VIDEO: Selectman Responds to Question 1 Vote

Count Selectman Kevin Greeley firmly in the camp of those who believe that Saturday’s “Yes” vote on Question 1 shouldn’t be interpreted as a deathblow to the current Mass. Ave. Corridor Project.

At the end of Monday night’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting, Greeley said he plans to draft a letter, with help from Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine, to Federal Highway and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation expressing the board’s “[strong continued] support for the project” and to request the project's funding. He said he would bring the letter to the board’s next meeting on Monday, April 22, for his colleagues’ approval.

The Mass. Ave. Corridor Project, which is expected to cost about $6.8 million, would be 80 percent federally funded, 20 percent state. Federal Highway called the late February hearing that delayed the project. (The town and state were already on board.)

A strong opponent of the current project, Eric Berger, a Town Meeting member from Hamilton Road, gathered enough signatures to get Question 1, a non-binding question, on the ballot. It asked voters, “Shall the Town have four vehicular travel lanes on Massachusetts Avenue in East Arlington as now practiced?”

On Saturday, 4,334 Arlington voters answered “Yes,” 4,097 “No.”

Opponents, such as Berger, believe this was an indictment of the current project, as the current design calls for three travel lanes, two eastbound lanes toward Cambridge and one westbound lane toward Arlington, from Pond Lane to the Cambridge city line.

However, supporters of the current project, including Greeley and the East Arlington Livable Streets Coalition, have said the question was misleading.

Greeley said Monday that there was “a lot of confusion” around the vote.

“I had a number of people who told me that they voted yes but they still really want the project but they would prefer it if they could have four lanes,” he said.

Greeley, who was re-elected Saturday, ran on a “No” on Question 1 platform against challenger Maria Romano, who campaigned for “Yes” on Question 1.

Greeley received 4,626 votes to Romano’s 3,355.

How do you interpret Saturday’s “Yes” vote on Question 1? Let us know by posting a comment below.

More on Arlington Patch

• LETTER: East Arlington Livable Streets Coalition on Election Results