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Posted May 2004
This report presents results of Phase II of the MAGIC Subregional Area Study, originated at the request of the MAGIC subregion of the Boston metropolitan area. Phase II consisted of four work tasks, selected after consultation with the MAGIC Committee, and with town planners and engineers within each of the MAGIC towns during Phase I of the Study. This process is described in detail in the MAGIC Phase I report, published in February 2002.
Section 1 of the report addresses the principal task of the study, investigating the potential for remote or satellite parking near existing MAGIC-area commuter rail stations. This task included license-plate surveys to determine the towns of origin of travelers currently using the commuter rail stations. In addition, an inventory of private parking facilities in the vicinity of each station was undertaken. Observations were made of parking usage and surplus parking capacity at these sites during weekdays, to determine if any of these sites have potential for use as satellite commuter rail parking. This section also includes discussions about the types of shuttle services which might be required for any promising sites located beyond a reasonable walking radius of about one-quarter mile.
Section 2 presents a brief summary of the principal issues associated with shuttle services connecting remote parking lots with commuter rail stations. This material is covered in slightly more detail in Section 1, and the recent Suburban Transit Opportunities Study provides a broader and more comprehensive treatment of the issues related to shuttle services connecting train stations with other land uses. No specific shuttle services are evaluated in Section 2. If communities are successful in identifying promising satellite parking lots, such evaluation can be taken up at a later date.
Section 3 summarizes the results of the third task, designed to be an abbreviated update of a feasibility study for a trail on an unused rail right-of-way in Concord and Sudbury. The original study was performed jointly by CTPS, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), and the Northern Middlesex Area Commission, in 1987. The current effort was limited to the assembling of current data on traffic volumes and vehicle crash data obtained from several sources.
Section 4 is a brief letter-report transmitting the results of limited traffic signal warrant analyses for two intersections in Lexington to that town’s traffic engineer.
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