Avenue are currently under design. A community meeting was held on September 11, 2007 to review he latest design. A general consensus was reached among community members on this design. Issues specific to individual properties are being discussed with the property owners. A follow-up community meeting was held on Monday, November 26th to review minor revisions to to the plan and hear an update on the public art that will be included in the project.
Watch
a Video Simulation of the design proposal. Play this
video file on Windows operating systems using Windows Media Player. On Macintosh systems WMV files can be played using Quicktime
along with Flip4Mac components. Other WMV players are available.
About the Simulation. This video simulation is intended to convey a general sense of the proposed roadway alignment, as one travels from Concord Avenue towards Grove Street. Final location of "off-road" design elements such as signs, utility poles, walls and landscaping has not been determined at this time. These elements are shown in the video for context only, and should not be understood to represent the proposed final condition. The details of the final design will be developed in conjunction with the residents over the next several months.
(Please note that in order to provide a smoother image for the viewer, the video image plays "faster" than an actual vehicle traveling at the proposed design speed of 25 mph.)
- High Resolution (wmv, 4.1 MB).
- Low Resolution (wmv, 852 KB).
View handouts of the preferred Conceptual Plan from the community meeting
These files are in PDF format and require use of the free Adobe Acrobat viewer.
Public Art
DeWitt Godfrey has been selected to be the public artist for Blanchard Road and has been commissioned by the Cambridge Arts Council to develop a proposal for public art that responds to the site. Godfrey comes to the project with much experience installing his sculptural work in public and private spaces around the world using a vocabulary of minimalist forms. Godfrey will be developing a concept for the site that will consider the historical, social, and physical parameters of Blanchard Road. Godfrey has come to Cambridge to gather information about properties that abut Blanchard Road. Based on this information he will develop a proposal, which will be presented to the community at a future date. More information can be found about DeWitt at his website.
A community meeting was held on Thurs. January 31st where the artist, DeWitt Godfrey presented ideas for his public art installation. Please see the attached four sketches shown to residents. DeWitt will finalize his proposal in the near future. These files are in PDF format and require use of the free Adobe Acrobat viewer.
- Public art sketch 1 (PDF, 709 KB)
- Public art sketch 2 (PDF, 515 KB)
- Public art sketch 3 (PDF, 300 KB)
- Public art sketch 4 (PDF, 557 KB)
Project Background
In response to concerns about traffic safety on Blanchard Road between Grove Street and Concord Avenue, the City of Cambridge conducted a study to assess the problems and indentify both short-term and long-term strategies for improvements. These strategies were discussed and received strong support from the community at the December 2005 Community meeting.
Link to December 2005 Community Meeting notes. This file is in PDF format and requires use of the free
Adobe Acrobat viewer.
In the FY07 budget, the City allocated $150,000 for the design of the long-term roadway and sidewalk improvements. The City hired a consulting team to do extensive surveying research and design the long-term improvements. In the FY08 budget, the City allocated $1.5 million for the construction of the long-term improvements.
On July 31, 2007, the results of the surveying research, as well as three design alternatives, were presented to the community.
Related Documents
These files are in PDF format and require use of the free Adobe Acrobat viewer.
- Existing conditions (large document, split into 3 files):
- Design Options, considered July 31, 2007:
- Survey information:
- Safety Study (PDF file, 1179 KB)
Schedule
The city is working with residents on design and legal issues so the project could be bid in the spring of 2008.
For More Information
For more information about the Blanchard Road project contact Katherine Watkins in the Public Works Department, at kwatkins@cambridgema.gov, or 617/349-4751. The Public Works Department TTY line is 617/349-4805.
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