16. TRANSPORTATION Road Infrastructure

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1 16. TRANSPORTATION As has been emphasized throughout the Master Plan, transportation systems play an integral role in stimulating commercial and residential development and defining the character of a community, as well as their obvious function of providing mobility. Westborough has a generally well designed and efficient road system, providing good local and regional access. However, a few of the Town s road segments and intersections have problems with congestion or safety. In addition, the Town s transportation system offers few alternatives to driving and provides limited opportunities for pedestrian and bicycle mobility. The Master Plan seeks to address these issues in three ways. First, the Plan identifies some potential infrastructure projects that the Town may want to investigate further (or, if they have already been studied, to implement). It is beyond the scope of the Master Plan to quantitatively evaluate or design specific transportation projects, so most of the projects suggested in this section will require further study. Second, the Master Plan recommends a range of policies and initiatives to enhance the local transportation system, such as additional public transportation. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Master Plan integrates transportation-related issues into the community s overall physical planning process. This integration is essential, and is lacking in many transportation and land use studies. Section 10 contains numerous recommendations that are intended, in part, to regulate land use based on the availability and capacity of existing transportation systems. Over the past few decades, transportation planning has broadened its focus to include not just the building of new roads but also the management and reduction of traffic volumes as well as providing alternative (non-automobile) forms of transportation. Communities have recognized that major new roadway projects almost always carry large economic, environmental, and social costs, and should usually be treated as a last resort. This sentiment was heard clearly at the Master Plan public meetings, where many residents stated that Westborough s character and quality of life should not be sacrificed for the sake of moving commuter traffic through the Town more quickly. For example, at the July 2002 public meeting only 9% of the 75 respondents who filled out a feedback form favored widening East Main Street to four lanes in order to improve traffic flow. The Master Plan is intended not only to guide future Town actions and policies but also to represent the Town s interests in determining the outcome of state and federal projects that affect Westborough. Highway projects are one case, in particular, where state objectives (e.g., moving traffic quickly through the community) can clash with local objectives (e.g., maintaining a pedestrian friendly character or unrestricted access to local businesses on the roadway in question). This section identifies some of Westborough s key objectives with regard to state-owned roadways in town. These objectives should be incorporated into future roadway design projects, especially in light of recent state policies such as Governor Romney s Fix it First policy (January 2003), which calls for community participation and community friendly solutions to transportation needs Road Infrastructure A handful of road infrastructure projects are recommended to help remedy the current transportation problems in Westborough shown in Figure 8-1. These include ramp re-alignment at the intersections of Route 9 with Route 30 (East Main Street) and Route 135 (Milk Street). In addition, improvements are Westborough Master Plan Page 167 Westborough s Plan for the Future

2 recommended to East Main Street and the area around the Rotary. As discussed below, streetscape enhancements should be a major component of these projects East Main Street East Main Street was studied in detail in 1997 as part of the Route 30 Corridor Study prepared by Bruce Campbell and Associates. This study recommended several improvements to East Main Street including new traffic lights at the Lyman Street and Flanders Road intersections, widening the road to include 8- foot shoulders between the railroad bridge and Water Street, and several smaller projects. (See Section for additional discussion of the study.) Since the study was completed, none of the major recommended projects have been completed, although the Route 30/Lyman Street signal is on the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for The other signal and the road widening are also on the TIP, but the Westborough Board of Selectmen withdrew their support for these projects, preferring instead to evaluate the impact of the new signal at Lyman Street before deciding how to proceed. During the Master Plan process, residents generally expressed support for improving traffic flow on East Main Street, but not at the cost of detrimental impacts to the neighborhood. Residents also expressed strong support for improving this street s aesthetics and walkability. Based on this input, the Master Plan endorses the recommendations of the 1997 Route 30 Corridor Study with the exception of the recommendation to add 8-foot shoulders to East Main Street. Instead, the Master Plan suggests adding five-foot shoulders, which would be wide enough to allow vehicles to pass to the right of vehicles that have stopped to make a left turn but not so wide as to require land takings or eliminating the sidewalks. In addition, the Master Plan recommends a program of land use and streetscape improvements to make East Main Street a more attractive gateway to downtown. The first component of this program is zoning changes, discussed in Section 10.3, which will promote redevelopment, allow housing and mixed-use development, and encourage site layouts that provide attractive building facades and landscaping at the street line while locating parking to the side or preferably the rear of buildings. Second, the Town, with state funding assistance, should invest in the public realm to include features such as attractive sidewalks, well-defined curb cuts, textured crosswalks, and underground utilities if possible. Third, because the right-of-way is only exactly wide enough to contain the road (with five-foot shoulders) and two sidewalks, the Town should encourage coordinated site planning on adjacent private property. This can be done through the Design Review process. One possibility would be to try to negotiate to obtain a 10- feet strip of land adjacent and parallel to the right-of-way so that a grassy strip and trees can be planted between the road and the sidewalk. These types of improvements would take place over a period of years or even decades as individual properties are redeveloped and the Town works with the owners to design the site layout. If the Town decides to move ahead with these ideas, it should present the East Main Street project (widened shoulders plus pedestrian and streetscape enhancements) to the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission for inclusion on the TIP. It may be possible to do this as a revision to the TIP project that is currently listed for East Main Street. Then, the Town will need to proceed with preliminary design. Some Westborough residents have raised the idea of relieving congestion on East Main Street by building a bypass road that would allow drivers to reach West Main Street without passing through the downtown Rotary. Based on an assessment of land use patterns and environmental constraints, this proposal would Westborough Master Plan Page 168 Westborough s Plan for the Future

3 require the road to pass through land almost all of which is either wetland (in Cedar Swamp) or already developed with homes and businesses. Accordingly, a bypass road is infeasible because of the vast amount of wetland fillings, eminent domain takings, and demolition of existing buildings that would be required to build such a road. Even if the Town could secure the state and federal money and permits that would be needed for a bypass road, such a project would be inconsistent with many of the Town s goals. For example, it would destroy habitats and impair water resources in an Area of Critical Environmental Concern and hurt downtown businesses by diverting traffic (and thus customers) away from downtown Rotary and Downtown The 1997 Route 30 Corridor Study recommends only one change to the downtown Rotary: the elimination of some parking on the southeast side of the Rotary to improve traffic flow. Based on input from the Master Plan public meetings, the Town should also work to improve pedestrian accessibility and the aesthetics of the Rotary and the immediately adjacent streets. Improvements to the public realm downtown that would be consistent with the goals identified by residents during the planning process include the following: Additional pedestrian accommodations such as enlarged neckdowns (narrowed sections of the road see the photos in Section ) at crosswalks, textured or raised crosswalks, and perhaps pedestrian crossing islands. Historic period street lighting. A continuation of on-street parking, which helps local businesses and also prevents traffic from speeding through downtown. Because improvements were recently made to the Rotary, any future improvements warrant additional study to justify the need for changes. This study could be conducted through the Engineering Department or as part of a streetscape plan prepared by a consultant Traffic Management Plan A traffic management plan (TMP) is a comprehensive strategy to reduce the number of vehicles on the road, reduce the impact of traffic on a community, and improve traffic operations. A TMP can incorporate several tools including land use planning, site planning, transportation demand management (TDM), and traffic calming. Potential elements of Westborough s TMP are discussed below Land Use Planning In transportation planning, it is important to realize that land uses are what generate traffic. People drive because they need to travel from their home to work, school, shopping, or other places. Consequently, it is possible to reduce the number of vehicle trips required and the length of vehicle trips by creating development patterns that encourage these various land uses to locate near one another and to take advantage of this proximity. It is also possible to minimize future traffic generation on a congested road segment by restricting land uses to those with relatively low traffic generation rates. The land use recommendations (see Section 10) incorporate these concepts in several ways. First, they establish several mixed-use areas in Westborough including the Downtown Business, Gateway 2, and Flexible Industrial districts. These districts will allow housing to be located near shopping, public Westborough Master Plan Page 169 Westborough s Plan for the Future

4 transportation, schools, and/or workplaces, thus creating the potential to eliminate many driving trips, or at least make them much shorter. Second, they encourage land uses with lower trip generation rates on East Main Street, the most congested road segment in Westborough. Finally, the land use recommendations reduce the potential for residential development in the more remote portions of the Town, where residents would need to drive to get virtually anywhere Site Planning Effective site planning for new development can minimize traffic impacts and safety problems on main roads that are caused by vehicles entering and exiting individual developments (whether residential, commercial, or industrial). The Town already has site design guidelines that minimize the number of curb cuts providing access to new development and encourage the provision of internal service roads to connect adjacent commercial uses. This type of internal circulation allows vehicles to travel from business to business without using busy roads like Route 9, thus reducing congestion on this main road. The Planning Board and Board of Selectmen are responsible for implementing Westborough s site planning guidelines, and these bodies should continue to require circulation patterns that minimize impacts on major roads Transportation Demand Management Transportation Demand Management (TDM) involves working with the developers and owners of specific developments to encourage or require alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles as a means of transport to and from the development. One recent example of TDM in Westborough is the establishment of a shuttle service from the Southborough MBTA station to several business parks in Westborough and Marlborough. This service is a public/private initiative funded by several employers as well as a grant from the Town. Other TDM strategies that have been used in other communities and may be appropriate in Westborough may include: Efforts to Encourage the Use of Transit and Carpools: This can be done in a variety of ways from direct support of transit systems (as is occurring in Westborough now and could possibly be expanded in the future) to incentives for developers, employers, and employees. Annual followup accounting should be a part of any strategy, and developers should be responsible for the maintenance of certain walk/bicycle, carpool or public transportation mode shares in their developments. Encouraging Local Employment: One standard TDM practice is to require commercial and industrial developments to actively recruit local residents as their employees. Similarly, developers of residential subdivisions could be encouraged or required to actively seek Westborough employees when they market their developments. This strategy can reduce regional as well as local transportation demand. Parking Requirements: The Town should carefully review its parking requirements for all types of development to ensure that it is not requiring too much parking. Excess parking creates a perverse incentive to drive. If parking requirements are reduced (particularly for stand-alone developments such as office parks and big-box stores), developers will provide only as much parking as they think their project will actually require. To the extent that they can encourage users of the new development to walk, bicycle, carpool, or take public transit, they will be able to Westborough Master Plan Page 170 Westborough s Plan for the Future

5 save money on the construction of parking spaces and possibly increase their overall development program. 1 If the Town chooses to implement TDM measures locally, it should adopt a TDM bylaw stating the requirements for new developments of different types. Thresholds should be established so that the requirements do not adversely affect small businesses Traffic Calming Traffic calming measures include a range of strategies to slow down traffic and deter the use of local residential roads for through traffic. Examples of traffic calming devices include one-way streets, neckdowns, narrow travel lanes, raised crosswalks or intersections, pavement markings, on-street [We] have cars flying through neighborhoods on windy roads trying to avoid the congested straightaways. This cut-through traffic puts our children at risk every single day. Improvements should be made to the existing [road] infrastructure but not to the degree that the drive becomes so attractive that the improvements generate more traffic. --Resident comments submitted through the website parking, rumble strips, or speed humps (see the photos below). Non-structural traffic calming measures such as traffic law enforcement can also play an important role. Some of the streets and areas in Westborough where traffic calming may be appropriate include Mill Road, Chestnut Street, Flanders Road, Church Street, and the area around the Rotary downtown. However, traffic calming must be conducted in a comprehensive manner not piecemeal otherwise traffic might simply shift from one problem area to another. The best way for Westborough to proceed with traffic calming is on a gradual, experimental basis. Two or three sites should be selected for trial applications perhaps one downtown site and one site in an outlying area and the results of these trials should be evaluated before moving ahead with additional sites. Traffic calming devices, clockwise from upper left: pedestrian crossing island; neckdowns at an intersection; speed hump/raised pedestrian crossing; half closure; and small traffic circle. 1 In suburban locations, parking requirements are often the limiting factor that determines the maximum size of the building that a developer can build on a given site. Westborough Master Plan Page 171 Westborough s Plan for the Future

6 Some people have raised concerns about how traffic calming devices affect snowplowing operations. While it is true that some traffic calming measures require additional care when plowing, others (such as one-way streets) do not. Many eastern Massachusetts communities, most notably Cambridge but also Boston, Brookline, and others, have successfully adapted their plowing operations to accommodate traffic calming devices. Westborough could learn from these communities if it chooses to implement traffic calming measures Public Transportation During the planning process, Westborough residents expressed considerable support for expanding public transportation in the Town. Shuttles from local MBTA stations to employment centers garnered the most support, followed by additional public transportation for the elderly and handicapped. The first step in pursuing additional public transportation in Westborough is to evaluate the need for and feasibility of such services. Fixed route bus services are generally only feasible at development densities much higher than those found in most parts of Westborough. However, there may be a few pockets of the Town, such as downtown and Route 9, that are dense enough to support a transit route. In addition, other options such as flexible route services and peak-hour shuttles from the MBTA stations to employment centers (such as the one currently operating from the Southborough station) may be feasible. The Town should contact the Worcester Regional Transit Authority to discuss these options, while at the same time evaluating the success of the Southborough shuttle and continuing to work with major employers in Town to monitor the need for additional transit services. As discussed above, one way to encourage transit usage (and create a future demand for transit services) is to require developers to commit to Transportation Demand Management policies at the time that their projects are permitted Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation Many residents at the public meetings suggested expanding the non-vehicular travel network in the Town as a way of improving residents access to goods and services, schools, and recreational opportunities. This objective is certainly consistent with many of the Master Plan goals, although the details of providing additional pedestrian and bicycle facilities often present challenges Pedestrian Facilities Downtown Westborough is generally pedestrian friendly, with sidewalks and crosswalks in most areas. The Department of Public Works (DPW) is in the process of improving the sidewalks downtown, beginning near the Rotary and working outward. The Town also requires sidewalks in new developments, so most recent subdivisions and office parks are conducive to walking, at least within the development. Beyond these current efforts, two additional sidewalk projects would help promote the goals of the Master Plan. The first project, discussed above, is to improve the East Main Street right-of-way, working, eventually, to create sidewalks with a 5-10 foot vegetated buffer from the road on both sides of the street. This layout will require cooperation from abutting property owners. Second, the Town should consider constructing sidewalks in the area around the MBTA station if and when the area is developed with multi- Westborough Master Plan Page 172 Westborough s Plan for the Future

7 family housing and/or retail uses under the proposed Flexible Industrial zoning. Sidewalks in this area could be funded, in part, by developers who build multi-family housing. The Town could also investigate pursuing state funding through the federal ISTEA/TEA-21 program. Current funding for such projects in Massachusetts is very tight, although the proximity of the proposed sidewalks to the MBTA station could prove an advantage in securing funding. Outside of Westborough s downtown core and its newer developments, pedestrian accessibility becomes more of a challenge. This is especially true along the Town s smaller rural roads. In recent years some residents have petitioned the DPW to build sidewalks on some of the rural roads in the southern and western sections of Town. However, upon investigation, sidewalk construction on many of these roads has been found to be either completely infeasible, or else undesirable because of the large financial, environmental and/or aesthetic costs that would be involved. Many rural roads have large trees, stone walls, embankments, drop-offs, or wetlands within five feet of the edge of pavement, and installing sidewalks would require altering these features, sometimes in a manner that would be quite destructive to the local environment. A handful of Boston suburbs such as Lincoln and Wayland have addressed these issues by building meandering pathways adjacent to rural roads. These pathways are set back anywhere from 5 to 30 feet from the road and tend to be narrow and hilly, conforming to the local environment and topography rather than flattening it. These pathways are undoubtedly great assets for transportation and recreation. However, because of the narrow right-of-way width of most of Westborough s rural and semi-rural roads, these pathways probably would not be feasible in Westborough unless the Town was able to obtain an easement or land dedication as part of a new development project. Another way to provide transportation and recreation options for pedestrians and joggers in outlying areas is to build multi-use trails that traverse the Town through various conservation areas and public lands. The Town, through the Open Space Preservation Committee and the Westborough Community Land Trust, is currently in the process of building such a trail network, which has been named the Charm Bracelet. The Charm Bracelet s main loop, which will provide a circular route throughout the Town, is about 28.5 miles in length and is expected to be completed by approximately 2005, according to the project s website. More than 40 miles of spur trails are also already in existence or planned, making the total trail network about 70 miles in length. The trails are designed to access most of the Town s neighborhoods, recreation areas, schools, and conservation lands Bicycle Facilities Westborough currently does not have any on-road bicycle lanes or signed bicycle routes. However, the Rubel Bike Map for Central Massachusetts (a map commonly used by cyclists for planning road rides) identifies several streets in Westborough as recommended bicycle routes. These include the entire length of Route 30 (East Main Street, West Main Street and Nourse Street), Flanders Road, Lyman Street, Oak Street, Chauncy Street, Otis Street, Fisher Street, Gleason Street, and Ruggles Street. The Maine to Virginia long-distance bike route also passes through Westborough along Lyman Street, Main Street, and Ruggles Street. The Town should make an effort to consider bicycle accommodations in roadway projects. For example, widening East Main Street to include a five-foot shoulder could create a good opportunity for safer bicycling, providing that the shoulder is appropriately marked and kept free of hazardous debris and sand. Westborough Master Plan Page 173 Westborough s Plan for the Future

8 In a few locations, there may also be an opportunity to increase bicycle safety and reduce the speed of traffic by re-striping wide travel lanes to include an average sized travel lane and a shoulder/bike lane. One example where this could occur is along Smith Parkway, where the travel lanes are very wide and well-delineated shoulders could help encourage biking to and from the MBTA station. Westborough Master Plan Page 174 Westborough s Plan for the Future