Melrose Wins Grants For Intersection Work, Traffic Calming Pilot

MELROSE, MA — More than $150,000 in state money will soon come to Melrose through a series 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.

Melrose won three awards:

• $77,900 for pedestrian-focused changes at the intersection of West Emerson and Vinton Streets. Work will include relocating curbs, creating a new center island, relocating and restriping crosswalks and adding new curb ramps that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• $50,000 for a sidewalk snowplow for use around Melrose schools.
• $30,943 for traffic calming efforts.

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

Melrose Mayor Paul Brodeur recently thanked the state, calling it a “terrific partner” in the Shared Streets program.

Discussing the West Emerson and Vinton intersection improvements, Brodeur said the state’s award will largely pay for work that is badly needed in the area.

“It’s a tough intersection,” he told Patch. “It’s not a perfect 90-degree each way sort of thing.”

Money marked for the city's traffic calming efforts, meanwhile, will allow Melrose to pilot approaches to address traffic issues, Brodeur said.

Brodeur said the city intends to buy temporary speed bumps and some temporary speed signals among other materials to move forward with pilots.

In addition to its Shared Streets money, Brodeur noted that Melrose has committed roughly $28,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to bring in a consultant to provide technical assistance related to the development of the city's traffic calming program and the planning and design of up to two neighborhood traffic calming pilots.

“This is going to give us some tools,” Brodeur said of the Shared Streets award. “There’s going to be building blocks for some real changes in the way we do business going forward around a universal concern that folks have in the city."

Melrose has already received a notice to proceed with its intersection project, according to Brodeur.

It’s not expecting snowplow money to be released until Oct. 1, however. That could prompt a time crunch as the city looks to get its new plow in service before the winter, Brodeur said.

“It’s the state’s money, they set the rules,” Brodeur said. “But we’re hoping that does not create a supply chain issue.”

The remaining $30,000 for the city's traffic calming pilot will likely come to Melrose in November.