What is the Future of Canton if we don’t effectively mitigate the impacts of Westwood Station on our local and regional roadways?
• According to the Westwood Station traffic study, when Westwood Station is completely built, I-95 will be in gridlock, with more traffic during peak hours than the Southeast Expressway!
• The per lane traffic volumes on I-95 southbound in the weekday afternoon peak hour with the full build out of Westwood Station will be 17% higher than the existing per lane peak hour traffic volumes on the Southeast Expressway!
• There is no additional capacity proposed by Westwood Station to handle the increase in traffic on I-95 Southbound, causing the roadway to operate well in excess of capacity.
• The resulting congestion on the regional roadway system will spill back onto Dedham Street and other Canton roadways in yet to be measured ways.
• This congestion will also potentially negate the benefits from the I-93/I-95 Interchange Improvements (planned for 2016) as well as the Route 128 add-a-lane project.
• Westwood Station will generate 30-35% additional volume or more than 2,100 vehicles on Dedham Street in Canton adding to an existing traffic problem.
• The state has invested significant public funds in the Route 128 'Add-a-Lane' project. But Westwood Station traffic ALONE will likely render the substantial public investment of highways funds largely without long-term benefit.
• Massachusetts Highway Department is in the process of completing a traffic analysis to evaluate the regional impacts of this project, but has based their conclusions on the data provided by Westwood Station! See the presentation here. The Town of Westwood peer traffic consultant and Massachusetts Highway Department have used the Westwood Station traffic assumptions in their analysis. These numbers have not been separately evaluated for flawed data!
• Smart growth is about development that enhances quality of life, offers housing choices, and improves municipal finances by taking into consideration location, design and long-term costs. A project that will put a significant and catastrophic strain on local and regional roadways is simply not smart.
• This so-called “Smart Growth” development is too large for the site and fails to consider the long term costs to the region, offering no multi-community benefit as required in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sustainable Design Principals.
• According to the Westwood Station traffic study, in the 2016 full-build scenario, the Dedham Street on-ramp will handle 1,316 vehicles in the afternoon peak hour and I-95 southbound would carry 5,542 vehicles just prior to the on-ramp resulting in a total of 6,858 vehicles on I-95 southbound in the afternoon peak hour to the south of the Dedham Street on ramp. As Route I-95 is 3 lanes at that point, there would be 2,286 vehicles per lane. For comparison, in 2006 the northbound Expressway carried a total of 7,847 vehicles at Savin Hill in the morning peak hour, where it is a 4-lane roadway, for a total of 1,962 vehicles per lane.