The start of construction for the improvement project at the intersection of Francis Parkman Drive and Perkins Street has been delayed, according to state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) spokesperson Mark Steffen.
Construction was supposed to began sometime this summer, but that was contingent on the Boston Conservation Commission (BCC), which did not review the project in July as expected because it lacked a quorum.
When asked about that, BCC spokesperson Lauren Zingarelli said, “The commission needs four commissioners for quorum. We’ve only had a few meetings canceled this year due to lack of quorum, but it varies on a case by case basis.”
BCC is expected to give final approval to the project in September. When that happens, DCR and its consultants will finalize construction plans and put the project out for bid sometime in early fall, according to Steffen. Planting and landscaping around the intersection is expected to be completed by late spring 2018, with all work completed by early summer 2018, according to Steffen.
DCR held a meeting in Jamaica Plain on April 11 on the Parkman/Perkins proposal and presented a design that calls for a traffic light to be installed at the intersection, a new grass median with trees on a portion of Perkins Street, a curb bump-out on the southeast side of the intersection, an Americans with Disability Act-complaint path from Parkman Drive down to Jamaica Pond, and a crosswalk with a traffic signal at the Cabot Estate, as well as other changes. People have been advocating for a crosswalk at Cabot Estate since at least 1997.
The Parkman/Perkins proposal is part of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation Department (DCR) parkway improvement project. The other two sections are Centre Street, from VFW Parkway to Murray Circle; and the Arborway between Eliot Street and South Street, including Kelley Circle and Murray Circle. All three sections of the project have long been discussed, with DCR holding a series of meetings in the fall of 2015 on them.