Plans moving ahead for bike and pedestrian-friendly improvements

Plans for safety improvements to Farrar Road and Route 2A are advancing, and a third project to benefit pedestrians in South Lincoln is out to bid.

The Farrar Road project will create “advisory shoulders” on Farrar Road, which involves painting dashed lines to indicate shoulders. Vehicles can cross the lines to avoid traffic coming from the opposite direction but must yield to oncoming traffic if there are “vulnerable users” (bicyclists, pedestrians, or any other non-vehicle) ahead or alongside.

Farrar Road was chosen as a pilot by the  Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPEC) in service of its broader goal to make Lincoln’s roads safer for all. If the measure turns out to be successful, other “minor connectors” in town might get the same treatment. There are 17 miles of  minor connectors that offer routes to schools and access to conservation trails but are not major roads.

The lines will advise all road users of the legal rights of way and safe passing distance. “It doesn’t change the way folks should use the road — it’s not like a stop sign or speed limit. It just advises about what’s safe,” BPEC member Bob Wolf told the Select Board at its June 21 meeting. The committee has been working with police, the Roadway and Traffic Committee, the DPW, the Planning Board, and representatives of candidate neighborhoods. Wolf and fellow BPEC member Ginger Reiner presented the idea to residents at one of last November’s State of the Town meetings.

The town has submitted an “application to experiment” to the Federal Highway Administration for the advisory shoulders, which are a relatively recent invention in this country. If all goes well, the painting could take place as soon as September, Wolf said.

Route 2A improvements

Another project in the planning stages is repaving and adding safety features to Route 2A. The current plans (which are at the 75% complete stage) call for traffic islands at intersections, and reconfiguring the Route 2A/Lexington Rd, intersection to make it safe for those approaching on Brooks Road.

Town officials recently offered feedback on the latest round of plans by MassDOT and expects to hear their response in several weeks. Among their requests:

• Add pedestrian-activated flashing lights at all intersections
• Add a crosswalk at Brooks Road
• Add pedestrian islands at certain intersections
• Make the road shoulders 4 feet wide where practicable

Select Board member Jonathan Dwyer said the town should hear the next response from MassDOT in four to six weeks. The agency has been “accommodating and respectful” to previous requests, he added.

Path in South Lincoln field

A third pedestrian-friendly project that’s currently out to bid is a pathway alongside Lincoln Road from the railroad tracks to the intersection with Codman Road. The paved path would be on the grass north of the stone wall and row of flowering trees and would skirt the community gardens.

The project will be funded by a previously awarded grant from a state program to encourage safe travel and connectivity to mass transit for pedestrians and bicycles. The original deadline for completing the work was June 30, 2021, but the town was unable to award the contract through the initial bidding process, so the new deadline for bids is July 30. MassDOT gave the town an extension until November 30 to complete the work, said Director of Planning and Land Use Paula Vaughn-MacKenzie.

Some residents have expressed concern that the path would cut through the community gardens or is intended to promote access to the Codman Community Farm store. But CCF Board President Nancy Fleming wrote in LincolnTalk in May that the path has nothing to do with the store. She also explained and defended driveway work and other changes at the farm.

“For the first time in decades, we are financially stable, our animals are extremely well cared for, and we are plowing resources back into the aging infrastructure of the farm in ways that were impossible just five years ago,” she wrote.