Main Street Buzzards Bay sees heavy foot traffic. Will changes make popular area safer?

BUZZARDS BAY — Come summer, motorists leaving Cranberry Highway and heading down the hill eastbound to Main Street at Academy Drive may want to slow down.

The gateway to the village business district should be more inviting and safer for pedestrians, town officials have said. Thus, a $507,000 improvement project for the Main Street and Academy Drive intersection will get underway once the nearby Massachusetts Maritime Academy concludes its June graduation weekend.

The public works proposal represents another major investment at Main Street’s west end. The stretch is the oft-described struggling area that the Select Board and other town officials hope will flood with commuters one day, hopping weekday trains to Boston and creating a transit hub.

Town Engineering Technician Tim Lydon says the “town gateway” project is ambitious, necessary and designed to assure more pedestrian safety features.

The area accommodates motorists, students and employees headed to and from the college, boaters to Taylors Point Marina, residents to 150 homes on Taylors Point, and visitors. The intersection also services U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters and a restored train station, and nearby access to the Cape Cod Canal. Restaurants and shops are in the area.

What is planned for the upgrade?

Project highlights include better motoring sightlines, more pedestrian visibility and expanded sidewalks to help protect pedestrians and reduce speeding vehicles.

Two crosswalks will be widened into one with a texturized surface, providing drivers with a visible warning to reduce speed. This remains an imperative given that wandering pedestrians in designated sidewalks now are often imperiled by motorists when the signal light at Academy Drive flashes green.

The Select Board is enthusiastic, providing getting-it-right support for an area that is transitioning. With two reservations. Board member Jared MacDonald says speed is an ongoing problem, with motorists leaving Cranberry Highway and entering a reduced speed area at Main Street.

Board member Peter Meier says enhanced lighting should be added to the project, if only to help protect restaurant patrons departing the area at night.

Board Chair Mary Jane Mastrangelo says lighting could be added to the town’s five-year capital spending plan.

What will the project cost?

The estimated construction cost compiled by Environmental Partners totals $325,300. The additional proposed scope-of-work brings that cost to $507,231.

Lydon says part of the basic cost would be paid with a $200,000 state Department of Transportation Shared Streets and Spaces grant. The town is responsible for the remaining $125,000.

The Select Board on Feb. 13 also approved a town public works request to tap $188,000 in state Chapter 91 funds to help with additional scope-of-work expenses.

Mastrangelo says the town’s overall Chapter 91 account will not be adversely impacted. In a Feb. 14 email, she said there was $1,854,290 in available Chapter 90 funds, which would leave $1,666,290 in that account available after the latest Main Street funding approval.

There are project add-on aspects

The public works department, meanwhile, has calculated additional project features.

“Working in conjunction with the Engineering Department and design consultant, multiple items are identified beyond the minimum scope of the project that will improve the aesthetics and the storm water management of the intersection,” Public Works Director Matt Sawicki advised the Select Board Feb. 13.

This, he said, includes decorative pavement for the intersection, which will be “visually appealing, but additionally act as a traffic calming measure.” Other features include sidewalk bump-outs and the existing Main Street grading will create drainage issues at the east end of the project and at the Canal Street intersection.

“Milling and re-laying the pavement in these areas will alleviate these concerns,” Sawicki noted.

Foundations for future street lights are also part of the package. “Installing the infrastructure for decorative lighting at this time will eliminate the need to disturb the sidewalk for future lighting projects in the downtown area,” Sawicki said. “Reinstallation of the brick inlays now found on Main Street will keep the area consistent with the existing sidewalks.”

Why is the project important?

Overall, public works investment in the area is not new. Included is a $2 million park and playground, reroofing and painting of the historic Spanish-style train station, reconstruction of the nearby Cohasset Narrows Bridge and upgrade of the neighboring train trestle.

Town officials have supported workforce housing initiatives and transit-oriented zoning plans near the train station.

Bourne is one of dozens of communities in Massachusetts being impacted by a new state law requiring more multifamily zoning because they are next door to communities with commuter rail stations.

In 2022: Bourne is the only Cape Cod town impacted by a state law mandating more multifamily zoning

Lydon says the improvement project started as a 2020 study by the BETA Group. The town commissioned the report to evaluate traffic operations and safety at the intersection. This was done in two parts.

“Part One evaluated the overall workings of the intersection, including infrastructure, such as existing signal equipment,” conditions and traffic operations,” Lydon noted in a Feb. 16 email.

“Part Two evaluated sidewalk and accessible ramp conditions in the area of the intersection and their compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Massachusetts Architectural Access Board (MAAB) regulations,” he noted.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Why Bourne will spend $500K on Main Street Buzzards Bay