Medford is close to finalizing a Complete Streets policy aimed at making roads safer and more attractive for all users, including bicyclists and pedestrians.

Once complete, the policy will be sent to the Mass. Department of Transportation (MassDOT) for review. If the policy scores 80 out of a possible 100 points, Medford would submit a list of prioritized roadway improvement projects for which the city would receive up to $400,000 in construction funding.

On Thursday, the city is hosting a public meeting to inform residents about the new policy and how it plans to implement it. The meeting runs from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Room 201 at Medford City Hall, 85 George P. Hassett Drive.

According to the city’s website, the policy encourages best practices regarding design criteria and a network transportation approach by establishing performance standards with measurable outcomes.

“Complete Streets will play a vital role in designing future road projects in Medford,” said Mayor Stephanie M. Burke in a letter reviewing her first 100 days in office.

Medford’s participation in the state’s Complete Streets Funding Program marks a new, more strategic approach toward city planning that Jeff Buxbaum thought would take years to set in.

A Medford resident since 2009, Buxbaum leads the group Walk Medford, a group of more than 30 Medford residents that formed in March 2015 under Buxbaum and Syrah McGivern, community transformation coordinator for Medford’s Board of Health.

The group’s mission is to make it easier and safer to walk in Medford to benefit the environment, public health and the local economy.

“It’s really a change of culture at the city to be thinking about this stuff whenever they’re repainting a crosswalk, whenever they touch the road, they should be thinking about putting it back together to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists,” Buxbaum said of the city’s new policy. “I think we’re getting there.”

Over the past year, Walk Medford members have met to evaluate current conditions in the city and brainstorm potential solutions.

In September, the group published a discussion piece, “Let’s Make it Easier and Safer to Walk in Medford,” which quoted community members about concerns related to the city’s streets and sidewalks.

“I feel unsafe every time I cross High Street in or near my house in West Medford Square,” one group member said. “Cars speed by. They seem surprised and/or annoyed to see me crossing the street.”

A Medford parent told the group: “Every day, my child and many others across Medford have to cross very busy roads with lots of distracted, speeding or otherwise uncaring drivers. Compared to other towns around us, Medford does not do anything to help ensure the safety of these children.”

Before Burke took office in January, Buxbaum anticipated it would take years before the group made serious progress on addressing residents’ concerns. But he was pleasantly surprised when Burke announced last month that the city was nearing adoption of a Complete Streets policy.

“The mayor, and I’ll give her credit — back last fall, I thought that by now that I would still be fighting with people that this is a good idea,” he said. “It’s incredibly encouraging. I didn’t expect it, and I think it’s really energized people.”

City goals

City Engineer Cassandra Koutalidis is overseeing the city’s Complete Streets program.

Earlier this year, Koutalidis participated in a MassDOT training session for representatives of communities participating in the Complete Streets Funding Program, established by the state’s 2014 Transportation Bond Bill.

The program offers municipalities incentives to adopt policies and practices that provide safe and accessible options for all travel modes — walking, biking, transit and vehicles — for people of all ages and abilities, according to MassDOT.

Through the program, the state will award a total of up to $12.5 million for fiscal 2016 and 2017. Municipalities selected for funding must complete projects by June 30, 2017 (See MassDOT's Complete Streets funding timeline).

“There’s a wide range of qualified projects, Koutalidis said. “It could be large or small. It could be citywide or it could be to focus on a particular area.”

Potential projects include installing new signage, reconfiguring troubled intersections, shortening crosswalks, renovating bus shelters and building handicapped ramps, Koutalidis said.

New signage could include wayfinding signs, to “give people an idea of where to travel in a short amount of time,” Koutalidis said.

“We want to make the city’s streets safer, more accessible, more inviting,” she said. “I walk in Medford. I bike in Medford. I see gaps in our transportation network. In cities of this age and the way it’s grown organically, there are always places where there are opportunities for better connectivity.”

Koutalidis said the city might also be able to integrate public art as part of the program, which she hopes will encourage residents to use the city’s sidewalks and pathways.

“I think there’s a definite desire to get more people out of their cars and walking and biking and enjoying that aspect of travel in Medford,” she said.

For Buxbaum, a transportation planner, the initiative is an opportunity for Medford to significantly improve its roads, sidewalks and paths while leveraging state funding.

“I think there’s some low-cost fixes that can be done, and I’m hoping that’s where the Complete Streets fixes go,” he said. “A lot of little fixes rather than big ones.”

Specifically, Buxbaum would like to see the city improve its crosswalks.

“Some of the crosswalks are just scary,” he said. “I know the places where someone can jump out and I might not see them.”

Moving forward

This week, planners from transportation architectural firm Toole Design Group will begin visiting the city to evaluate roads and sidewalks and recommend projects eligible for Complete Streets funding, Koutalidis said.

The city is also working with planners from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which selected three communities — Action, Winchester and Medford — to work with in developing a Complete Streets project prioritization plan (See Walk Medford's suggested priority projects).

After Thursday’s public meeting, the city will finalize and submit its policy to MassDOT before completing a list of potential projects — many of which Walk Medford has been discussing for more than a year.

“There’s an opportunity for change,” Buxbaum said. “There’s an opportunity to move the ball on several issues, and it was sort of the right time to get this issue out in front of people.”