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Friday, August 24, 2012

Road Race Information For This Weekend...



On Sunday, August 26th beginning at 9 a.m., police and traffic and parking personnel will be detouring vehicles in and around the Davis, Teele, and Ball Square areas to accommodate the running of the Memphis Soul road race.

Secondary roads in these areas may also be closed to through traffic for a brief time in order to allow runners to pass. Major roadways including Holland Street to Alewife Brook Parkway, Powerhouse Boulevard, Broadway (in the Ball Square corridor), Cedar Street and Highland Ave. between Cedar Street and Davis Square will be closed from 11 a.m. to approximately 1 p.m.

The Davis Square area will be closed to all traffic until approximately 1 p.m., and buses to and from the Davis Square area will be rerouted down Elm Street. Buses along the rest of the race route may be delayed for a short period of time.

Police and MBTA officials will be stationed throughout these areas to direct traffic and provide detour information. If you have any questions, please call 311.

For more information on this and other popular Somerville Road Races, check B.A. Events Promotions.



View 2012 Memphis Soul Road Race map in a larger map

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Enough with these Somerville road races closing down streets; combined with other Somerville street events, also closing down streets to vehicular traffic, its beome one big PITA for impacted residents and diverted drivers.

One, two, maybe three--but, it appears, for one reason or another, streets are closed down too many times.

As a side issue: who ends up paying for the extra police coverage details when streets are closed down? Answer: US TAXPAYERS!!



JMB said...

Anonymous, I COMPLETELY agree. How do you possibly close off major thoroughfares right in the middle of the day on a weekend multiple weeks in a row? The Route 16 closure last week, every road race known to man closing off Bway, Powderhouse, etc., all the time.

The Mayor has more respect for joggers and bikers who don't live here than people who actually live here and need to do their errands.

Anonymous said...

The organizer for the races donates thousands of dollars to the city for different causes. He is also a property owner in Somerville, paying his taxes, fees and fines just like the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

Whoever this tax-paying "organizer" is, does not justify the MULTIPLE inconveniences caused to residents, and to unsuspecting through traffic drivers and visitors to our city; and to a degree, small businesses negatively impacted by street closings.

To say nothing about MBTA public transportation routes re-routed causing inconveniences to Seniors and the handicapped; my Senior neighbor being one.

Some people, not getting the "word" as to the re-routes; some going to workplaces, waiting for a bus that will never come, waiting at their usual sto

Once in a while, fine---but too often occurring; and growing every year.

Is this "organizer" behind/supporting ALL the road races in Somerville?




Anonymous said...

No. Organizations in the city do their own. SHC does one as does the City of Somerville.

Anonymous said...

Great!

Let SHC and Somerville do one each; and send all the others over to the Republic of Cambridge; or to the Tufts College facilities.
-------------------------
Oh wait---Mr. Mayor and/or other Somerville powers-that-be: I'm a Somerville taxpayer; I pay my fees and fines; and donate to various good causes; I want to organize a road race in Somerville tying-up streets in the city.

No, I don't give a damn that many others have run road races in Somerville this year; and that other several street and square events have closed down streets this year. My credentials,allowing me to do so, noted above,says you must allow me to do mine.

Thank you in advance of your blessing!

Yeah Right!

Anonymous said...

Forgot to mention another taxpayer expense connected to street,square, and road race events.
That being the overtime $$$$ paid to DPW workers for putting up, and picking up, wooden street barriers;
wear and gas consumed for DPW vehicles also a factor.

These workers, between the time they physically put up the barriers, to the time they actually pick them up, are paid overtime for all the hours in between they sit doing nothing.

Given the total number of events "authorized" each and every year, it all adds up.

Anonymous said...

As a Somerville resident and a non-runner, I still LOVE these events! First, because they bring in business and build community spirit, but also because they use the streets for something besides a high-speed cut-through in between the outer suburbs and downtown. As someone who's routinely threatened as a pedestrian and cyclist by some reckless drivers who speed down my street, curse at me for being on the road or in the crosswalk, veer towards me in an attempt to scare me off the road, and generally hurt the air quality and quality of life in my neighborhood, anything that slows this down a little bit makes my weekend! Being able to walk down East Broadway without traffic during Somerstreets in May was an absolute joy, and I discovered a lot of local shops that I'll certainly be back to.

Anonymous said...

I agree...

Anonymous said...

Two sides to that coin....

Pedestrians who dart out to the street from between parked cars.

For me, once compounded by a cyclist on one-way west Highland Avenue--[Davis Square]-- entering a crosswalk, from between two parked trucks, absent any look to her left.

After I abruptly, with kids in my car, had to quickly apply my brakes---she yelled.."hey, I'm in a crosswalk ass----." Two seconds more and she, and her bicycle, would of been "down" in that crosswalk. And who would the police cite for that accident?
Not the imbecile enroute to the hospital.

Others, oblivious to oncoming traffic, with their face occupied by cell phones, texting.

Cyclists going wrong way on one-way streets; not obeying traffic rules--red lights, stop signs,etc.
Still others changing lanes and making turns without a signal.
Nightime cyclists without lights.

As regards "air quality" and "quality of life" in your neighborhood, perhaps contributing to that are you, your friends, relatives, and neighbors owning vehicles.

How about needed truck deliveries to your house? UPS,fedX,heating fuel, rubbish collections,etc.

For someone who is "routinely threatened" perhaps city-living isn't for you.

So it took Somerstreets and the closing down of East Broadway for you to "discover a lot of local shops." Interesting!

Sorry my friend, but lots of blame to share/go around, when it comes to the use of streets in densely populated Somerville.

Anonymous said...

Dear neighbor-- I said "some drivers". If the shoe doesn't fit, please don't feel you need to put it on. None of the nightmare pedestrian/cyclist scenarios you've mentioned involved me, and I don't engage in any of the behaviors you've described. I love living in Somerville, and I plan to continue doing so, while advocating for some improvements in the way we co-exist on the roads. It's true that it's a densely-populated area, which is why it's so useful for us to be able to hold big community events like races and festivals in one of the few big open spaces we have--the streets!

Anonymous said...

Hey neighbor---

Yes, true, you did say "some drivers"---but your entire original post was slanted at wrongs committed by "some drivers"....making no mention, other than in your second post absolving yourself of committing any wrongs either as a pedestrian or a cyclist; you made no mention in your original post of "some" pedestrians and "some" cyclists being part of the problem on Somerville streets.

Read again my last sentence, my first post above.

And also no thought given to, unlike yourself, the many hundreds, possibly low thousands, of Somerville folks, including entire families, seniors and the handicapped, who are repetitively inconvenienced when their streets, indeed entire neighborhoods are "converted" to "open space."

As for "open spaces" in Somerville.

Somerville's streets and byways were constructed to move vehicular traffic, and serve the needs of both commercial users and residential citizens, who pay $$$$ for that privilege.

You want Somerville's "open spaces"... try Trum Field, Dilboy,Foss Park, Conway, Lincoln, and sundry other venues---but streets NO!







Ron Newman said...

Most Somerville streets were constructed long before there was any vehicular (car) traffic.

Anonymous said...

If you want to count Milk Row,{Somerville Avenue) Highland Avenue, Broadway, and several connecting "paths" as "most"...Yes! Dirt paths as for cows, horses, and horse and wagons; were then RE-CONSTRUCTED, paved,etc., to safely handle motor vehicles; along with side-walks when re-constructed.

Most paths/streets added as the area got built-up with houses and commercial interests.

Point: the streets were built to handle motor vehicles, not road races.