Town Administrator, Kristine Trierweiler shared her Summer 2024 TOWN ADMINISTRATOR UPDATE with Select Board at our meeting on Tuesday, and I especially wanted to share the part below in blue font which is a follow up about the planned improvements to the West Street and RTE 27 intersection. At the Select Board meeting, Kris shared that in her meeting with MASSDOT that the state said that if Medfield builds the roundabout, as the state wants, that the state would find the town all of the monies to construct the roundabout. Whereas if we opt to install a traffic light, we will have to pay the entire $1.9m. cost on out own dime, as we will lose the $1.3m. Federal earmark.
To be clear, this Select Board member preferred the roundabout from the outset. It was the other two Select Board members who said they preferred the traffic light and who asked to have Kris pursue the traffic light option with the state.
The town now has the roundabout, which the MASSDOT traffic engineers say is the safest alternative, available to the town at no cost, versus a less safe traffic light option that will cost the town $1.9m. – should be an easy choice. If the town builds the traffic lights, your family’s share would be $4-5,000.
West Street and Route 27 Project Update
Maurice Goulet, Director of Public Works and I met with Beta Engineering and the MADOT engineering team to discuss the two different paths forward for the project as requested by the Select Board. For the first path, MADOT has confirmed that if we would like to utilize the 1.3 million dollar earmark we would have to continue with the MADOT process and that would include the consideration of a roundabout for this location. The total cost of that project is $1.9, however, MADOT indicated they would assist the Town in securing the remaining funding. MADOT believes that this location would benefit from a roundabout design. The next step if the Select Board elects this option is to go to the 25% design threshold.
Medfield02052's Blog 
Did you mean that the traffic light would cost “our family” $4-500, not $4-5,000? At $5,000, that would imply the $1.9 million cost would only be split by 380 families. Seems low.
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Yes Tyler Brawner, thank you for noticing. My end of day Saturday math was off by a decimal point, and $4-500 per family is the correct amount. And I even taught math to 5th and 6th graders as my first job out of college.
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Yes Tyler Brawner, thank you for correcting my fuzzy math. $4-500/family. Shame on me, and I was even a math teacher my first year out of college. I was assuming maybe 4500 residences in town. When my 9th grade math teacher, Mr. Burke at BB&N made errors at the board and we pointed them out to him he would tell us “I was just checking to see if you were paying attention.” He was clearly fibbing, but now I know how Mr. Burke felt!
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Are the yellow dotted lines crosswalks for pedestrians, I hope? Are there any walkways being considered for along 27/North Meadow?
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Jeanette Ruyle,
Thanks for your input – please know that it is both greatly appreciated and highly valued. Not my plan so I am not sure what the different things represent. The town does have a sidewalk priority list, and I looked for it both in my files and on the town website, but did not find it. The Land Use Director Maria De LaFuentes could get it to you if you ask her. The highest priority sidewalks I recall from memory are along RTE 109 to Shaws and along Dale Street across from the Vine Lake Cemetery to fill in a missing block. The priorities were crafted to connect neighborhoods to the schools and downtown.
Pete
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For over 50 years, all over Europe, modern roundabouts have been installed, and they have been proved to reduce traffic delays and to be safer and less expensive to build and maintain, compared to traditional intersections with traffic lights. Roundabouts are now being adopted across the United States as well.
But the Medfield select board seems determined to reject MassDOT’s recommendation and offer of a FREE roundabout, and instead spend almost $2 million of our tax money to rebuild the Route 27-West Street intersection with more traffic-clogging lights.
Commuters will have plenty of time sitting in Medfield’s “rush” hour traffic to research this question – and they can see that there’s a strong consensus among traffic experts everywhere that, while not perfect, roundabouts are safer and reduce delays. Here are links to 12 such reports; there are plenty more to be found by Googling.
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT): https://www.mass.gov/info-details/what-are-roundabouts
Insurance Institute of Highway Safety: https://www.iihs.org/topics/roundabouts
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout
U.S. DOT Federal Highway Administration: https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/autumn-1995/roundabouts-direct-way-safer-highways
World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/12/roundabouts-save-more-lives-than-traffic-lights/
Pennsylvania DOT: https://www.penndot.pa.gov/PennDOTWay/pages/Article.aspx?post=24
Indiana DOT: https://www.in.gov/indot/traffic-operations/roundabouts/
Illinois DOT: https://idot.illinois.gov/transportation-system/transportation-safety/roadway-safety/engineering/intersections/idot-roundabouts/consider-roundabouts.html
Florida DOT: https://www.fdot.gov/agencyresources/roundabouts/benefits.shtm
Ohio DOT: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/basics/roundabouts
Goldstein & Goldstein LLP: https://goldsteinlaw.com/blog/2023/02/are-roundabouts-safer-than-traffic-lights/
Wisconsin DOT: https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/safety/safety-eng/roundabouts/faq.aspx
A modest proposal: accept the MassDOT offer of a free roundabout, try it for a year (there will be a period of adjustment for motorists), and if it doesn’t work out, then spend the Medfield taxpayers’ $2 million to bring back the lights.
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A video of Sherborn’s new roundabout. I hope the Medfield plans also have traffic control devices for pedestrians, not just painted crosswalks that weather away after a couple of years. https://www.facebook.com/100002717885513/videos/533430809244519/
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About 10 years ago, the town of Norfolk installed two roundabouts in the center.
On August 27, 2024, I called Blair Crane, Norfolk’s DPW head and said, “The Medfield Select Board is considering a roundabout at the intersection of Routes 27 and West Street. What has been Norfolk’s experience?”
“The roundabouts have been great for safety,” Crane said. “It forces people to slow down and to pay attention to their driving, as opposed to signal lights, where people tend to go faster and drive on autopilot. You just have to remember to look to your left.
“There have been no serious accidents – just a few minor fender-benders. We’ve had no issues with pedestrians.”
He also noted that the roundabout is more efficient in getting people through the intersection without undue delay.
“I can’t think of a better way to handle traffic, and that’s why roundabouts are becoming standard throughout the commonwealth,” Crane concluded.
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I am writing in strong support of the state-funded proposed roundabout at West Street and Rte 27. I would like to thank Pete Peterson for supporting it. I have encountered that intersection several times with a red light while no other cars are on the road. In addition, there is an abundance of data that shows that roundabouts are safe.
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