By CHRISTIAN MAITRE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
Concern has been growing over traffic safety on Adams Street, with some residents saying it’s prone to crashes.
“It seems to be a daily occurrence that I’m seeing bad accidents,” Janine Boudrot, a Waltham resident, wrote in a post on the Waltham, MA Residents Facebook group.
Boudrot asked the group whom she should contact to request four-way stop signs for intersections along Adams Street.
The post prompted other residents to share their stories about crashes on the street.
“Stop signs are suggestions on Adams Street and side streets off of it,” resident Rachel MacDonald wrote in response. “You can contact CathyAnn Harris who is the city council for that area and the traffic department.”
Kenny Artigues, another Waltham resident, told The Times he witnessed an accident last fall at the intersection of Spruce and Adams Street.
He said a woman walking her dogs was crossing the intersection when a car suddenly hit and ran over one of her pets.
Artigues and his wife called 911 and gave statements to police when they arrived.
Artigues frequently has to turn onto Adams when driving home from Moody Street.
“It’s very hard to see what cars are coming without nosing almost all the way into the street,” he said, citing both the narrowness of the street and cars parking on both sides as contributing factors.
But traffic calming measures are in the works.
On Dec. 17, Michael Garvin, the city’s senior traffic engineer, requested funding for speed cushions at the southern intersection of Crescent and Adams Street.
Garvin said that the speed cushions were approved after studies found the average speed on Crescent was 38 miles per hour. The speed limit on the street is 25 miles per hour.
Garvin said he is still waiting for the mayor to give the City Council a funding request for the project.
Garvin shared an annual report he receives from the Police Department that shows intersections and other areas in the city with the highest number of crashes.
In 2024, the Lexington, Bacon, and Totten Pond Road intersection had the most crashes with 18. Adams Street was not listed on this report.
“It doesn’t mean that I can ignore Adams Street,” said Garvin. “I should probably do a more in-depth study of the data on the street and present that to the Traffic Commission.”
Thanks for reading! We are a reader-supported nonprofit newspaper. If you value our reporting, please support The Waltham Times through a tax-deductible gift.