Chelsea’s Traffic and Parking Commission on Tuesday approved an MBTA plan to make room for three buses at a time at the busy stop under the Tobin Bridge on Third Street at Chestnut Street. It also approved four new stop signs on Highland Street and ordered a traffic-calming study for Summit Avenue. A member was chosen as interim chair at the start of the meeting, which ran from about 6:18 p.m. to 7:27 p.m. Most of the time went to handicap parking requests, all of them denied; that is in our separate story.
A third bus berth under the Tobin
The stop at Third and Chestnut serves Routes 104, 111, 112 and 114. An MBTA project manager told the commission the 111 comes about every five minutes and the 104 every 15. Right now the curb has room for one full bus and half of another, so buses wait on the other side of Chestnut Street for a bus to pull out. The plan lengthens the existing stop to hold two full buses and adds a third berth under the bridge, set back from the travel lane so a stopped bus sits fully out of traffic. The under-bridge berth gets new lighting, a bench and a landing pad for the bus wheelchair ramp. A curb extension at Chestnut Street protects the back of the second bus and shortens the walk across Chestnut for riders.
The MBTA had shown the commission rough concepts in the spring. On Tuesday it brought plans at 15 percent design and asked for a vote so it could finish the design and apply for permits. The goal, the project manager said, is to build it “hopefully by next fall.”
Assistant City Engineer Jorman Mota of the Department of Public Works said the city worked on the plan with the MBTA. One parking space on the south side of Chestnut Street will probably have to go so fire trucks can make the turn from Chestnut onto Everett Avenue. A mountable curb is also proposed there. Asked about pedestrians crossing Third Street mid-block, the project manager said the crosswalk at Chestnut Street would be repainted and get a new ramp. The project manager said they were reluctant to suggest a new crossing of Third Street, but the intersection “is problematic,” the project manager said; the MBTA has done a safety audit there. A commission member said Housing and Community Development and Public Works have asked the council for money to design changes to the whole intersection, and hope to get it onto the state’s Transportation Improvement Program as part of rebuilding Everett Avenue. The motion passed.
Four stop signs on Highland Street
The commission approved four stop signs on Highland Street, for traffic going both ways at Maverick Street and at Essex Street. The request came from Councillor Giovanni Recupero, who said school buses and regular buses now use the street. The written order still named Congress Avenue, as it did when the request failed in September, so members confirmed with Recupero that he wanted the signs on Highland Street. The motion was worded to match.
Summit Avenue study, Pine Street on hold
Councillor Deron Hines asked in January for traffic calming on Summit Avenue. Mota said Chelsea Police had measured speeds for about 100 vehicles in each direction between Lafayette Avenue and Webster Avenue. The results, Mota said, “are concerning enough for us to actually undertake some interventions for traffic calming.” The commission voted for Public Works and Housing and Community Development to study the street, which Mota estimated would take two to three months.
A resident’s April 2025 request for a speed hump on Pine Street was tabled again, this time until the two departments ask for it to come back. Mota said the city is waiting for the development at 150 Williams Street, which has changed the layout of Williams Street and part of Pine Street, to get its certificate of occupancy. That process had begun as of Tuesday, Mota said. The study would take two to three months after that. A parking office staff member noted the request has been tabled repeatedly; the motion says the resident will be notified when it returns.
Other business
- Councillor Lisa Santagate thanked the commission for the first safety work at Shurtleff Street, Broadway and Marlborough Street, where pedestrians were struck three times this year. “There’s one flexible barrier, and something has been painted,” Santagate said, adding that it was “one more than we had a month ago,” and asked that the work be finished.
- A resident appealing the loss of a residential parking sticker was told to come back next month with proof of living in Chelsea: a current registration and a utility bill from the last 60 days. The parking office had revoked the sticker after Registry of Motor Vehicles records showed the address had changed to another city. The resident’s letter says the address change came from a car given to a friend in Everett, and that the record has been corrected.
- The commission corrected a clerical error in the parking program rules. A list of vehicles barred from residential permits had said “dumpster” instead of “dump truck.”
- Minutes of the September 2 meeting were approved.
The full meeting is in our transcript.