(pothole) Medford Street of Potholes ▶ Archived

It's March of 2010, and the situation is the same as it's been for years. This very short, much used street has had chronic, massive potholes all along one side of it in particular (the one nearest to the Tufts Science Center building). Patching gets done occaisionally, but the integrity of the street may be compromised enough at this point that they don't hold for long -

It's getting worse. After the recent rain, a deep sinkhole has developed on the other side of the sidewalk. And the potholes in the road are getting deeper and wider as well.

Credit where credit is due, there was patching done on this street earlier this week, which should make it passable for the short term. (Just to clarify, the street in question is Winchester Street, on the north side of Harvard Street - The marker on the map erroneously makes it look like this is on Berwick road). This is much appreciated, thank you! However, as stated in previous comments, the street is already covered with patches, and the remaining original pavement is spiderwebbed with cracks, which makes the appearance of new potholes inevitable in short order. I am hoping that Harvard Street will be repaved sometime soon (lots and lots of recurring potholes there too), maybe when the Kennedy/Lincoln school project is finished, and that this street can be included as part of that project when it occurs -

Please fic the potholes!!!!

The MWRA (construction agent of MWRA is DOW Company)is doing extensive work in the Washington Street/Harvard/Main St/Tufts Park area. They are responsible for bringing the street back to proper condition. Their work & repair will be done in 2011. We (DPW) will monitor for completeness.

John Buckley
Commissioner of Medford Public Works

Again, just talking specifically here about Winchester Street, on the north side of Harvard Street - We have come full circle on this again for probably the 15th time - Deteriorated street opens up a bunch of potholes, short-term patching is done, six months later we are back at square one. I'd love to know if this is just what we should expect to see repeated for the foreseeable future, so I can stop complaining and just accept it, or if there's some remote possibility this street might be repaved within my lifetime. Thanks.

Patching done! Thank you! The problem is, we will be talking about this same issue again in 4 to 6 months...

Again, just to be completely clear, the road I am talking about is the short section of Winchester Street that runs between Harvard Street and Yale Street (the northern part). The MWRA work mentioned below by Jack Buckley was finished some months ago, and both Harvard Street and the southern part of Winchester Street were beautifully repaved - Very much appreciated, it was very much needed! However, the part of Winchester Street I am concerned about was *not* repaved as part of the project - It's been patched (again), and is really, really overdue for a repaving. It is admittedly a very short road, but it's heavily used as a cut-through for both neighborhood residents and Tufts Science Center students, and regularly and predictably becomes pocked by large potholes. Again requesting that DPW seriously consider a full repave of this short street - Thanks very much!

Hi, all. It has been almost FIVE YEARS since this issue was opened, and the status quo continues. Again, this is a MUCH USED, very short street that many people (neighborhood residents on Princeton, Yale, Bowdoin, and their cross streets, Tufts students accessing the main parking area at the University Science Center, and the Between the Lines studio) use on a daily basis. I have lived in this neighborhood for more than a decade, and this street remains in poor repair. Patching gets done once or twice a year, but it never lasts very long, and potholes (some really deep ones) reappear in short order. The part of Winchester Street on the other side of Main street was completely repaved a couple of years ago (thank you!!), but this short street was not included in the work (in spite of Mr Buckley's comment from 2010), probably (I am guessing) because MWRA was not paying for it. I've said before that the city seems to have the attitude that if you can't get somebody else to pay for something (MWRA, MBTA, the State, the Feds, etc), that it's not worth doing. I see evidence of this attitude ALL THE TIME in this city, and it is infuriating.
I hope I see this street repaved sometime before I die, but I am not going to hold my breath. I will, however, not be voting for our current Mayor in the upcoming election, that is something you can count on for sure.

Forget this @#$%- Harvard street needed to be paved 10 years ago!

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