Letter: No traffic impact from NOVO Riverside Commons?

It is perpetually amazing to this West Acton resident how developers get traffic consultants to conduct traffic studies that claim “no impact” on local traffic from their new developments. Unless I am missing something, NOVO Riverside Commons on Baker Avenue, which will have 200+ new housing units, will probably bring into West Acton traffic at least 300 additional automobiles. While some cars will exit to Route 2, others will inevitably exit onto Main Street in West Acton. The NOVO traffic consultant claims that there will be no impact on traffic because the new residents may walk to the train station or to jobs with local businesses. This is a patently ridiculous and dishonest claim! There is no way that adding some 200 new housing units to the Baker Avenue complex will not impact traffic. It is very positive that the development will bring needed affordable housing to Acton and that the design for the buildings includes definite sustainability features. I don’t think, however, that crowding this big development into an already highly developed medical and commercial complex off of Baker Avenue can be justified. 
 
Bob Andrews 
Staffordshire Lane