Plan targets entrance dispute at Quincy Adams T station

BRAINTREE - Elected officials in Braintree and Quincy say they may have a plan that would address a decades-old dispute over a pedestrian entrance to the Quincy Adams MBTA station.

Quincy City Councilor Brian Palmucci said he is drafting a letter to the T asking it to consider making the long-closed Independence Avenue entrance accessible only to the surrounding neighborhood, perhaps using some kind of key system. He said the concept, which was suggested by Braintree Town Councilor John Mullaney, could address some of neighbors' concerns about traffic, parking and crime related to opening the entrance.

"Some of the issues might be resolved if there was some kind of resident-only pass that was only available to immediate neighbors," he said. "I don't know if it would solve all the issues."

Opening the entrance, which is located near Verchild Street on Independence Avenue, would allow people living nearby to walk into the Quincy Adams station without having to drive more than a mile to the entrance on Burgin Parkway. The entrance has been locked since the 1980s at the request of neighbors who worry that opening it would clog nearby residential streets with parked cars as commuters try to avoid parking fees at the Quincy Adams garage.

After The Patriot Ledger reported about the long-simmering dispute over the entrance last month, Braintree Town Councilor John Mullaney began floating the idea of opening the entrance only to nearby residents. He said he spoke with several residents on nearby Holmes Street last month and found that a majority favored reopening the entrance to everyone, while some feared that would create more problems for the neighborhood.

"To me, this would be the answer," he said, referring to the idea of a residents-only entrance.

Braintree Mayor Joseph Sullivan said he mentioned the idea earlier this week to Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, who he said seemed open to the idea if local residents were behind it.

"I do think there's a way to shape this that could grow access to public transportation without impacting the neighborhood, but we need to have that discussion," he said. "I think the secretary would bless anything we could come up with in a unified way."

Contact Neal Simpson at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @NSimpson_Ledger.