Coburnville-Tripoli Neighborhood Requests Funding To Fix Traffic Issues

By Ashlyn Kelly

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FRAMINGHAM – Coburnville-Tripoli Neighborhood Association President Andrea Adrian sought an update from the Framingham Traffic Commission on Tuesday, January 25, on a funding request to alleviate traffic issues in the southwest Framingham neighborhood.

Adrian, in a letter to the Commission, requested an update on state funding from the Transportation Bond Bill. She also requested the Framingham Traffic Commission add a speed feedback sign in a few locations in the neighborhood. 

The City’s Traffic Commission received $400,000 for a traffic study in the downtown area from the Transportation Bond Bill, which was signed into law by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on January 15, 2021. 

Adrian said the Association was “hoping” some of the money would be allocated to their neighborhood, “specifically in the areas that we requested – Nipmuc [Road], Winthrop [Street], Cedar Street, and Fay Road.” 

Traffic Commission Chair William Sedewitz said he was aware of the funding but “to [his] knowledge, that money is not yet available for us to use.”

Sedewitz, who is serving as acting Public Works Director for the City of Framingham, said he would follow up with Mayor Charlie Sisitsky and his team later in the week to learn how to keep the process moving to receive the funds, said Sedewitz.

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District 8 Framingham City Councilor John Stefanini, who also serves as Secretary for the Coburnville-Tripoli Neighborhood Association, said in order for the funds to be released to the City, “there needs to be a plan submitted by the municipality to the administration.”

Stefanini said the Traffic Commission will need to work with the Mayor to give the rationale for why the funds should be released. 

According to Sedewitz, there are two counters in the neighborhood now – one on Cedar Street and one on Fay Road. The City’s portable speed feedback sign was also put up on Cedar Street and will stay up for a few weeks. 

Coburnville-Tripoli Neighborhood Association Board member Susan Petroni said “The key issue not only is the traffic and the speeding [but] the issue of about 150 to 175 kids at the bus stop at Roosevelt [Park], because the people in the other neighborhoods don’t realize that that is a bus stop and a very, very active bus stop.”

She basically every school in the City has a bus stop at or near the park, as the neighborhood has no school.

Petroni, who has lived on Fay Road for more than 2 decades, said there has been an increase in traffic on the road since the re-construction of Route 126 in Ashland. She said many motorists from Ashland, Holliston, & Hopkinton are using the neighborhood street as a cut through to Route 135 and Winter Street.

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Editor’s Note: Susan Petroni is the editor for the Framingham SOURCE.

Both Petroni and Fay Road resident Julia Palantine noted near miss crashes with kids in the neighborhood often near the park and the bus stop area, which has no crosswalk.

The Traffic Commission unanimously voted to authorize Sedewitz and Department of Public Works (DPW) staff to authorize the Mayor to submit the rationale for the Transportation Bond Bill funds to the governor. 

During the meeting, Sedewitz thanked DPW staff for putting in the stop signs at Grant Street, saying “hopefully that improves safety pretty dramatically. 

“I think probably one of the most dramatic things this Commission has done was the four-way stop at Winthrop and Bethany. … We’ll see if Grant at Mansfield is as dramatic.”

Petroni also thanked the Commission for the four-way stop at Winthrop and Bethany in the Coburnville-Tripoli neighborhood.

She noted it went from 13 crashes a couple of years ago, to just one major crash last year, which is just amazing.

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Ashlyn Kelly is a Spring 2022 SOURCE intern. She is a is a senior communication arts major with minors in political science and journalism at Framingham State University. When she is not writing an article, you can usually find her in a theatre.