Fence problem on Fitchburg Cutoff path and project #609204


 Dear Sir,
.....
 
My issue here is the beautiful steel picket fence that starts in Belmont and extends into Cambridge for an approximately equal distance. This fence must be less than 10 years old and already it has 6 damaged sections. There are 3 consecutive sections in Belmont and 3 separate sections in Cambridge. This fence separates the BIKE ROUTE from the MBTA RR. 

The current CPPC plan is to place the BIKE ROUTE north of the tracks in Belmont and add a fence in between. They have not specified the type. Trespassers have been cutting holes into the existing fences for all my memory, 72 years. If you allow the CPPC to extend the BIKE ROUTE the way they want, the same thing will happen. Fences did not stop the WW1 and WW2 POWs from escaping, nor did it stop the east Berliners from escaping into the West. For all my life, the MBTA has been warning us to stay away from the tracks. Now the CPPC people are calling it a park, implying that it is a safe place, that it is a play ground. East of Brighton street, there is little temptation to cross the RR tracks at that point but the fence is still damaged. West of Brighton street, there are two schools(population approximately 600 each) south of the tracks and the entire Winnbrook and Belmont Hill neighborhood school populations north of the tracks that will cut and find holes in the fences. No one goes up there and is just injured. In a collision between a train and a pedestrian, the pedestrian dies. Even a titanium fence can be cut with a diamond blade.
 
Thank you,
 
P.C.

---------------------

In his letter, P.C. wonders what kind of fence will be installed.  In the minutes of a March 9, 2020 Nitsch Engineering-MBTA meeting, it reads that chain link is the type of fencing preferred by the MBTA for installation along the RR/park boundary.


 
Nitsch told the MBTA that it will look into fiberglass barriers instead of chain link fencing.   But all the indications are that the town is settling for chain link fencing.  In a vision of the park published in a Nitsch-run website, the fence is a high black chain link fence.

Looking at  P.C.'s photo, I realized that the damage to the steel picket fence may be caused, in part, by Keolis'  RR maintenance vehicles.   Often, I see Keolis' vehicles of all sizes in back of my house: from behemoths to pickup trucks to sedans.  (Keolis is the MBTA subcontractor in charge of the railways.)    If the Keolis' vehicles can damage a steel fence, it is easy to imagine what will happen to a chain link fence. 
 
The question becomes, as P.C. points out, who will maintain the fence? Repair and replace it as needed?   This park will be state owned since the BCF land will be donated to the DCR (CPPC communication).  Will the state pay for replacement and repairs or will abutters be left with the depressing, sad view of a fence with gaping holes and bent poles with trash piled up against the fence?




Photos taken in parks.










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