Unsafe Traffic Condition
Plans aimed at easing chronic traffic congestion near the Mansfield commuter rail station — where large trucks rumble through a busy pedestrian area and create a potentially dangerous situation — are getting a public review.
Selectmen and residents got their first chance earlier this month to comment on the plans that were pulled together by local officials and a team that included a group of engineering students from Northeastern University.
The plans address improvements in the area north of the intersection of Route 106 and North Main Street that have been discussed for about eight years; no decisions will be made without additional public meetings, said Town Manager William R. Ross.
“At some point it’s the overall benefit to the community that needs to be addressed. It is a bad bottleneck. It is an unsafe situation in the area around the train station,” Ross said.
He said a main component of the plans will be to make North Main and Oakland streets into two-way roads. This would eliminate the “constant stream” of trucks from companies on North Oakland Street and other vehicles from having to travel down Mansfield Street, which passes next to the commuter rail station, to reach Route 106, Ross said.
Additional angle parking spaces for commuters could then be added on Mansfield Street, and other spaces on North Oakland Street would become two-hour parking spaces for shoppers, Ross said.
The project is likely to cost about $1 million; Ross said it would probably be funded through typical town road-improvement sources.
Elaine Cushman Carroll can be reached at elaine_carroll@msn.com.
Vuew more at the Boston Globe here.