– News about Quincy from Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.
Quincy Quarry News follows up on Burgin Parkway closing after a vehicle crash Monday night.
While word is hard to source about the current condition of the driver of the vehicle who was injured in last night’s rush hour traffic accident, a few other things are clear.
One is that Burgin Parkway was closed shortly after the accident occurred at roughly 5 pm until it was reopened almost four hours later at roughly 8:45 pm after police accident investigation personnel concluded their review of the accident scene.
In turn, given the closure of Burgin Parkway between Adams and Dimmock Street, the Quincy Police Department advised drivers to seek other routes through Quincy Center.
The problem is where and how to go.
Reality: there are not many options as Quincy has precious few crosstown roadways.
Plus, the Burgin Parkway/Newport Avenue corridor is one of Quincy’s busiest crosstown thoroughfares.
If not the busiest.
Further, while Quincy streets have in recent years become ever more heavily used by out-of-town commuters passing through Quincy until the COVID-19 pandemic at least temporarily reduced traffic levels perversely most everywhere, all but next to nothing has been endeavored by City Hall to enhance the capacity of local thoroughfares unless one includes bicycle lanes.
Rather, for but one example, Quincy’s City Hall instead reduced the local speed limit on Quincy streets over four years ago, only to then apparently opt for a woeful lack of enforcement of same.
Granted, a few state-funded traffic improvement projects have been implemented locally; however, they have been narrow in scope as local drive times for many locals have continued to increase as well as especially so as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even worse, the Koch Administration has conversely as well as variously continued to facilitate the development of dense and often large multiple-unit residential developments throughout Quincy and so adding to local traffic congestion as well as arguably also trafficking.
In total, upwards of at least three thousand new housing units have been built in Quincy in recent years.
Further problematic, plans for at least a couple thousand more residential are variously being grifting forward while at the same time no consequential vehicular traffic capacity enhancements have been merely been but proposed.
Granted, more people are working remotely these days given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and some level of working remotely is likely to continue when the pandemic finally abates, traffic is increasing as well as that many drivers have either forgotten how to drive or transmogrified into Massholes.
Further, the reality is that once traffic becomes congested, merely but very slight increases in traffic result in far more consequential slowings of traffic.
Is more housing but fewer parking spots the city’s long-term traffic decongestion plan?
I’ve lived in Quincy for 51 years; sadly, I can not envision living out the remainder of my life here. The muppets running the city continue to screw lifelong residents for eye candy pimped by connected developers.
Dear Editor,
Great journalism! Quincy Quarry has become the best source for local news and information. The Patriot Ledger does not cover the issues that are genuinely affecting Quincy taxpayers. Plus, the Quarry’s insights are enlightening.
Today, I’m canceling my subscription to the ledger. Thank you for your service to the community and for saving me money! :)
But, but, but we have those two sets of ridiculously confusing traffic lights near City Hall that drivers still have no idea how to negotiate. Apparently, those lights are somehow supposed to improve . . . something.
On the other hand, everyone in North America understands the standard red/yellow/green format and thus tossing in a couple of outlier crossing lights does nothing to benefit either pedestrians or drivers.
In fact, they have created a hazard as well as traffic choke points.
But the mayor was sold a bill of goods and he likes them, so we’re stuck with them.
And we’re stuck with him — at least for the moment.
Fred,
A little “Inside Quincy.”
During the course of the Hancock Street Misalignment project in Quincy Center, the Koch Machine took advantage of a fed incentive program — specifically, the Q got the “HAWK” crosswalks for free so as to promote their use and so “saved” the Q around a million on misalignment costs.
Then, rather than saving taxpayers a million, the money was “reprogrammed” to pay for the underground water cistern built next to Old City Hall that feeds Kim Jong Koch Plaza’s three water fountains.
Also note that the long open pit for the cistern gave rise to the need to spend even more money so as to reinforce Old City Hall’s foundation given its undermining by the open pit.