HUDSON – Changes are coming to the intersection of Cox Street, Old Bolton Road and Old Stow Road following a Select Board vote on Dec. 6, pending Town Meeting approval.
The intersection has been a “longstanding” site of accidents, Department of Public Works Executive Assistant Eric Ryder said.
To improve it, the DPW drafted a plan that includes closing off the slip-way lane alongside Cox Street and adding all-way illuminated stop signs to the intersection.
Pedestrian crossings on all sides of the intersection will be made compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements by adding wheelchair ramps and pedestrian signage along the sidewalks.
“I initially wasn’t crazy about the idea,” Selectman Jim Quinn said.
He then described an incident that took place at the intersection immediately after he left a town Internal Traffic Committee meeting.
“[I] took a right, and was about to take a left…and came within an inch of getting hit,” he said. “That kind of changed my mind.”
The Cox/Old Bolton/Old Stow intersection converges near St. Michael’s Cemetery in town. The topic of traffic calming came up in discussion at a Select Board meeting back in August when board member Shawn Sadowski relayed a message from a constituent who had reached out to him.
“Tons of accidents out that way,” Sadowski said at the time.
The Select Board forwarded the matter to the Internal Traffic Committee.
The committee, in turn, reviewed the request – analyzing speed, accidents, and traffic volumes – before voting to recommend that the Select Board approve the suggested modifications.
Ryder estimates the cost of the modifications to be between $30,000 and $40,000 but said that a contracted surveyor will further iron out the details.
“We don’t have the money to do it immediately,” Select Board Chair Scott Duplisea said.
The project will be funded through the DPW. It will need to wait until Town Meeting approves funding to be used for it, though.
The DPW’s plan, presented on Dec. 6, outlined four particular crash locations at the intersection based on Massachusetts Department of Transportation data from 2014 to 2018, which is the most recent five-year span available.
Within that period, MassDOT had cataloged 17 accidents, at an average of a little over three per year. Eight of those resulted in personal injury. Nine caused property damage. There were no fatalities.
The average crash rate in District 3 is calculated to be 0.61 accidents “per million entering vehicles.” The rate for the Cox/Old Bolton/Old Stow intersection comes to 0.88, higher than both the districtwide and statewide averages.
Funding for the modifications will be part of a budget outline appearing on next May’s Annual Town Meeting warrant. Temporary message board signs will be posted in the meantime informing drivers of upcoming changes.
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