The Framingham Traffic Commission heard concerns during their meeting on Tuesday.
FRAMINGHAM - Residents along Edgebrook Road have submitted a traffic calming request to the Framingham Traffic Commission, citing concerns about speeding, safety, and overall traffic volume in the area.
Homeowners on the stretch off of Edgell Road and Brook Street pointed to elderly residents, young children, and attendees of the Assembléia de Deus Colheita church as reasons for safety worries during the Traffic Commission’s meeting on Tuesday, May 28. Some residents called for mitigation efforts such as the installation of speed bumps as a potential solution.
Edgebrook Road separates a pair of local districts, as District 3 City Councilor Adam Steiner and Michael Cannon of District 4 spoke about the concerns of their shared constituents.
“My personal experience is consistent with those of the residents of this road: that it is frequently being used as a cut-through for drivers looking to save time on Edgell Road…This problem will only grow worse as the Central-Edgell intersection goes through various stages of construction over the next few years,” Steiner wrote in a letter that was read on Tuesday by Chair of the Traffic Commission Brinsley Fuller.
Edgebrook Road has a speed limit of 25 miles per hour in both directions. A study from the Framingham Department of Public Works conducted between May 8 and May 12 showed that the average speed both ways ranged from 21 to 22 MPH.
Speed numbers in that May study were lower than what the city’s Police Department collected back in November. Average speeds still did not exceed 25 MPH in the police study, though the 85th percentile speed in both directions was 30 MPH.
Yet residents of the area insisted that some drivers have gone through the road at dangerous speeds on a consistent basis. About 10% of the 1,562 drivers tracked in both directions during the DPW’s May study went at least 30 MPH. That figure includes close to 150 who were going between 30 and 40 MPH.
In turn, those experiences have prompted neighbors to put the matter before municipal officials.
“It’s been really impressive, I think, for (Steiner and I) to see the neighborhood come together in a way that’s not only expressing a desire,” Cannon said during the meeting, “but willing and able and meaningfully going through the process of what’s required.”
A motion was passed by the Traffic Commission to have the city’s Engineering and Transportation Division look further into the matter before providing recommendations on actions such as placing additional signage along Edgebrook Road.
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This week on The Frame: the School Committee and City Council vote on a proposed contract to acquire school buses as efforts continue to bring drivers in-house, work begins on an expansion to Framingham’s Logan Express garage, and the city hosts its annual tree lighting ceremony in front of the Memorial Building. Plus: a look at the giant toy soldiers that adorn the community during the holidays—how they came about, and what goes into making this tradition a reality.
We wanted to learn more about when these soldiers started to pop up, where they come from, and why they’re so notable for the community.
Framingham school officials have asked legislators to back a five-year contract for 72 vehicles in order to facilitate an in-house bus driver system.
