Dangerous Intersection Will Get a Traffic Light

One of the most dangerous intersections in Tewksbury will be getting significantly safer in the coming months.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced that $1.1 million has been allocated to install a traffic light at the intersection of East and Livingston streets.

"I'd say that it's overdue. That intersection can be very dangerous," said David Dumaresq, who operates the East Street Farm Stand, located at the intersection. "I think it will be safer for our customers, trying to get in and out of there."

According to statistics compiled by the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments (NMCOG), there were 21 accidents at the intersection between 2006 and 2008, including seven that resulted in personal injury. That ranks it 85^th among the top 100 dangerous intersections in the region, according to the NMCG.

Tewksbury has eight intersections in the dangerous Top 100, led by the intersection of Shawsheen and Main, which had 85 accidents, including 19 with injury, during that same time period. Shawsheen and Main already has a traffic light.

Deputy Fire Chief Mike Hazel is hopeful that a traffic light will help to make East and Livingston a less frequent destination of local first responders.

"The signal light will be welcome," he said. "You wouldn't think that would be such a dangerous intersection to look at it. But we've had some pretty bad accidents there."

Presently, there is no traffic control device for travelers on East Street as they approach Livingston. Travelers on Livingston have only stop signs to control traffic as they approach East.

According to Sarah Bradbury, transportation program manager for the NMCOG, said the ultimate decision to fund an intersection improvement is made by the State Department of Transportation, along with the Federal Highway Department, following a road safety audit of the site.

Bradbury said funding is generally approved when an intersection has been deemed to be a "high crash location where deficiencies (in the intersection) are causing crashes."

Brian Gilbert, director of the Tewskbury Department of Public Works, said he expects the project to go out to bid in the spring but that could change.

"We could get bumped or it could go sooner," he said. "You never know where you are on the schedule."

Gilbert said the town is only responsible for the engineering and the specs. The design is about 75 percent complete, he said.

The majority of the funds for the project are going to come from Transportation Improvement Program money.