Northampton plans to reconstruct its Main Street in 2025, and the project presents an opportunity to redesign the wide Main Street corridor from the intersections of Elm and West Streets, at the edge of the Smith College campus, to Market and Hawley Streets, near the railroad viaduct.
The proposal would benefit the town's busiest bus corridor, a heavily-congested bottleneck where three busy bus routes converge near the Boston border.
To help fill a $600 million budget gap, the agency has proposed eliminating ferry service, ending dozens of lower-ridership bus routes, eliminating commuter rail service on nights and weekends, and closing several rail stations, including a portion of the Green Line in Mission Hill.