I-93/95 group starts study
Published on June 30th, 2004
STONEHAM, MA -Planning for the undertaking since the fall of 2002, the regional I-93/95 Interchange Task Force announced its intentions to start an 18-month study of the ailing changeover during its last organizational meeting at the Reading Senior Center last Wednesday night.
Although the Louis Berger Group (LBG) has yet to formally secure a $500,000 contract with MassHighway for the proposed traffic and safety study, representatives from the Needham-based consulting firm outlined a summer data collection schedule.
According to LBG Project Manager Jim Purdy, the consulting firm will focus the first phase of the study reviewing existing traffic and accident data from state agencies and local police departments. After that initial data collection stage is completed, the group will then use the information to plot out a geographical map of accident and congestion prone areas.
"Primarily, what we're trying to do is focus the data collection on observing the traffic. Secondly, we're trying to get a spatial pattern of accident locations that happen over time. The goal is to come up with a bird's eye view of accidents on the interchange," explained Purdy.
According to MassHighway Manager of Statewide Planning Bob Frey, the project's work scope directs LBG to narrow the most intense areas of study to a geographical diamond called the local focus area. Proposing to scrutinize vehicular patterns on key intersections in Reading, Stoneham and Woburn that fall within this diamond -- which is surrounded by I-93 and I-95 -- the zone's perimeter extends to:
- I-93, exit 34 in Stoneham to the South
-I-93, exit 38 on the Reading/Wilmington border to the North
- I-95, exit 35 in Woburn to the West
- I-95, exit 40 on the Reading/Wakefield line to the East
Responding to questions as to why real-time traffic field studies wouldn't also start this summer, Frey indicated that some of the permanent traffic counters needed recalibration. In addition, Purdy claimed that seasonal changes in traffic patterns could potentially skew the results.
"We wouldn't want to do that in July and August because of seasonal changes. So we'd want to wait until Labor Day to do that," Purdy said.
While Task Force members appeared in agreement with Purdy and Frey's explanation, Stoneham Selectman Tony Kennedy disagreed that sound barrier studies should be put off until the Fall.
"I guarantee you that on a Friday afternoon that intersection's a major disaster. Everybody's trying to get to New Hampshire and Maine. Do you have some reason to believe there's less noise in the summer?" Kennedy asked.
With Purdy sticking to his belief that the environmental sound study might be thrown off by altered seasonal traffic patterns, Frey argued that the two-month schedule was already ambitious enough without adding new tasks.
Singling out yet another aspect of LBG's summer schedule, Reading Selectman Gail Wood appealed to the consulting firm to pay extra attention to data concerning local economic and community information.
"Please do not shortchange the collection and analysis of that demographic. I say that because traffic is obviously the most important aspect to MassHighway. But people are most concerned with how this affects them," Wood commented.
"If it is shortchanged, you're going to have another blow up again [by citizens]. That's a given," cautioned Wood.
Although task force members revised LBG's scope of work at its last meeting in April, the accuracy and amount of data collection remained a concern of various members.
Finding a positive gain out of what's predicted to be a week of serious traffic snafus, Woburn Mayor John Curran opined that the Democratic National Convention presented a "golden opportunity" to study how road closures during the interchange construction phase would impact local communities.
"There may be a great opportunity with the convention in town to see what the impacts would be on local roads during the construction phase," Curran remarked.
"I know that we're doing a study here and not designs, but we could observe the volumes of traffic going through some of the major throughways," added Woburn City Engineer John Corey in agreement.
Expressing another concern with the work scope, Metropolitan Planning Association representative Jim Gallagher worried that LBG's plan to convert crash data onto a map containing no more than 100 data points might be too limited.
To quell some of those concerns, Frey explained that minor additions to the the data collection process could easily be included later in the process. In addition, Frey proposed forming a data collection subcommittee that would review LBG's progress.
The following members volunteered for that five person subcommittee: Reading Selectman Rick Schuster, Woburn City Engineer John Corey, Stoneham Selectman Tony Kennedy, Reading citizen and Preserve member Jeff Everson, and Metropolitan Planning Association member Jim Gallagher.
The I-93/I-95 Task Force will next meet on September 29 at 4:30 p.m. in Woburn.
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