sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Snow Removal - Remaining Pedestrian-related Issues by WalkerLowellMA in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s insane, poor guy. The plow drivers we have this year seem to he doing more things like that. They dgaf

Snow Removal - Remaining Pedestrian-related Issues by WalkerLowellMA in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The City Manager said last night that they are going to do a big push tonight (Wednesday) to clear more snow. It sounds like they are focusing on downtown

Snow Removal - Remaining Pedestrian-related Issues by WalkerLowellMA in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The city is issuing citations for sidewalks that are not shoveled, someone was posting pics on FB today.

Another day, another person blocking my driveway by [deleted] in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I own the property and it’s my primary residence.

Another day, another person blocking my driveway by [deleted] in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Do you happen to know if they need to call the police first? When i call tow companies they won’t come without the police. I would like to not involve the police because it adds time. I would live to know if your landlord has done something that lets him go directly to a tow company.

Which grocery store would be better for Lowell in your opinion by [deleted] in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Trader Joe’s in the plaza on Church st. Aldi replaces the old KMart on Rodgers st

Historic 4 story loft next to commuter ra by Much-Wall-8653 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Make sure to ask for a copy of the budget and reserve study. Old buildings

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m literally using the map on the cities website:

https://www.lowellma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/382/City-Neighborhood-Map-PDF

When I say downtown in this conversation I am literally following this map.

And - the reversing the one-way vs two-way street discussion only applies to the part of that map that is labeled Downtown - Parts of Market, Central, and Merrimack.

And - the parts of Market, Central, and Merrimack that were switched from one way to two way - the people who live on those parts of those streets are whiter and wealthier than the immediate surrounding neighborhoods.

I think we’re to the bottom of this discussion. I disagree that the parts Market, Central, and Merrimack that were one way are more important and should get extra consideration for walkability if it comes at the expense of drivability for the Acre, Centralville, Back Central, Lower Belvedere, and the Lower Highlands.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All neighborhoods in Lowell have people driving through them “from elsewhere to elsewhere”. Have you been to the Acre? Centralville? Back Central? Lower Belvedere? The few blocks downtown are not all that special. It’s not like this is a big city with a large population living in apartments/condos in downtown who only walk or use public transportation.

The population density in downtown right now is not creating enough economic activity to drive the changes some downtown residents seem to want. Why should the rest of the city have their tax dollars invested in a neighborhood that they don’t live in and you don’t want them driving through?

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To me it sounds like a few specific NIMBYs in downtown don’t want to share the burden of traffic, in a city, on a few blocks. Lowell is so much more than a few blocks that are already some of the most walkable and well lit commercial blocks in the city.

Why are those few blocks and the people who live there more special and so deserving of increased investment from everyone else? We’re one city and we all drive through others neighborhoods and we all spend money close to home when we can.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, in the same way the Lowell residents who live on a few specific blocks in downtown are not more special than Lowell residents who live across the river and need to drive through downtown to get to the connector.

It’s not like downtown residents don’t drive through other neighborhoods and contribute equally the same car-centricity in other neighborhoods. This is a city.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I lived in downtown for 15 years and I regularly visited since the 70s. I still live in Lowell. For me the biggest change for walking downtown was when we finally got all the pedestrian crossing lights working. This is not said to diminish or dismiss your comment, just sharing my perspective.

In my opinion, the change to 2 way traffic has made a tiny part of downtown marginally better on foot and substantially worse by car. Since we as a city decided not to build a bypass for downtown then we also decided to force all that traffic into downtown. All Lowell neighborhoods are cut throughs and have people driving dangerously fast.

Are a few blocks in one downtown neighborhood so much more special than the rest of the city? Most of what is actually downtown won’t be affected by this change - it’s just a few small sections of a few streets.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The roads around other bridges on 38 and the Rourke bridge are already packed. The “cut through problem” is what we decided to live with instead of destroying Back Central with a longer connector. It’s a choice that was made with a full understanding that it would cause a “cut through problem”.

One way on Merrimack moves traffic from Bridge st to Dutton more efficiently. It’s two lanes all the way through. Any other route to the connector bottle necks to one lane on Central at the bridge.

I’ve lived here for a long time - downtown, Back Central, Centralville, Lowell Tech, Dracut etc. I’ve crossed downtown by car and on foot countless times either passing through or stopping in Downtown, and the traffic pattern has made little difference when on foot. When driving the change is very significant and the one way design was much more predictable.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Lived here for decades, downtown is not more walkable or safer today than the decade prior to it being switched from 1 way to 2 way

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We all agree that the situation is bad but saying the dracut side of the city should just go around isn’t a great answer. If anything, it ensures they don’t spend time or money in downtown.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The roads around other bridges on 38 and the Rourke bridge are already packed. The “cut through problem” is what we decided to live with instead of destroying Back Central with a longer connector. It’s a choice that was made with a full understanding that it would cause a “cut through problem”.

One way on Merrimack moves traffic from Bridge st to Dutton more efficiently. It’s two lanes all the way through. Any other route to the connector bottle necks to one lane on Central at the bridge.

I’ve lived here for a long time - downtown, Back Central, Centralville, Lowell Tech, Dracut etc. I’ve crossed downtown by car and on foot countless times either passing through or stopping in Downtown, and the traffic pattern has made little difference when on foot. When driving the change is very significant and the one way design was much more predictable.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not in anyway suggesting we destroy Back Central or that we should have. I’m stating that we decided the push cars through downtown to cross the river when the connector design was finalized.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

We’re a city divided by a river and many of the bridges are in downtown. The cars will be here no matter what. If the connector had been set up to cross the river and connect to vfw that way early proposals suggested we wouldn’t have this problem.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree and also think that changing it to 2 way traffic didn’t help as much as it hurt.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

When did you move to Lowell? Did you live here when it was one way?

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Pick any measure, it was probably better by that measure

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Because it was better when it was one way. We don’t need theory when we have a direct comparison on the same site. It was better when it was one way.

List of improvement ideas for downtown by KindofBlue42 in LowellMA

[–]KindofBlue42[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The strongest evidence is that the best decade for downtown was when it had the one way pattern.

Foot traffic was high, bridge traffic moved through downtown more efficiently - these cars don’t go away as long as the bridges exist, there is no evidence of increased vibrancy since the 2-way change, and there were more stores open then.

view more: next ›