Another Acton bridge? MassDOT weighs options for rotary
“Do we want Route 2 to look like a highway, or do we want it to look like something else?”
They haven’t made a decision yet, but state leaders say they’d prefer a bridge in place of the much-maligned Route 2 rotary.
Three possible rotary replacements that use bridges “consistently perform the best” at managing traffic compared with a concept with no bridge and extra traffic lights, Massachusetts Department of Transportation staffer Anthony Christakis said Monday.
State officials want to ease congestion and are considering spending up to $200 million to replace the rotary, where Route 2 meets Commonwealth Avenue, Elm Street, and Barretts Mill Road.
Such a project “is like performing open heart surgery” on Acton, Christakis acknowledged during a meeting of state and local officials at the 1780 House in Acton Center, and the state will gather public feedback this summer.
“If we get chased out with pitchforks and torches” by people opposing a bridge, Christakis said, he’ll tell his bosses, “We’ve got a problem.”
Interim state Secretary of Transportation Phil Eng was in attendance and described the meeting as the “beginning of a journey.”
For now the consensus among state transportation officials leans toward a bridge that would make Route 2 “free flowing” as it crosses into town.
“I understand that there’s always going to be naysayers in the town of Acton about doing the right thing on this,” state Rep. Simon Cataldo said, “but the data is what the data is.”
‘Not a good state of mind’
Then-Select Board Chair Mark Howell framed the issue earlier this year as the state leaned toward a bridge design.
“Do we want Route 2 to look like a highway, or do we want it to look like something else?” he asked colleagues. “That’s the basic choice.”
A design with a bridge at the intersection of Route 2 and Commonwealth Avenue would let cars travel faster through that section of Route 2, somewhat akin to the thoroughfare’s juncture with Route 2A near the Acton-Lincoln line.
Alternatively, a signalized setup could make the area more closely resemble Route 2’s intersections with Baker Avenue, Main Street, and Walden Street.
Cataldo rallied officials first for a huddle at the rotary and later for a meeting in the 1780 House.
The rotary “has served its useful life,” said Christakis, a MassDOT supervising project manager.
It’s a common crash spot, and morning commute traffic stretched further than the eye could see as officials met in the former MCI-Acton parking lot.
At present, drivers headed west “get so crazed going through the rotary” that, by the time they get to the intersection with Taylor Road roughly 2.25 miles up Route 2, “they’re in not a good state of mind,” he said.
State leaders have circulated four options for a replacement:
- A “diamond interchange” would send Route 2 over Commonwealth Avenue with on- and off-ramps that give drivers on both roads various other options to get to their destination.
- A “partial cloverleaf” would route Commonwealth Avenue traffic over a bridge on its way toward Elm Street.
- A “diverging diamond” interchange would again route Commonwealth Avenue over Route 2 with a web of intersecting lanes.
- An at-grade intersection is the only option without a bridge. Route 2’s east and westbound lanes would split, and Commonwealth Avenue drivers would navigate two intersections to fully cross the road.
Town Public Works Director Alan Cathcart had pushed MassDOT to explain why it soured on the at-grade option.
Officials arrived Monday armed with traffic estimates, including one showing travel times actually increasing for people trying to get from an area near Keefe Road in Acton to a spot on Route 2’s eastbound side.
The bridge scenarios are projected to cut travel times by more than 40%.
“The numbers don’t lie,” Cataldo told The Acton Bridge after the meeting ended.
‘Things have changed’
Concordians have worried about “cut-through” traffic from Route 2 — commuters seeking shortcuts via local roads.
Undersecretary of Transportation Jonathan Gulliver said officials want to keep as many vehicles on the highway as possible.
A rotary replacement would also have regional effects for people currently facing daily traffic jams, state officials said.
Acton has historically “stood in the way of any redesigns,” Select Board member Mary Hartman said this spring. With the MCI-Acton prison closure, she said, “things have changed.”
Rotary replacement discussions are happening in step with a prison reuse master planning process at the neighboring property.
MassDOT officials plan to bring their concepts up for public comment this summer. They hope to choose a design this fall and, if all goes to plan, could start the process of hiring contractors in early 2031.
Christakis said his goal is to “sell” the project in the months ahead.
“It’s not going to be a top-down approach,” he said, but “at some point, we do need to end the debate.”
This breaking story has been updated.
