Six Years of Planning, Two Years of Construction, and You Can Finally Cross Centre Street in Roslindale

Good news, Roslindale. DCR has turned on the traffic and pedestrian lights at the rebuilt Walter and Centre streets intersection, by the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, Sophia Snow House, Trinity Lutheran and the Arboretum, Universal Hub reports. People can now cross Centre in actual crosswalks with actual walk signals.

Timeline check: DCR started figuring out how to redo this intersection nearly six years ago. Construction started about two years ago. That's a long time for some paint and some poles.

It's not finished. The new bike paths next to the sidewalks only exist right before and after the intersection, then you're back on the parkway with cars. The bike signals aren't on yet. And walking from the Hebrew Center to the Arboretum takes two button presses, one to reach a little island and one to finish. UHub's editor pressed the second and it didn't seem to work, so he ran for it.

Dez's take: I'll take the win. People were taking their lives in their hands here two weeks ago. But a state agency needing six years for one intersection is why folks in this city stop asking for things.

What we still don't know: when DCR turns on the bike signals, and whether that second button is wired to anything.