The Massachusetts Department of Transportation will award $6.6 million to safety projecs in 15 cities and towns in the latest round of its Complete Streets Funding Program, a grant program that funds bike and pedestrian improvements in municipal public works projects.
MassDOT defines "complete streets" as roadways that provides safe and accessible facilities for pedestrians, bicycle users, and transit riders, of all ages and abilities.
Since the program's launch in 2016, over two hundred municipalities across Massachusetts have adopted local complete streets policies and prioritization plans, which identify specific streets and intersections in need of safety improvements.
Projects in those prioritization plans can then become eligible for construction funding through MassDOT's Complete Streets funding program. More information on how towns and cities can apply for these funds is available on MassDOT's grants portal.
Most of this year's awards pledged $500,000 to each project, unless otherwise noted below:
- Andover received funds to build a new sidewalk on Tewksbury Street from Yardley Road to Oak Street, which will extend pedestrian access to the MBTA Ballardvale regional rail station and the Ballardvale Playground.
- Ashland received funding for safety improvements at the intersection of Union Street and Fountain Street. The project will also create new crosswalks, ADA-compliant curb ramps, along with curb extensions and a new 5-foot bike lane.
- Athol received $249,226 for its Greening Lord Pond Plaza project, which is ripping out parts of a large strip mall parking lot (pictured below) to restore the Mill Brook streambed and add new street connections to Main Street. The complete streets funding will finance new concrete sidewalks throughout the project site.
- Bridgewater received funds for safety improvements at the intersection of Summer Street and Plymouth Street next to the Bridgewater State University campus. The project will shrink the intersection to reduce pedestrian crossing distances and install new ADA-compliant crosswalks.
- Clinton received $225,000 for additional lighting improvements in its Walnut Street Sidewalk and Bicycle Network Connection Project, which will upgrade sidewalks on segments of Union, Walnut and Prospect Streets.
- Fairhaven received funding for new sidewalks along Bridge Street between Route 6 and Alden Road. The sidewalk on one side of the rebuilt street will be 8 feet wide to to function as a shared-use path for bike traffic. The project also includes upgraded crosswalks and flashing crosswalk beacons.
- Ipswich received funding for new sidewalks on Linebrook Road and an improved pedestrian crossing with a new median refuge island at its intersection with High Street/Lord Square.
- Malden received funding for safety improvements at the wide intersection of Main Street, Eastern Ave., and Madison St., one block away from the Northern Strand Trail. The city also plans to use funding for improvements to the Lebanon Street/Maplewood Street corridor on the city's east side. The projects will include ADA-compliant crosswalk improvements, curb extensions, and transit stop improvements.
- Middleborough received funding for an 8-foot-wide shared use path along Center Street from Anderson Avenue to Lovell Street.
- Milford received funding for safety improvements on Central Street, Pearl Street, and School Street, including new concrete sidewalks, ADA-compliant crosswalks with flashing beacons, intersection geometry improvements, and a reduction of the roadways' width.
- Norfolk received funding construct a 10-foot-wide shared use path along the Medway Branch Roadway from Barnstable Road to Tucker Road, the first phase in an envisioned project to connect the path to Boardman Street.
- Plainville received $190,330 to build ADA-accessible upgrades to the intersection of Messenger Street and Taunton Street.
- Somerville received funding for its Pearl Street reconstruction near Gilman Square (plan pictured below). The project will build new sidewalks, raised crosswalks, and protected bikeways between McGrath Boulevard and Medford Street.
- Westport received funding to build new sidewalks and crosswalks on Sanford Road.
- Wilbraham received funds to build new sidewalks and connecting crosswalks near the intersection of Stony Hill Road and Springfield Street. The new sidewalks will connect the Stony Hill Elementary School to the Town Hall and senior center. The work will also slightly widen the intersection to add new left-turn lanes.
