Williamstown Switches Walden Street to Two-Way Traffic
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Google Earth shows Walden, bottom, running east-west between Hoxsey and Spring. Williams College recently completed a construction drive that connects Stetson Court, far left, to Hoxsey through the Health Center
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen on Monday approved a project to clear up town-owned hiking trails and cleared the way for restoration of two-way traffic on a downtown street.
The street in question is Walden Street, which runs to the west of Spring Street. The town has discussed a change from the current one-way traffic pattern for months as part of a broader traffic change that may eventually include extending the road through to South Street.
The two-way traffic switch could go into effect as soon as this week, Town Manager Jason Hoch told the board. On Monday, the board unanimously voted to make three changes to the town code that were needed to convert Walden Street from a one-way street.
In anticipation of two-way traffic flow on Walden, Williams College this spring opened up a construction driveway around the college's health center, connecting Stetson Court to Hoxsey Street at its intersection with Walden. That connection will allow construction vehicles to use Stetson Court to access the site of the college's new science center, which broke ground this spring.
In off-road news, Robert Hatton of the town's Conservation Commission attended Monday's meeting to ask the board's permission to recruit a volunteer crew to help maintain a number of town-owned trails.
"There are a lot of town-owned properties, and the Selectmen manage a lot of them," Hatton told the panel.
He showed the BOS a list of town-owned parcels with eight areas that the board has jurisdiction over.
"The other ones, I didn't mention, the Conservation Commission is in charge of," Hatton explained. "When I ask for volunteers … I want them to be able to work on the trails that they're interested in, so I'm coming to the Selectmen to get permission to work on the lots the Selectmen manage."
Hatton explained that he is looking for help with the work he currently does on a volunteer basis: clearing fallen trees, clipping plant life and erosion control.
"I don't think I'd teach them to do any extensive maintenance," he said.
The board unanimously approved Hatton's request with thanks for the work he currently does. Selectman Hugh Daley recommended he reach out to Mount Greylock Regional School to see if its students could get involved as part of their public service work; Selectman Jeffrey Thomas similarly suggested he approach the Buxton School with the same request.
In other business on Monday, Hoch informed the board that as a result of recommendations from a recently completed study of the town's paper records storage system, he is contemplating closing Town Hall on Wednesday, Aug. 17, to allow staff to focus on purging and decluttering for the day.
A report he ordered from Norwood-based King Information Systems found that the town has about 7 tons of paper that can be removed from Town Hall, including records that are either completely extraneous or records that can be transferred to microfilm as allowed by state law.
Tags: one-way, streets, traffic, Williams College,
