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Politics & Government

Public Meeting on Proposed Roundabout for Case's Corner Tonight

Weston's Traffic and Sidewalk Committee recommends construction of roundabout to alleviate safety, traffic concerns.

Editor's note: The following is edited information submitted by the Weston Traffic and Sidewalk Committee before tonight's public meeting on a proposed roundabout for Case's Corner.

In January 2009, the Weston Board of Selectmen reconstituted the Traffic and Sidewalk Committee (TSC) to prioritize and recommend traffic and sidewalk priorities to the Selectmen. Over the past two years, we have worked diligently on a wide range of issues, and also have identified three major priorities: 1) poor circulation and safety issues at the middle/high school campus, 2) major morning traffic congestion in the town center, and 3) severe traffic congestion and frequent back-up at Case's Corner. All require engineering design and construction effort to really make any difference. This is the first of our proposals on these major issues: a solution for traffic and safety issues at Cases Corner.

Currently traffic congestion on many mornings is a nightmare, with backups between a quarter- to half-mile traveling north on Wellesley Street awaiting a left turn onto School Street. Weston Police have had to resort to assigning a patrolman at times, but this is quite inefficient and expensive, and jeopardizes public safety without effectively alleviating the problem.

Research:
The TSC has studied the issue and had professional traffic engineering consultants draw up various designs and run simulations. There are two possibilities that might work: 1) reconfigure the "T" intersection so that Wellesley Street is a "through" street, then have Newton Street hit a stop sign and wait for gaps on Wellesley Street traffic to enter; 2) redesign the intersection into a modern (but small and rural-in-appearance) "roundabout." While the former is less expensive, it doesn't fully remedy the problem and would probably result in traffic backup for northbound traffic on Newton Street in the evenings.

Recommendation:
The TSC proposes a roundabout for Case's Corner. The roundabout provides consistent good levels of service for all approaches in both our morning and evening simulations. In addition, since it is a purposely tight circle, it forces traffic from all directions to slow down – and thus serves to calm traffic speed in a sensitive school area. Our design explicitly prioritizes improvements for bikes and pedestrians consistent with a school area.

As well, the roundabout is arguably a more aesthetic solution and was universally liked in informal focus groups. We are embarking on quite a bit of construction in the area to redesign the Field School/elementary schools, and in our deliberations with those committees, the circle works particularly well with the intended master plan for the area.

Alternatives:
If this is not approved, the alternatives are:

1. The "do nothing" case, which would reduce expenses, but leave us with the current backup, safety and manpower problems.
2. Reverse the "T," which would be less expensive but not achieve as good a solution. We estimate it would save about $200K over the roundabout, but leave us with evening backups on Newton Street. Secondly, with Wellesley Street essentially a sweeping "through street," the traffic engineers worry that vehicle speeds could be dangerously high, inconsistent with the area schools with young children.

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