Board OKs five-year roadway project plan

Editor’s note: This article was updated on September 13 with corrected information about the third item on the project list (Route 2/Bedford Road).

The Select Board this week approved a five-year plan for roadway projects in town that will include new or improved crosswalks as well as a repaved and redesigned Ballfield Road entrance. Members also approved a separate traffic and parking plan for Old Concord Road.

Last May, the Selects approved the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee’s master plan, which made a wide range of recommendations for safety improvements on roads and roadside paths. Since then, the BPAC joined forces with the Roadway and Traffic Committee to draw up the five-year transportation project plan starting with fiscal 2026 beginning on July 1, 2025. Click here to see the list with details on the projects, costs, timeline, etc.

The first two items on the list to be tackled actually weren’t on the BPAC master plan: repaving several roads in town, and creating a raised crosswalk on Lincoln Road at the Old Town Hall Exchange. A contract is expected to be awarded soon for that work, which includes repaving Tower Road between Lincoln Road and Beaver Pond Road, as well as Peirce Hill Road, Round Hill Road, and Hawthorne Circle.

Next on the wish list is an upgraded crosswalk on Route 2 at Bedford Road, which the town is hoping will be funded by MassDOT’s Mass. Highway Division).

Another high priority is repaving Ballfield Road and redesigning its intersection with Lincoln Road. A pilot project next year will involve closing the slip road (the fork of the Y on the east side of the intersection) with barriers while a plan for improving the intersection for vehicles, pedestrians and bikes is formulated. The town would seek funding for that project in fiscal 2027 to start after the community center is completed and heavy equipment isn’t routinely using Ballfield Road.

Many of the projects on the list could be funded through Chapter 90 funds from the state (Lincoln currently received about $250,000 annually from this source). Other potential funding sources from the state are the Complete Streets program and the Safe Routes to School infrastructure grant program, but the town will still have to pay for some work that isn’t eligible or isn’t awarded state funding.

Farther down on the list are two expensive and complicated goals: building or extending roadside paths on Weston Road and on Route 117 near the Mt. Misery parking lot. Both would require easements or property takings and thus may not even be viable. “We’ll continue to review them each year to see if the appetite for [those projects] is changing,” Town Administrator Tim Higgins said.

Old Concord Road

The signage improvement plan presented by Conservation Director Michele Grzenda aims to address parking issues on Old Concord Road for drivers seeking trail access, as well as service vehicles who are sometimes confused by the house numbering and dead ends. The approved plan calls for installing more consistent no-parking signs, a turnaround spot, and clearer indicators of which homes can be found by turning onto the private road opposite 33 Old Concord Rd.