Malden Wins $125K For School Zone, Speeding Signs

MALDEN, MA — More than $125,000 in state money will soon come to Malden through a pair of Shared Streets and Spaces Program awards.

The state Department of Transportation announced the awards last week as part of a larger package of $16.4 million distributed to 145 municipalities and regional transit authorities across Massachusetts.

Malden won two awards:

• $84,799 to install two new flashing school-zone signs at the city’s Beebe School and five new flashing school-zone signs at the Ferryway School.
• $42,050 for speed feedback/messaging signs.

The Safe Streets initiative aims to make streets and sidewalks safer and more welcoming to pedestrians, cyclists and public-transit riders, among other things.

Speed feedback signs like the ones funded in Malden were a new option on the table in this funding round as the state added an opportunity for municipalities to apply for money for equipment to support “active transportation.”

Contacted on Friday, Malden Mayor Gary Christenson told Patch that the speed feedback signs will “help the city with important communication to its residents and will also collect speeds of vehicles.”

The signs, Christenson said, will identify where speeding is taking place within Malden.

The school zone signs, Christenson continued, will replace existing but antiquated equipment at both the Beebe and Ferryway schools.

“They will alert drivers of the presence of school children and encourage lower speeds,” Christenson said.