The following are the issues that were placed on the “parking lot” for the West Natick Neighborhood Association.  These are questions and concerns which were not answered at the meeting, and will be referred to appropriate parties for review and answer:

1. Can a direct connection between the Mass Pike and the Natick Mall, which would avoid traffic having to use local streets, be engineered?

2. Could a pedestrian overpass be included to carry pedestrians over Route 9, connecting the Natick Mall with Sherwood Plaza?

3. Years ago, traffic going north on Speen Street could turn left onto Hartford.  Now traffic must cut through Nottingham, a residential street.  Can the Hartford/Speen intersection be redesigned to accommodate that turn?

4. Concerns were raised with concept of “narrowing” Speen Street – will it result in backups as people try to turn onto side streets?

5. There was a suggestion to improve the merge on Speen Street just south of the Hartford Street intersection (where two lanes merge into one) by lengthening the merge lanes – won’t that simply impact Nottingham adversely and move the problems further south?

6. A new (“open grade”) pavement surface is apparently available which reduces noise significantly; however, the cost is more than regular pavement, and potentially requires more frequent replacement.  This needs to be studied to determine if it is an appropriate expenditure of money.

7. Potholes and road imperfections appear to be a significant cause of truck noise.  Is there a way that Speen Street can be kept in better shape?

8. Speen Street will be torn up beginning in the summer of 2006 to replace sewer and water lines.  That will happen no matter what, and therefore, coordination with all other mitigation work makes sense.  However, once the road is resurfaced, it is important that there not be numerous utility cuts made which will disrupt the surface of the road causing more truck noise.

9. The Route 9 eastbound exit onto Speen Street is confusing and people desiring to go north end up going south, turning into peoples’ driveways to turn around.

10. Timberlane could become one way outbound?

11. Can the design plans for the roadway improvements be made available at the 25%, 50%, development stages?

12. A new traffic study needs to be conducted to determine whether the amount of commercial traffic meets thresholds for exclusions.

13. Improvements to lower Speen Street need to be made to mitigate traffic impacts. 

14. A stop sign at Greenleaf and Bowdoin Lane would help reduce speeding on Bowdoin Lane.

15. Exiting side streets onto Speen Street is very difficult. Somehow, breaks in the traffic need to be engineered – possibly a light.

16. Intersections north of Route 9 are also problems, and will be made worse with increased mall traffic.

17. Better signs are needed from the Mass Pike to the mall entrances and from the mall exits to the Mass Pike.

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