The City of Boston Public Works Department last night presented new plans for the reconstruction of Commonwealth Avenue between Brighton Avenue (Packard’s Corner) and Warren/Kelton Streets.

To create space for wider sidewalks and dedicated space for people biking, it was proposed that left-side angled parking be removed from the carriage road and any remaining angled parking be reconfigured to parallel parking along the curb.

A focus of this meeting was the proposal to truncate the inbound carriage road at Royce Road, allowing the last block before Harvard Ave to become a pedestrian plaza in front of the TD Bank and Inbound Pizza. On the north (outbound) side, the position of the MBTA tracks makes a similar plaza difficult, but attendees asked for that attention to be given to that side of the intersection too.

Eight-foot wide bike lanes (or possibly cycletracks) were proposed for the left sides of the carriage roads. It was not clear how or if the City's proposal would physically separate this space from the travel lane. Traffic volume and speed should be much lower in the carriage road than the main section of the road.

The most popular comments of the evening came from Doug Bacon, owner of The Avenue Bar & Grille on Comm Ave near Harvard Ave. Doug bemoaned the narrow sidewalk in front of The Avenue and said that he would gladly have fewer parking spaces in front of the building if that allowed creation of a wider and more inviting sidewalk.

A new crosswalk in Packard's Corner was suggested for the inbound side of the intersection. Many people agreed this would be an improvement, but some also requested the direct connection from Naples Road to Star Market which was not proposed by the City.

The intersections with Allston Street and Warren/Kelton will be discussed at a future meeting, though the danger of these locations and past accidents were acknowledged.

Comments are due by November 25 to [email protected]

Project Website: http://keepbostonmoving.org/portfolio/commonwealth-avenue-phase-3-and-4/