PEABODY — Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is holding its first public workshop on its Route 114 safety project on Tuesday, Dec. 13 from 6-8 p.m. at the Torigian Senior Center, 75R Central St. in Peabody.
The project is in response to numerous accidents resulting in deaths or serious injury on Route 114 over the years. In late 2021, several family members of victims appeared before the City Council to share their stories and ask that safety measures to prevent similar accidents in the future be implemented.
“As a direct result of the December 2021 meeting with the Peabody City Council, Peabody residents and officials from MassDOT, efforts have been underway this past year to identify and implement safety measures along Route 114,” said Rep. Thomas Walsh (D-Peabody). “It is a work in progress and MassDOT expects to communicate with neighbors and businesses affected by changes to the road.
“MassDOT is actively considering the various feedback offered by Peabody residents and motorists alike. I expect that the dialogue will continue and that neighborhood concerns about the safety project will be part of the final project.”
MassDOT, in collaboration with the City of Peabody, the Town of Danvers, Walsh, Rep. Sally Kerans (D-Danvers) and Sen. Joan B. Lovely (D-Salem) recently conducted a Road Safety Audit (RSA) of a section of Route 114 from Sylvan Street in Peabody to Leblanc Drive at the Peabody/Danvers town line, a section referred to by MassDOT as the Western Corridor. MassDOT says the purpose of the RSA is “to identify contributing factors to safety issues along a road and at intersections to identify possible opportunities for safety improvements for all roadway users.”
Lovely said she encourages members of the public to attend the meeting and learn more about the project.
“I am proud to continue working alongside Representatives Tom Walsh and Sally Kerans, MassDOT, and Peabody and Danvers officials to remedy safety issues along the Route 114 corridor,” said Lovely. “The public workshop being held on Dec. 13 is an opportunity for residents to not only provide input but also directly interact with the Route 114 Project Team and ask any questions they might have. Moreover, as this project came about largely due to the advocacy of constituents and will have an impact on their daily lives, we want to continue to listen to and elevate their voices as we move forward.
The workshop will be an interactive in-person workshop geared toward providing feedback on Tier 1 (completed this past fall) and discussing what the public would like to see in Tier 2, which is scheduled to begin next spring. Residents and stakeholders will have the opportunity to discuss safety issues and opportunities for Route 114 with the MassDOT project team utilizing maps and small breakout groups to facilitate discussion.
MassDOT said “there will be various easels with information on display boards, as well as stations with blank maps that you can mark up with your ideas for the next round of safety improvements.” MassDOT will use the information obtained at similar workshops to be held over the winter to implement additional safety measures in the spring.
According to information posted on the project’s website, https://www.mass.gov/route-114-danverspeabody-safety-improvements-project, MassDOT has already implemented Tier 1 improvements including new signage and the removal of the right lanes on both sides of the road in front of the Northshore Mall.
In a MassDOT statement, the agency said it “understand(s) the concerns that have been communicated to us about the pilot lane removal on Route 114 near the Northshore Mall in Peabody. MassDOT is reviewing travel-time data using various methods of monitoring and will provide updates on this evaluation in the meeting.”
MassDOT said that 44 percent of crashes that occurred between 2019 and 2021 on the affected area of Route 114 were angled crashes between vehicles traveling on Route 114 and other vehicles entering or exiting businesses or side streets.
“With traffic volumes, speed of travel, number of lanes and proximity of driveways/side streets, entering and exiting the corridor presents safety hazards for drivers,” MassDOT states on the project website, adding that five-plus travel lanes with narrow or non-existent shoulders “contribute to speeding and weaving.”
MassDOT said that, during that same period, 19 crashes occurred involving a vehicle traveling in the two-way, left-turn lane in the middle of the roadway.
“Drivers have been observed to enter the turn lane much earlier than needed to make their turn, using it instead as a third travel lane in order to avoid traffic in the travel lanes. This can lend itself to dangerous head-on collisions,” MassDOT states, adding that, in addition, the flashing yellow-turn signals “provide unsafe conditions for left-turning vehicles as a driver must find an appropriate gap between multiple lanes of fast-moving traffic.”
A lack of pedestrian and bicycle access and lack of crossing opportunities also contributes to unsafe conditions. Traffic data indicates that there are pedestrians crossing the road at intersections that do not have crosswalks. In addition, the “pavement markings for pedestrian crossings that do exist are generally faded or do not provide pedestrian signalization.”
The RSA also found safety issues at the Route 1 and i-95 interchanges but those issues are not the subject of the safety improvement project as they “have requirements that push it out of a quick-build implementation process.”
For more information about the project, go to https://www.mass.gov/info-details/about-the-route-114-danverspeabody-safety-improvements-project.
The meeting will not have a hybrid or virtual option; however, comments can be submitted via email to [email protected] or through a project survey on the project website above.
