The Southwick Police Department was successful in getting a state grant to install several speed monitoring signs around town, including two that will be mounted on trailers like this one used by the Westfield Police Department on Springdale Road.
Reminder Publishing photo by Cliff Clark
SOUTHWICK — The Police Department was successful in getting a state grant from the state Department of Transportation to install several speed feedback signs at fixed locations and on two movable trailers to help manage roadway speeds and safety.
“We would ask that you approve that,” said Police Chief Rhett Bannish during the board’s meeting on April 27. “That is a fully funded grant at no cost to the town.”
Bannish was referring to the MassDOT Municipal Speed Feedback Signage Program, which was announced by the state in December.
The program provides municipalities with solar-powered, data-capable, and standardized speed feedback signs that will be installed along Feeding Hills, South Longyard, and Mort Vining roads, Bannish said.
The locations, Bannish said, were chosen by the state, and the town will be responsible for the signs’ installation and maintenance.
The town will also share the speed data collected from the signs to help support statewide speed management research and decision-making, according to the MassDOT website describing the program.
The data collection requirement prompted a question by board member Douglas Moglin.
“Is there any requirement that we have to supply the data that’s gathered from those signs anywhere else outside of town?” he asked.
Bannish said part of the grant requirements was that the data collected is provided to the state.
However, he said the data collection requirement was only for a full year after the signs are installed.
According to the program, the data collected will include vehicle counts, speeds, and directions to help support statewide speed management research and decision-making, according to the program.
Of the speed feedback signs mounted on the trailers, one will be placed on Powder Mill Road.
Bannish said the other would be somewhere else.
An email sent to Bannish asking for additional details about the program and where the other trailer would be stationed was not returned.
Over the last several years, the town has been applying for grants to secure funding of at least $1.86 million to get Powder Mill Road completely restored.
In 2022, the town was awarded a $115,500 grant from the state’s Rural and Small Town Development Fund for the redesign of the road, Brown said.
The design, which was done by Westfield-based Tighe & Bond, was completed in 2024.
When DPW Assistant Director Jon Goddard was asked if the speed data collected by the state would help the town’s effort to secure grant funding, he said it was a possibility.
Once the project is completed, it will connect the regional district’s schools, the Southwick Recreation Center, Whalley Park and the rail trail with sidewalks.
The road will also need to be realigned. A portion of the current road is not in the center of the town’s right of way, and if it isn’t shifted, the sidewalks would be built on private property, which is not an option for the town.
Also included in the rehabilitation will be new drainage and an upsized water line.
The signage program is supported with federal Highway Safety Improvement Program funding for federal fiscal year 2026 and aligns with MassDOT’s broader Safe System approach and Vision Zero strategy to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
