BYFIELD — Two years ago, residents John Ashton and John Salter recognized traffic safety issues at the intersection in the center of downtown Byfield Village and decided to do something about them.
Their effort resulted in changes to the triangular intersection of Church, Main and Lunt streets.
After instituting a first wave of changes, additional modifications are now being proposed for the intersection. Those proposals will be presented at a public meeting on Wednesday, July 27, in the meeting room at the Byfield Fire Department, Protection Fire Company No.1, at 44 Central St. in Byfield.
The original request by Ashton and Salter was aimed at curbing speeding by commuters from West Newbury and Georgetown who use Byfield as a shortcut to and from Interstate 95 during morning and afternoon drive times.
Other issues that were voiced at that time included no sidewalks or crosswalks in certain areas, the difficulty of the intersection geometry, parking issues at the mini-mart, turning vehicle speeds, sight distances, particularly from the Lunt Street approach to the intersection, and room for a proposed bike trail.
An ad hoc committee of Selectman Michael Bulgaris, police Chief Michael Reilly, fire Chief Bill Pearson, Department of Public Works Superintendent Tim Leonard, Town Planner Martha Taylor and a Byfield resident made recommendations to the selectmen in June 2009 for changes on an experimental basis.
Some of the changes put in place included making Church Street one way westerly from Central Street to Downfall Road, making Lunt Street one way westerly from Central to Main streets and making the intersection a four-way stop. In addition, the egress onto Main Street was reconfigured with traffic cones to alleviate a sharp angle.
Taylor said some residents expressed concern with the changes, leading to a public meeting in August 2009. A traffic study was recommended, which the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission completed.
In addition, at the request of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates of Boston conducted a road safety audit of the area in May 2010. The audit led the town to contract with HSH, a transportation planning, traffic engineering, civil and engineering consultant, on the project. Working with HSH is Klopfer Martin Design Group, a landscape architecture firm based in Cambridge.
HSH announced it would hold three community meetings. The first, in May 2011, was held to gather information on the project and receive public input on the changes already made.
The second meeting, which will be held July 27, will feature a presentation on design alternatives to improve safety, taking into account the public's input at the May meeting, Nathaniel Cabral-Curtis of HSH said.
"We will be looking for community input to see if any refinements are needed to our designs," Cabral-Curtis said.
Final design sketches ultimately will be presented at a third meeting, which has not yet been scheduled, but is expected to take place after Labor Day.
Taylor said that once community input has been incorporated into the design plans, a presentation will be made to the Board of Selectmen for its approval. After that, the Planning Board will work to secure grant money to pay for the project, which will be put out to bid.
The July 27 meeting will start at 7 p.m. Additional information about the project, including the May 2011 presentation and the meeting minutes, is available at www.townofnewbury.org. Concerns or requests for information on the meeting or the plan options can be directed to Taylor at 978-465-0862, ext. 312.
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