TSO Recommends Townwide 25 MPH Speed Limit and Other Traffic Calming Measures

Report on the Meeting of the Town Services and Outreach Committee, May 30, 2024

The meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded. The recording can be viewed here.

Present
Andy Steinberg (Chair, at large), Bob Hegner (District 5), Jennifer Taub (District 4), George Ryan (District 3), Hala Lord (District 3)

Staff: Athena O’Keeffe (Clerk of Council), Paul Bockelman (Town Manager), Guilford Mooring (Superintendent of Public Works), Gabe Ting (Chief of Police), Melissa Walker (Director of Human Resources), Jason Skeels (Town Engineer)

Also: Tracy Zafian (Chair, Transportation Advisory Committee)

Overview
Except for the unanimous endorsement of three Town Manager appointments, the Town Services and Outreach Committee focused on traffic, bike and pedestrian safety, and proposed actions to introduce traffic calming measurers on Amherst roads. The appointment recommendations will be passed on to the Town Council for approval.

TSO endorsed the Town Manager’s appointments of: 
Alex Cox for a two-year appointment to the Affordable Housing Trust Board of Trustees;
Alexander Niefer for a three-year appointment to the Board of Assessors; and
Melissa Zawadski as Town Finance Director.

The committee unanimously endorsed making the following recommendations to the Town Council: creation of a safety zone on Henry Street in the vicinity of the Cushman Scott Children’s Center; repaving and addition of sidewalks on part of Heatherstone Road, as well as constructing  mini-roundabouts for traffic calming; and moving forward with establishing a town-wide 25 mph speed limit for all streets that did not have a posted speed limit. 

Presentation on Road Safety by 5th Graders from Fort River School
A fifth-grade class from Fort River Elementary School offered a presentation with requests to make walking and biking to school safer in general and with several specific recommendations.

The students noted that currently there are no safe biking routes to their school and that the bike lane planned for Belchertown Road consists of painted lines, not separated from vehicular lanes, and is not safe given the heavy traffic there. “Paint does not protect you from cars,” they testified. They would like to see the town commit to a separated bike lane on Belchertown Road, explaining  that their research suggests that most people would not use a non-separated bike lane there. During the following discussion, town councilors pointed out that when cyclists are pushed off the road and onto the sidewalks, as happens now on Belchertown Road, it creates safety hazards, especially for the elderly and people with disabilities.

The students also pointed out that Pelham Road is similarly unsafe for cyclists. Vehicles there travel at high speeds and the sidewalks are extremely narrow, especially on trash pick-up days, and  sharing the road is harrowing for everyone. 

The students said that they would like to see the town become more proactive in promoting safe biking experiences and suggested that the June 2019 Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan should be updated and prioritized. They pointed out that many students would prefer to walk or bike to school and would do so if it were safer. They also noted this is not just a safety concern but an environmental one as well because the large number of students who are driven to school creates unnecessary consumption of fossil fuels. 

The students said that they support the proposal to lower the speed limit throughout town and asked that the time for flashing lights near the school be extended beyond operating only during the current drop off and pick up times. 

Committee members praised the students for their presentation and promised to look into their concerns. George Ryan told them that what they were doing is called “lobbying,” and that they would need to be persistent to get the changes that they are seeking. He encouraged them to “keep holding the Town Council’s feet to the fire on this issue.”

Public Comment
Jeremy Anderson has been organizing to get the town to adopt traffic calming measures and to create a safety zone around the Cushman Scott School in North Amherst. He pointed out that unsafe road conditions are a national problem. He reported that he has been working with the National Walking College to learn how towns can create safe routes for walkers, bikers, and rollers. Reducing speed limits even a few miles an hour can make a significant difference. He again requested the creation of a safety zone on Henry Street, a 25 mph speed limit throughout town, and the purposeful establishment of safe routes to schools.

Becca Watkins spoke in support of a town-wide speed limit of 25 mph, noting that it has already been adopted by Greenfield, Deerfield, and Springfield. She also supported the adoption of other traffic calming measures.

Michelle Labbe said that the ability to use public ways safely is a right and it needs to be supported. She encouraged TSO to be less pessimistic about implementing a 25 mph town-wide speed limit, downplaying concerns about the challenges of enforcement. And she endorsed safety zones around schools, playgrounds, and senior centers.

Christine Lindstrom, a member of the TAC, said that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has a federal program called Safe Routes to School (see also here). She described it as a robust program for making communities walkable and bikeable for kids. She reported that Amherst parents have started run, walk, and bike to school days that have been surprisingly successful. Over 400 families have participated in two bike-to-school days this year. She noted that the middle school and high school are not currently school safety zones but the Town Council can enroll them as such. This would reduce the speed limit around those buildings to 20mph during school hours. Currently all Amherst elementary schools are enrolled. She added that right now the flashing pedestrian signs at the elementary school are only operating during drop off and dismissal but should be on all day as a traffic calming measure. She also said that a 25 mph speed limit for the entire town “makes a lot of sense and makes things safer for kids.” And if that’s not possible, she suggested that a substantial safety benefit could be gained by lowering the speed limit around Kellogg Street and Triangle Street where, she said, cars frequently speed and pose a hazard for students coming and going to the high school.

Rich MacLean agreed with all the recommendations of the preceding speakers and suggested that making Amherst safer would make it a more attractive place to live.

Peggy Hobart said she rides horses on High Point Road, and bikes in Amherst Woods, and cars routinely pass her at high speed. She said cars are more inclined to speed on wide roads or where there is no painted center line. She stated that “we need traffic calming measures throughout town.”

Leyla Moushabeck said that she would like to walk or bike to school with her children but it’s “just not safe, especially with small kids.” The area around Cushman School is especially hazardous, she said.

Traffic Calming Measures Discussio
Chief of Police Gabe Ting was asked to speak about compliance with and enforcement of speed limits. He said that Cushman has long been an area of concern and has been studied extensively. A two-week speed study by the Amherst Police Department (APD) found that although  “speeding wasn’t a huge issue,” some people speed and ignore the posted signs near the school. He said that speed bumps, stop signs, and changing the route of the road have all been discussed, and that he has not come to a conclusion on the best course of action.

Bob Hegner reported that there is a lot of speeding down Wildflower Drive and that people routinely run through the four-way stop sign at Wildflower and Larkspur. He believes that a reduction of the speed limit to 25 mph would make a difference. 

Ting noted that the APD also conducted a speed study in the Wildflower/Larkspur area and found that the speeders are mostly from the neighborhood. He said that kids have put up signs asking folks to slow down but the signs have been vandalized. 

Hegner asked if a town-wide limit would apply to all town-owned roads without exceptions. Department of Public Works Superintendent Guilford Mooring clarified that a town-wide speed limit of 25 mph would only apply to roads that did not currently have posted speed limits. Anything with a posted limit would remain the same; changing a posted limit  is an involved process that includes doing a speed study.

Henry Street and Cushman
Jennifer Taub said that town officials have been talking about the Cushman Scott School for a long time and have done some studies. She asked if we can now make some recommendations about what to do there?

Mooring reported that two Department of Transportation studies have been completed for the area and the town can move ahead with putting in a safety zone, traffic calming measures, and increasing enforcement. He noted that traffic calming will probably require the installation of risers, which will require design and engineering work, and will take some time, but they could install flashing signs right now. 

TAC Chair Tracy Zafian pointed out that it is not enough to just change the speed limit: traffic calming measures are needed as well. She asked Ting about the capacity of the APD to do more enforcement, and wondered how frequently citations are issued for speeding through a safety zone.

Ting responded that speeding and traffic is the number one complaint that the APD gets, noting that South East Street and Bay Road generate a lot of complaints. He said, “We just don’t have the resources to enforce speed limits in any one particular area.”

Taub asked about the effectiveness of speed bumps. She noted that they have been on her street for about 10 years and seem effective.

Ryan moved to recommend that the Town Council establish a safety zone for a portion of Henry Street in accordance with the recommendations of the CDM Smith Engineering report of March 15, 2024. He noted that this would give the DPW and the Town Engineer clearance to develop a plan that they would bring back to the council with recommendations and details. The motion passed 5-0. 

Heatherstone Road
Zafian reported that residents want to see Heatherstone Road repaved, as is planned (as is the installation of 2-3 mini-roundabouts) but they are also concerned that once the improvements are made, motorists will speed more, not less. She also noted that although residents would like traffic calming measures, they are not in agreement on what those should be. She said that if the town constructs sidewalks on part of Heatherstone, it should also commit to them on  the south half of the road(to Stony Hill Road) and down Gatehouse Road  to Route 9.

Ryan moved that the Town Council approve permanent changes to the public way on Heatherstone Road, as shown on the conceptual plan titled “Heatherstone Road Sidewalk Concept,” dated February 2024. That motion passed 5-0.

Adopting a Town-wide 25 mph Speed Limit
Ryan encouraged the committee to move forward with a town-wide change to a 25 mph speed limit, saying that he had a hard time imagining what the objections to such a proposal might be. He noted that there is widespread concern across the community about speeding and that “Amherst is a community that is moving toward true bike and pedestrian safety.” One key step, he said, would be to reduce the speed limit to a degree. And he wondered what an argument for leaving things the way that they are would be, other than perhaps cost savings. “If we just leave things as they are, what’s the argument for that?” he asked. He asked the assembled experts if they could give him a reason not to move forward with the proposal. None offered objections, although town engineer Jason Skeels  cautioned that a number of neighborhoods with posted speed limits of 30 mph will want their speed limits reduced, too. And for each of these neighborhoods  there will be a separate DOT application process.

Taub suggested that town councilors should have some responsibility to inform their constituents that the town has started this process and is moving in the right direction, and that it’s going to take some time to get to where we want to be.

Ryan moved that TSO recommend that the Town Council adopt MGL.Chapter 90, subsection 17 C. , Speed Limits for Thickly Settled or Business Districts (see also here), which would establish a default speed limit of 25 mph on all town streets that are not already posted with a regulatory speed limit.

Responding to the Fort River Elementary School Students’ Requests
Ryan asked about extending the time of operation of flashing lights around the schools as the Fort River students had requested.

Ting said that he supports the request.

Andy Steinberg said that it is not clear whether this change requires a council vote or whether this can be done administratively by instruction from the Town Manager. Ryan suggested that the committee inquire further into the process and also that this be incorporated in the Safe Routes to School Plan.

Taub concluded, “However we do it — let’s have it in place by the start of the school year.”