City will update Gore Place intersection for clarity, pedestrian safety

The Main Street intersection where a Shell station, John Brewer’s Tavern and Gore Place meet is “one of the most confusing” in the city, according to City Traffic Engineer J. Michael Garvin. The city is finally going to do something about it – next spring.

Garvin told a neighborhood meeting last week that officials have been tasked with redesigning the intersection since 2020, and it’s marked as one of the city’s immediate traffic priorities.

Garvin unveiled plans for the new intersection at the meeting. Although the intersection’s overall shape will remain largely the same, the city plans to reposition traffic lights and change the timing of the light cycle to clear up some congestion and make it clearer for drivers passing through the intersection when and where they’re supposed to move.

It’s also making improvements for pedestrians. The city will create a large raised traffic island at the mouth of Warren Street both to divide left- and right-turning traffic and create a safe place with a push button for pedestrians to stop. It also plans to add a pedestrian crossing light at the eastern end of the Main Street crosswalk.

Garvin said that the consulting design team modeled a host of more comprehensive redesigns but found the current layout was most efficient at getting traffic through the intersection. The Traffic Commission has already finalized this layout and plans to approve signal timing changes at its meeting on Sept. 17. 

Residents can expect to see construction begin on the intersection by spring 2027 and finish within one construction season, Garvin estimated.

The meeting wasn’t well attended, but residents and councilors in attendance seemed to approve of the changes. Still, some weren’t entirely convinced the redesign went as far as it needed to.

Councilor-at-Large Tim King raised concerns about whether the intersection’s signage and pavement markings, which won’t change much in its new incarnation, will be sufficient to guide drivers. 

“[The signs are] there now — and it’s still a free-for-all,” he said.