Town of Lexington

Historic Districts Commission

Lynn Hopkins, Chair

Britta McCarthy
Paul Ross
Nancy Shepard
Robert Warshawer

TO:

Tel: (781) 698-4524

Fax: (781) 861-2780

Board of Selectmen, Joe Pato, Chair

Town Manager, Carl Valente
Public Works, Bill Hadley, Director
Engineering, John Livsey, Town Engineer
DPW/Engineering, David Cannon
Historical Commission, David Kelland, Chair

FROM: Historic Districts Commission

DATE: 14 July 2015
RE:

Woburn/Mass Ave Intersection and other proposed Mass Ave changes

To All Concerned Parties,

Massachusetts Avenue is the route Paul Revere traveled when he rode into town in 1776. It is the spine linking the East
Village to the Munroe Tavern neighborhood, on through Town Center to the Battle Green. Massachusetts Avenue is so
important to the history and character of Lexington that it became the primary organizational concept used to define
the Historic Districts. Our foresighted forebears recognized that this route isnt just another main drag through just any
small town, but a road with historic and symbolic significance leading to a site pivotal in our countrys founding. The
Historic Districts Commission was established more than sixty years ago to acknowledge the historic importance of this
road and to protect it as well as the neighborhoods it passes through and the buildings it passes by.
The Historic Districts Commission recognizes that as the Town grows and changes, modifications to the roads, walks,
signs and buildings will be required. The Commission supports the goals of improving safety and accessibility, but these
goals need not nor should not come at the blind expense of compromising the historical and architectural integrity of
our neighborhoods.
Quite a few changes along Massachusetts Avenue are under consideration and posted on the Town website. While
these changes have not yet been formally presented to the HDC for our review, the importance and controversy of the
proposals has prompted us to comment on the progress proposals in hopes that we can more efficiently achieve a
design solution acceptable to most constituents. The HDC encourages all parties to consider changes along Mass Ave
as part of a continuous whole for traffic flow, historical and character-defining reasons. The Commission questions
whether the addition of overhead lights at the locations currently proposed, quadrupling the amount of signalization
along this stretch of roadway, is truly necessary or even helpful. This letter will specifically address the
Woburn/Winthrop
intersection, since it is currently proposed as the first of a to be implemented, and will potentially establish precedent
for subsequent Massachusetts Avenue infrastructure changes.
Option 2 was outlined in the BETA Group proposals presented at the Selectmens meeting June 10, 2015 and modifies
the geometry of the Woburn/Winthrop and Mass Ave intersection without traffic signals.
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420
e-mail: lrainville@lexingtonma.gov

This option comes the closest to the HDCs interpretation of an appropriate balance between improving safety
and protecting an important entry point to our town center. This scheme calms traffic patterns, improves
sight lines and accommodates bicycles and pedestrians.
It seems that all of these things can be accomplished without significantly compromising the character of the
existing neighborhood.
As we have found in our review of projects coming before the HDC for approval, simpler "fixes" are often a
great deal more effective yet less intrusive to the historic resources that we are statutorily required to
safeguard.

Option 3, which includes signalization of the intersection, seems a well-intentioned but excessive design response given
the pedestrian and vehicular traffic data presented in the same report.

In this proposal, pedestrians going into or coming from town, who previously crossed Mass Ave near First
Baptist Church, would be pulled by the traffic signal further away from their destination and into a busy
intersection with turning cars and bicycles coming from multiple directions. Improving the existing
pedestrian crossing, possibly moving the bus stop a block closer towards town, seems a safer solution.
These modifications could easily be incorporated into Option 2.
According to our understanding of support material included in the BETA Group report, adding traffic signals to
the intersection would not necessarily reduce the number of vehicular crashes, either. The intersection at
Waltham Street and Mass Ave is a much less complicated configuration than at Woburn/Winthrop, and the
Waltham intersection already has traffic lights. Yet the crash history for the two intersections is the same.
Given this comparison, it is not clear why the introduction of traffic lights into the more complicated traffic
configuration would improve safety, especially if more pedestrians are drawn into the intersection as
discussed previously. Adding lights to an intersection does not automatically make it safer.
The benefits of traffic lights in this location seem limited at best. But the expense to the character of our town
is significant. Option 2 could improve safety and blend in with the existing fabric of this historic area without
the anachronistic intrusion of overhead traffic lights, and we encourage the development of this strategy.

The Historic Districts Commission suggests that future design proposals should
1. Specifically acknowledge the historic importance of Massachusetts Avenue within their goals and
2. Consider Massachusetts Avenue as a continuous whole.
Massachusetts Avenue is not just any other highway that can be chopped up into little bits under the assumption that
more and more lights and signs will automatically make the roadway safer. More nuanced and carefully considered
solutions should be developed for this and all intersections to protect the continuity and integrity of the road that was
Paul Reveres ride.
Respectfully,
Lynn Hopkins, Chair
Lexington Historic Districts Commission