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Date: 1/2/2024
NORTHAMPTON — During their meeting on Dec. 21, the Northampton City Council voted to accept a $200,000 gift from Smith College to help fund the design and construction of roadway safety improvements around Northampton High School and the Smith College athletic fields.
According to the order presented to the council, the gift will specifically support the design, initial construction costs and construction administration for roadway improvements along Route 9 and Route 66 from the area around Northampton High School to the Smith College athletic fields on Route 66.
“We are addressing the urgent need for enhanced safety near Smith College, along both the Elm Street Route 9 corridors, past Northampton High School and West Street to Lower College Lane,” said Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra and Smith College President Sarah Willie-LeBreton.
Read by Sciarra during the council meeting, the statement noted how Smith College is advancing the installation of speed feedback monitoring signs to help increase awareness and safety. The city, meanwhile, is planning to enhance police patrol and speed monitoring around those areas while examining different ways to improve visibility and crosswalk safety in the area.
The latter improvements may include removing some parking spaces or using other short-term interventions.
“Our collaboration reflects a deep commitment to take decisive, well-informed action for the safety of our community,” read the statement. “We are dedicated to implementing these necessary measures swiftly and effectively, ensuring a safer environment for pedestrians and all who travel our streets.”
Background
The acceptance of this gift comes after months of safety studies by the city.
In January, Northampton commissioned a traffic study to evaluate and recommend safety improvements to the road network around the Northampton High School area, including the installation of two traffic signals on the Route 9 corridor.
The city received a gift of $66,800 from Smith College back in March to help fund a corridor safety study focused on pedestrian improvements from the intersection of Paradise Road and Route 9 to the Smith College athletic fields on Route 66.
In November, the city funded an additional traffic study for Main Street, Locust Street and other roadways along Route 9 in Florence and Northampton. That study aims to gather and analyze traffic data and develop alternatives that increases safety for all users in the area.
The gift also comes after two recent accidents in the area. The first came on Dec. 14, when a Smith student was hit by a car while using the crosswalk between West and Green streets. The student was taken to Baystate Medical Center and is now stable, while the driver was charged with negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
A second crash occurred on Dec. 17, when a 22-year-old woman was struck by a vehicle near the Elm Street and Henshaw Avenue crosswalk. The person hit suffered minor injuries and the driver was cited for failure to stop
DPW comments
During the council meeting, DPW Director Donna LaScaleia said the city wants to address four particular areas to mitigate these safety issues.
“We want to make sure that we’re making good data driven decisions in order to install things that are going to be most effective,” said LaScaleia. “With that said, we are looking to expedite a process to make good solid decisions at the most critical areas and move that along quickly and then to potentially circle back and do more work at a later date.”
She said Fuss & O’Neill is working to raise the entire intersection near the main college entrance on Route 9 to slow drivers down, which would provide a similar set-up to the train station entrance on Pleasant Street.
LaScaleia added that the city will also look to add some safety measurements in the areas of Arnold Avenue, West Street and Green Street, like adding rapid rectangular beacons or shrinking the intersections by using cones.
The goal is to start design work immediately with the hope of beginning construction for these improvements in early spring.
“That’s kind of an overview of what we’re planning immediately,” LaScaleia said. “Then, we can kind of take a look at the larger corridor and think about what else we could add in on top of that.”
City Councilor Karen Foster, who serves on the city’s Transportation and Parking Commission, expressed gratitude for Smith’s contributions to the safety improvements. She also thanked LaScaleia for her work on this.
“I just wanted to express my gratitude to [LaScaleia] for all of your hard work on behalf of the city,” Foster said.