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Date: 9/6/2022
SPRINGFIELD – After conducting a short-term trial of a new traffic pattern this summer, Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Christopher Cignoli said the city is delaying construction on the State Street library crossing project during a Aug. 22 City Council Maintenance and Development Subcommittee.
Background
The State Street crossing area has been considered a pedestrian safety risk over the years. Last November, a library employee and another pedestrian died after being struck by vehicles while crossing State Street in separate incidents.
Cignoli and members of the City Council Maintenance and Development Subcommittee previously discussed the project during a May 3 meeting. The gathering included City Council President Jesse Lederman and several public representatives, including Armory-Quadrangle Civic Association President Betsy Johnson and Vice President Linda O’Connell, Springfield City Library representative Jessica Wemette, Walk Bike Springfield members Liz and Mike Stevens, Springfield City Library Deputy Director Jean Canosa Albano and State Street resident Carol Costa.
During that meeting, Cignoli shared that his department settled on a plan that would create a refuge island in the middle of the street. Over the summer, the city trialed this concept with a short-term traffic patten installed on June 1. Cignoli stressed the importance of executing a trial period where the city can elicit speed studies of the setup.
“When we start to look at the area and actually finish the formal design, we need to know what we need to tweak for traffic. The sidewalks there do not allow for a crosswalk to be put in temporarily,” said Cignoli.
State Street delay
Cignoli reconvened with the subcommittee after the summer trial period. In his update, he shared the temporary setup would be in place until Sept. 9 so that the city can collect more information on school-time traffic.
“We’re staying until Sept. 9 because what we want to do is make sure we get enough data during school. Traffic was very low when we started it in June, so we wanted to make sure that we get that information for traffic when school starts up … I think that will give us some better data,” said Cignoli.
So far, Cignoli shared that the current data doesn’t point to any “major issues” with the setup. He anticipates the city placing speed boards on the street after Sept. 9 to collect more data. The inclusion of speed boards will serve as the start of a new process.
“Step number one is finding some money, but we already know a couple places where we’re going to get it, initiate the design and move forward with the construction. Our whole goal initially was to be able to do construction this fall. That’s probably not going to happen, it will probably be scheduled for early next spring,” said Cignoli.
When asked about the delay, Cignoli stressed the importance of collecting accurate data of peak traffic after the temporary set-up recorded “very low” activity.
“Traffic up and down the corridor, the numbers were way down. Now that traffic is back, I want numbers for that period of time to make sure that any of the merge lanes or any of that stuff that’s part of the design; I have accurate data for,” said Cignoli.
Cignoli shared that new data could potentially impact the project’s length, merge lengths and nearby traffic signals.
Lederman expressed concern with the delay after the project did not meet its fall goal date.
“I am concerned with the delay. The community has been waiting many years for this,” said Lederman.
Members of the community were also present for the meeting. O’Connell noted questions with communication about project updates, while others shared similar concerns with Lederman about the project’s delay.
Moving forward, Cignoli expressed confidence in the city’s current design. He expects the additional information to inform and refine the DPW’s permeant implementation of a new safety set-up.
“When you don’t have those numbers, you don’t see traffic backing up the way that it might … We don’t want to design it one way and find out it doesn’t work,” said Cignoli.