LYNNFIELD — The town has a $344,400 plan to make local streets safer from a traffic perspective and Police Chief David Breen said the Complete Streets project includes removing two problem trees opposite the Summer Street School.
One of the trees tilts out over Summer Street near the school crosswalk, obstructing the view for oncoming drivers and pedestrians crossing the busy street.
The other tree, located a short distance from the crosswalk, also obstructs driver views of the sidewalk and both trees cast shadows at different times of day, obscuring driver views of pedestrians preparing to cross Summer.
“It really blocks the view of oncoming vehicles,” said Breen. “The two trees combined with the shadows make it difficult to cross.”
He submitted a request to the Public Works Department to remove the trees.
Approved by the Board of Selectmen in 2018, Complete Streets is part of a statewide effort to make getting around in communities safer for drivers, walkers and bicyclists.
The town’s Complete Street spending focus is on sidewalks and roads around both elementary schools and the middle school.
Proposed work includes installing radar feedback signs so drivers can gauge their travel speed against the posted speed limit and replacing existing school zone signs.
Similar traffic safety upgrades are proposed for streets by Huckleberry Hill School and the middle school along with a proposed raised crosswalk to be constructed on Main Street as a mid-block crossing to the middle school.
A major Complete Streets proposal focuses on Chestnut and Main streets, site of a pedestrian fatality. Improvement proposals include “tightening” the intersection through reconstruction to shorten the pedestrian crossing distance enlarging the intersection median island.
Pedestrian street lighting and “detectable warning surfaces” are also planned for installation at Chestnut and Main under the Complete Streets proposal.
According to the town website: “The Complete Streets program would enable the Town to leverage State funding for roadway and sidewalk enhancements that would improve traffic flow and safety for all types of vehicles and pedestrians.”
Breen said the Summer Street trees’ roots are buckling the sidewalk and posing a pedestrian hazard. Police Department traffic enforcement includes Summer Street where police cited two drivers last week for traffic violations and issued verbal warnings to others — many of them Lynnfield residents familiar with the school and the crosswalk.
