From the Wellesley Traffic Committee:
The Wellesley Traffic Committee has made temporary modifications to the Grove Street and Benvenue Street intersection to help improve safety in this area.
These short-term changes are the result of recent public meetings and neighborhood input and will be in place while the committee collects and reviews data for possible long-term, permanent changes. The modifications include:
- Installing a crosswalk delineator on Grove Street just north of the Benvenue intersection. This highlights the crosswalk and provides a physical impediment on the center line to help naturally slow traffic.
- Deploying portable speed feedback traffic trailers on both sides of Grove Street north and south of Benvenue Street. These trailers alert drivers and prompt them to slow down when exceeding the posted speed limit. The trailers also collect vehicle speed data, recording the speed of passing vehicles and whether or not they respond by slowing down. This data will be collected for at least 3 months.
The DPW Park and Tree division has also worked with residents at the southeast corner of Benvenue Street and Grove Street to further trim and prune landscaping on this property, greatly improving the sight line at the intersection.
Tenacre School has also agreed to trim and prune landscaping on the northeast edge of Benvenue Street and Grove Street. School staff will complete this work in the coming weeks.
Many community members and neighbors also responded to a public survey on possible long-term modifications to the intersection. The survey options and opinions are below:
- Installing a flashing beacon above the intersection was discarded due to a lack of support.
- Installing permanent speed feedback signs on Grove Street or an all-way stop at the intersection both received more support than opposition. The all-way stop had the most support but also twice as much opposition. Permanent speed feedback signs had the least opposition.
The Traffic Committee will continue to monitor the intersection going forward, working with on-call professional traffic engineers to evaluate the data and determine what, if any, additional action should be taken.
Future updates will be posted on the Town of Wellesley website.
In general in Wellesley, not just at this intersection, it seems like more and more drivers are treating all stop signs as four-way stops.. Heading up Cliff from Washington in particular, I notice that drivers enter from Rt 9 and Garden after barely pausing. I regularly have to hit the brakes. Same situation with the cross-traffic at the entrance to the Linden Roche Brothers. It’s odd, and unfortunately unsafe.
There isn’t a stop sign entering the Linden St parking lot is so that traffic doesn’t back up into the street. People going across should realize this and drivers with the right of way should take it. Other drivers expect people to follow the right of way and not stop.
Anything that improves the safety at that intersection will be welcome. Those who do not use it frequently are unaware of the difficult and dangerousness of the intersection.
Many years ago, I sent the SelectBoard a list of intersections where the shrubbery needed to be cut back to improve sight lines…in reality to bring sightlines up to state law. Or perhaps it’s a local bylaw. I hope Wellesley residents will keep notifying them of intersections that have poor sightlines…especially when it’s simply shrubbery that’s causing the visual blockage. With all the rain and warm weather due to climate change, shrubbery grows very fast and gets out of hand very quickly.
For over 9 years now, I have emailed the Town to request “Solar operated Flashing RED light STOP Signs on Benvenue” (different than a 4 way stop sign). This is low cost + can ONLY HELP the situation. Yet the town seems to refuse to do this.
It makes no sense as those have proven to be very helpful at many other intersections throughout the state. The town is liable for refusing to deal with this intersection in a prompt manner. I shudder to think what it may cost the town in the event of a serious traffic accident given possible negligence by the Town.
Related suggestion (if, for some reason, it may get less resistance): adding a warning below the Stop signs on Benvenue clarifying that this is two-way stop only and/or “Cross-Traffic Does Not Stop”. I have seen that simply, supplementary signage in many places. To your point, it can only help!