Traffic commission puts West End traffic study back on the table

After months without a clear direction, the Traffic Commission this week voted to work toward implementing the findings of the West End Traffic Study.

The study, commissioned in 2023 and proposed to residents at a public meeting in December 2024, explored solutions for increased traffic cutting through the West End. The study proposed a variety of solutions, including time-of-day restrictions for certain turns, speed feedback signs, speed cushions, and raised crosswalks.

The Traffic Commission voted to acknowledge the results of the study in January but didn’t immediately lay out plans for what the city should do next.

At the commission’s Oct. 16 meeting, Ward 7 Councilor Paul S. Katz requested Traffic Engineer J. Michael Garvin put together concrete proposals to ameliorate West End traffic based on the results of the study. 

Traffic Commission members voted to request the proposals for next month’s commission meeting, scheduled for Nov. 20.

Lowell Street safety

On the heels of a neighborhood meeting last month, the Traffic Commission revisited traffic mitigation options along Lowell Street.

Plans for the street appear to have been divided up into two parts: improvements to the intersection between Lowell and Myrtle streets, which the commission addressed this week, and a pedestrian and bike infrastructure proposal by Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy, which the City Council will address in committee meetings next Monday.

Previously, as part of a Lowell Street corridor safety study requested by Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris, the commission had investigated curb bumpouts to prevent cars parked at intersections from causing visibility issues.

Garvin on Thursday reiterated support for the proposed changes for the intersection between Lowell and Myrtle streets. 

He said that the traffic engineering team had looked into whether to install an all-way stop sign at the intersection through three different metrics: total traffic flow, number of accidents, and sight distance. 

Out of the three metrics, he said the intersection’s sight distance issues met the necessary conditions to justify an all-way stop. Still, he recommended addressing those issues in other ways, such as improved signage for the current Myrtle Street stop sign, because he worried drivers would ignore an all-way stop at an intersection between Lowell Street — which he classified as a thoroughfare — and a comparatively smaller street like Myrtle. 

Harris spoke in favor of replacing the current Myrtle Street stop sign with a three-way stop, citing the strong public turnout at the South Side neighborhood meeting, during which multiple speakers advocated for more stop signs on Lowell Street.

“Even if Lowell Street carries more traffic than Myrtle, requiring all drivers to stop creates a predictable control environment. There is not predictable control at all without this,” she said.

City Clerk Joseph Vizard supported the proposal, adding that the city should consider putting in additional measures such as raised crosswalks. He argued that although cars use Lowell Street as a thoroughfare, it’s still designed like a neighborhood street. “It’s been a problem for years [and] it’s a problem now, so I’m glad we’re doing something to address it,” he said.

The commission voted to put in a three-way stop at the intersection of Myrtle and Lowell streets.

Additionally, the Traffic Commission

• Approved design plans for the intersection between Main Street and Gore Street, Barbara Road and Warren Street, and improvements to the intersection between Newton, Grove and River streets, and approved Garvin’s request to seek funding and the projects out to bid. The commission also voted to implement no-turn-on-red regulations at the intersection of Moody and Maple streets to improve pedestrian safety.
• Directed the Wires Department to repair detection systems, pedestrian crossing lights, traffic lights, and traffic light timing at the Main Street-Willow Street and Main Street-Stow Street intersections.
• Requested the Traffic Department study proposals for multiple crosswalks surrounding Henry Whittemore Elementary School and one crossing Stow Street near the Discovery Village Child Care Center. It also requested the department study a crosswalk or traffic signal system on South Street for Stanley Elementary School and a traffic signal at the Lexington-Pond Street intersection.
• Agreed to reclassify a Moody Street loading zone as a public one-hour parking and to add a 15-minute parking space in front of Watch City Pharmacy on Main Street.
• Agreed to implement street parking restrictions on Hammond Street in order to improve conditions for passing vehicles, including MBTA buses and emergency response vehicles, and to remove a street parking space on Crescent Street to improve visibility. 
• Agreed to remove street parking restrictions on Lakeview Avenue that had gone unenforced for a long period of time and requested the traffic department study street parking on Amory Street in order to improve conditions for public works vehicles.
• Accepted results from a speed study on Lincoln Street and a speed and parking study on Sheffield Road. In both cases, the Traffic Commission found that current traffic was mostly at acceptable levels and agreed to paint out further traffic lane lines on a segment of Lincoln Street where traffic was fastest and requested the police department patrol Sheffield Road more often to enforce parking rules.
• Heard initial proposals for a DCU ATM at the 130 Lexington St. plaza and a Jersey Mike’s location at 864 Lexington St. before they appear before the City Council to get permits.
• Approved two November road races: the Bentley Phi Sigma Sigma road race on Nov. 14, and the annual Piggy’s 5K road race on Nov. 22.
• Removed from the agenda three traffic mitigation projects that hadn’t been revisited in over three years, two of which Garvin said were addressed by the West End traffic study and the third by other infrastructure changes the commission has made since.