An overhead image of the East Longmeadow rotary now and urban planner Jeff Speck’s vision of a walkable solution.
Reminder Publishing file photos
EAST LONGMEADOW — The East Longmeadow Town Council is ready for a change to the rotary.
At the Oct. 15 meeting, the councilors excitedly discussed the vision of a walkable downtown that was created and presented by urban planner Jeff Speck on Sept. 30.
Deputy Town Manager Rebecca Lisi and Speck, a principal at the firm Speck Dempsey and author of several books on walkable cities, had emphasized at the presentation that the planner’s vision was merely one idea for a walkable downtown.
As imagined by Speck, a slight angle would be created on Pleasant Street to connect it to Somers Road just before it reaches what is now the rotary. The same would be done with Elm Street, connecting it to North Main Street, and with Shaker Road to Maple Street. Then, a smaller roundabout would connect Somers Road and North Main, Prospect and Maple streets. Reducing the number of streets coming into the rotary and narrowing them would create valuable land where there is currently paved road.
Town Council President Connor O’Shea praised the presentation given by Speck, but asked, “Where do we go from here?”
Referring to the land created in Speck’s presentation, Town Manager Tom Christensen said the town had control over what it would like to see there through zoning. He said it is currently a liability because it currently generates no tax revenue, while the town must pay to maintain the pavement.
Christensen said he and Lisi followed up with Speck about developing an alternative plan for the rotary. “People like choices,” he said. “What’s another option?” He added, “Maybe we could shape that option into something that is similar, or totally different.”
Councilor Marilyn Richards said she had seen several plans to change the rotary during her time in municipal government. Of Speck’s ideas, she said, “This one has potential.” However, she cautioned that the town needed to consider the impact any changes would have on people who live near the rotary.
“It is worth moving forward, even if it’s not with this one,” O’Shea said of Speck’s plan. He agreed that narrowing the town’s 14-foot roads and streamlining the rotary would create a significant amount of land. With the town offices moving to 382 N. Main St., he said the area had potential to be redeveloped.
Christensen said that, ideally, they would identify a walkable solution to downtown that does not require taking private land. Speck’s vision for the redesigned roads would require small strips of land at the intersections of Somers Road and Pleasant Street, and Shaker Road and Maple Street. It also proposed a new building where there is grass next to Maureen’s Sweet Shoppe.
Christensen said the ring of roads around the rotary, which includes Chestnut Street, Westwood Avenue and Kibbe Road, allow for multiple ways to traverse the town. “Do we want to design something that can handle all that traffic and invite everybody to cut through our town or do we want to have a smaller option like this that keeps everybody in the center and lets everybody sort of loop around if they don’t want to?”
Councilor Ralph Page said he had driven through Six Corners in Springfield, a neighborhood where six streets meet into a single intersection. He said it was “amazing” how smoothly traffic flows when the typical rules of the road apply and vehicles in the rotary have the right-of-way. He said he would like to see changes to the rotary, but the town should explore alternatives to Speck’s initial design.
Richards said she was “amazed” at the size of the Center Square Plaza’s parking lot when viewed from overhead in Speck’s presentation. As a member of the Select Board when the plaza was built in the early 2000s, she said, “I’m embarrassed that we were responsible for making some of these decisions. Maybe we can do better.” Speck’s plan would remove some of the parking lot to create a street in front of the public library and buildings across from it. Parallel parking along the streets around the rotary would replace any lost parking capacity.
Christensen told Richards that the parking lot design reflected the prevailing wisdom of the era, but, he said, “You got to keep moving” and “changing with the times.”
For Councilor Anna Jones, the loss of the seven roads rotary would be “sad,” but she said she was also excited.
No matter what changes the town decides to make to the rotary, Christensen said it would not happen immediately and would take considerable design, public input and funding resources. Lisi pointed out that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, a common source of grant funding for roadway projects, may not want to fund a project that reduces vehicle throughput, as Speck’s initial plan would. That was more reason to seek an alternative design, she said.
One of the first steps in any project would be completing a traffic study. While Speck’s presentation included rough vehicle counts for the roads that intersect at the rotary, it was not a comprehensive study. Neither was the study on North Main Street that was done to satisfy the Gaming Commission’s requirements for a surrounding community agreement when MGM Springfield was built, Christensen said.
The council agreed to see an alternative design from Speck Dempsey.
Traffic speed data
Police Chief Mark Williams updated the council on data from speed signs posted around town. The town bought the 10 solar-powered signs through a casino mitigation funding grant from the Gaming Commission. Williams said the signs had been set up on streets with high traffic volume, places where speeding is suspected and near schools.
After several months, Williams said the data the department gathered was “somewhat mixed.” He said signs located near intersections, such as Maple Street and Fairhaven were picking up drivers’ speeds as they slowed to make the turn, rather than their usual speed. As evidence of that, he said speeds recorded at another point along Maple Street were significantly higher.
Williams acknowledged, “It’s certainly possible the signs are doing their job.” To be sure, however, the Police Department plans to move some of the signs to measure speeds in other areas of town. Finding locations can be challenging, he said, noting, “Not every resident wants a sign with flashing lights outside their house.” Of the signs that will remain in place, Williams said the department will gather data over the next few months and review it again.
The department also uses what Williams described as a “stealthy” speed measurement device that is not obvious to drivers. It helps create an accurate idea of drivers’ speeds when then not influenced by a speed sign. Williams said the data from the signs can help the department decide where to station police cruisers with radar monitors.
O’Shea mentioned that the speed signs also provide traffic count data, which can help with other town projects, including the rotary redesign.
