Adams Collects Feedback on Howland Avenue Redesign Project
ADAMS, Mass. — The town hopes to overhaul Howland Avenue with an estimated $4.3 million to $6.5 million construction project that would shrink the road to two lanes, create a sidewalk and add a shared-use path for pedestrians and bicycles.
"We're still in the very, very early stages of this design. We are kind of barely scratching the surface with this concept," said Community Development Director Eammon Coughlin at Wednesday's Board of Selectmen meeting, where the board heard a presentation from engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin.
The project would revamp the road from Lime Street to the Adams-North Adams line, and the town hopes construction would begin sometime in 2028. Adams officials held an open house for the project on Wednesday, when Coughlin said Adams and VHB have already started to consider feedback from dozens of residents who showed up to voice concerns.
"We got a lot of really great feedback from folks. And a lot of business owners also came and attended the workshop," he said. "We're definitely going to start, at this point, tweaking the design a little bit and looking at some changes and things we can incorporate into the next iteration and the next round of design," he said.
Amanda Bazinet, project manager at VHB, said safety is the primary concern of the redesign.
"The goal of this project is to improve safety for all users: cars, pedestrians and bicyclists," she said. "There are a lot of trucks along this corridor. We have found that there have been several crashes, and the designed speed is not being met there."
Bazinet said speeding is an issue on this stretch of road, and cars often go over the posted 45 mph speed limit. Between 2016 and 2020, there were 76 accidents, including a fatal crash north of Orcutt Street in 2016.
The condition of the road itself, according to Bazinet, is also a concern the project aims to address by improving the road surface. Additionally, signage along the route will be updated and improved, with rapid-flashing beacons at crosswalks.
"Pavement conditions out there are poor," she said. "There are several potholes. We got lots of comments about that this evening."
Coughlin said there has already been significant pushback from residents on the proposed median to separate the two lanes of traffic.
"We learned that there wasn't a lot of support for the center median and that we need to look at some different options there," he said.
The median would provide a traffic calming measure and green space but would force vehicles exiting from many side streets and driveways to make only righthand turns.
When asked by Selectmen Chairman John Duval about whether the proposed bike lane was necessary, Bazinet said it is.
"If you want to receive state and federal funds, we have to meet state and federal guidelines and requirements, which includes providing bicycle accommodations," she said. "Because of the volumes and speeds of this roadway, a shared-use path is preferable. We don't want to put pedestrians and bicyclists sharing the roadway."
The state implemented the Complete Street program some years ago with the goal of integrating multimodal transportation into future road projects.
Selectman Richard Blanchard said he thinks shrinking the roadway will improve safety.
"Going from four-lane to two-lane, I'm all for that because traffic is way too fast on that road. I'll do 45, and people blow by me like they're doing 70. It's just crazy," he said.
Selectman Joseph Nowak said he was excited so many people attended the meeting and is looking forward to seeing how the project evolves in future iterations.
"I do have some concerns with this, but I want to say upfront that we've used Vanasse Hangen Brustlin in other projects; they're very amenable for people to approach and talk to and put their voices forward, which I can tell has already been done," he said.
Adams received $125,000 in state funding to begin the design process and create a 10 percent plan, which the town expects to be completed and submitted to the state Department of Transportation this summer.
Coughlin said the town plans on doing another feedback meeting this summer. Those looking to provide feedback on the project can reach out to the Office of Community Development for more information.
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