Residents and business owners got a look at initial plans for the McGrath Square Renewal project during a Saxonville neighborhood meeting tonight.
The project aims to make Saxonville village’s commercial center more pedestrian-friendly, adding crosswalks, widened sidewalks and improved aesthetics as well as rationalizing traffic flow. The project covers an area around the intersections of Central, Water, Elm, and Concord streets.
Plan highlights:
Upgrade and widen sidewalks
Add ornamental lighting and some landscaping – although many in attendance spoke in favor of additional green space
Add on-street parking on portions of Concord Street
Upgrade and improve the small city parking lot on Danforth Street, possibly making Danforth two way between the lot and Concord Street in order to improve access
Add bicycle-lane markings on some roadways
Narrow some vehicular travel lanes to 11 feet, designed to help slow speeding (off rush-hour) traffic through the area
Add some crosswalks as well as ensure they have either traffic signals or signs with rapid-flashing lights
Bump out the sidwalk at the crosswalks, giving more visual cues to cars that they should expect possible foot traffic
Add “Don’t block the box” pavement markings at the Concord and Danforth intersection in hopes that cars won’t block that intersection.
Here are a couple of the “conceptual” slides shown at the meeting:
Diamond markings at Concord and Danforth streets are aimed at preventing cars from blocking the intersection.
Orange indicates sidewalks, which “bump out” at some crosswalks.
After considering community feedback, the consultants will work on final designs to submit to the city. They will also get cost estimates for moving utility wires in the area underground, an option that would likely cost millions.
The Saxonville Intersection Improvement project currently has a rather bare-boned page on the Framingham Web site, but presumably this will be updated as work progresses.
Friends of Saxonville presented its objectives for the project tonight as well. Those are posted at the Friends of Saxonville Web site.
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