WILMINGTON, MA — At the Board of Selectmen Meeting on Monday night, Assistant Town Manager Kendra Amaral provided the Board of Selectmen with an update on the intersection improvements at Glen Road, Middlesex Avenue and Wildwood Street.
Earlier this month, the town’s Department of Public Works met with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Green International Affiliates (the project’s engineers) to discuss additional safety and traffic fixes to the recently updated intersection.
According to a memo to the Selectmen, three improvements came out of this meeting:
#1) Striping along the eastbound lane of Middlesex Avenue, in front of Nichols Funeral Home, will be added to clarify that the space is NOT intended as a travel lane to turn right on to Wildwood Street.
#2) Timing adjustments have been and continue to be made to signals at Glen Road, Middlesex Avenue and Wildwood Street to reduce the backups that have been experienced on all 3 roads. Additional adjustments are being recommended by Green International. Their traffic engineer is recommending that the time to permit traffic traveling north/east on Middlesex Avenue either seeking to make a left turn on Glen Road or seeking to continue straight through the intersection be shortened. It has been observed that currently there are instances in which the green signal remains for a period of time after the north/east bound traffic has cleared the intersection. Shortening the timing in that direction would permit traffic traveling south/west on Middlesex Avenue either seeking to take a right on Glen Road or seeking to continue straight through the intersection to have more time to clear the intersection and may reduce the queuing backup on Middlesex Avenue that is impacting the intersection at Federal Street.
#3) The Glen Road intersection lights will likely begin coordinating with the Federal Street intersection lights. Green International is also recommending coordination of the signal sequencing between the Glen Road signals and the Federal Street signals. This coordination would reduce some of the backup that is occurring on Middlesex Avenue traveling north/east between Federal Street and Glen Road. Due to the age and design of the traffic signals, the signal sequencing is on a set timer and does not change its timing based on traffic demand. The recommendation is to make adjustments to the controller unit at the Federal Street intersection to coordinate with the intersection signals at Glen Road. Since the Federal Street signals are not state-owned, the state may not be willing to incur the cost for adjustments to those signals. The town is currently awaiting a response from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to the proposed recommendations.
The Town Manager expects these additional adjustments may take four to six weeks to go into effect.
While understanding residents’ frustrations, Selectman Mike Champoux urged Wilmington drivers to remain patient as the process plays itself out and the traffic signal timings are fine tuned. He also stressed that the intersection project was never meant to speed traffic up in the area, but rather to increase safety. Champoux noted he no longer feels like he’s “taking his life into his own hands” when turning left at the intersections.
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