It's good to hear that the long-delayed, $3 million-plus Washington Street corridor project seems back on course, with new Ward 3 City Councilor Steve LeBlanc and Department of Public Works chief Mike Hale playing lead roles in moving plans forward.
The fact is, Washington Street's sidewalks, especially, are in dire need of repair, and city officials are right to try to spruce up what is obviously a primary gateway road into the city.
But while new curbing, roadwork and sidewalk repairs should do wonders toward making the thoroughfare more inviting for visitors and residents alike, it's also critical that the project not pose new hurdles for businesses along the street that rely on parking accessibility. And it's important that these business be allowed to have a significant role in how the work is carried out, virtually intersection to intersection.
Hale noted that assessing how many parking spaces might be lost is difficult, since spaces along most of the street aren't marked in the first place. And he's right.
But while one aspect of the plan, curb "bump-outs" at street corners to better keep cars back from some intersections, would be welcome in some spots — at the top of Whittemore Street, for example — they would clearly take parking from businesses at the busy crossing of Washington, Centennial and Grove streets. That shouldn't be allowed to happen.
Carrying out improvements up and down Washington Street will be meaningless if they adversely affect the businesses that make it home.
