Walnut Street Sign Walk

Saturday, October 16th 2004, 10AM

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Transportation Board to meet with HSHA to discuss signs

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After many months of trying, the HSHA Board has finally succeeded in getting the attention of the Transportation Board to hear our complaints about the overuse of signs on historic Walnut Street. A petition letter signed by dozens of residents at the June Picnic helped to put the issue onto the September 28th 2004 Transportation Board agenda and comments at the meeting by several HSHA Board members, Town Meeting members and a representative of the Preservation Commission hammered home our frustrations with the way the traffic calming project has been handled.

At the meeting, the Transportation Board voted to reduce the number of signs by a small number, still leaving approximately 100. The text of the recommendation and a map showing each of the 115 signs can be found here. Also, as we have been requesting since the project’s completion, the Board promised to provide a thorough analysis of the effectiveness of the traffic calming measures. But there is significant resistance from the Town’s Transportation Division to any further reduction in signage and there is some question how thorough and independent the investigation will be.

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signwalk3The Transportation Board, however, seems sympathetic to our complaints. After listening to our descriptions of other towns’ less obtrusive traffic calming solutions, Fred Levitan, the Chair of the T Board, has kindly agreed to meet with HSHA members to walk Walnut Street and discuss each sign and traffic calming device.

The walk is scheduled for 10AM Saturday, October 16th. It will start at the intersection of Walnut and High Streets.

I hope you’ll be able to join us for this important onsite discussion. We have also invited the Selectmen, Town Meeeting Members and members of the Preservation Commission. We feel that the Walnut Street project, as one of the first traffic calming ventures in town, was somewhat experimental. A full understanding of its impact is necessary before money is spent on any other traffic calming projects.