Mount Auburn Street

Shadley Associates is currently working with the City of Watertown as a subconsultant to a transportation engineer on the re-design of the two-mile long Mount Auburn Street corridor.  Proposed renovations will transform Mount Auburn Street into a complete street, improving the efficiency of MBTA Bus Route 71 while easing traffic and providing safe, ADA compliant multi-modal accommodations.  With a mix of residential, commercial and publicly owned blocks, the existing landscape and character varies along the corridor.  Existing healthy and mature trees will remain and be supplemented with new tree planting of different species to increase diversity, thereby improving the health and longevity of this streetscape.

The goals of the landscape design are to encourage placemaking in the commercial areas and to provide site amenities such as benches and bicycle parking throughout the corridor.  Where portions of the existing roadway will become landscape area, small “urban meadows” are proposed consisting of native shrubs and perennials to offer seasonal interest throughout the year, filter stormwater runoff from adjacent pavements, and attract pollinator species such as birds and insects.  At Coolidge Square and other commercial intersections, placemaking goals are achieved through the design of small urban plazas with planting, benches, tables, bicycle parking, and granite seatwalls for pedestrians to gather and rest.  The Design Team submitted Bid Documents to MassDOT in September of 2023.  Utility work is underway by the city and outdated trolley lines are being removed.  Construction of the streetscape is expected to begin shortly, starting from the Cambridge city line and moving west towards Watertown Square.