Project could add crosswalk to Kenneth J. Dunn Square

Efforts to rework West Acton’s Kenneth J. Dunn Square could get a boost from a planned gas station and country store at the old E & S Mobile Service property.

Project plans include a crosswalk from the now-shuttered gas station to the memorial park at Commonwealth Avenue and Laws Brook Road. 

That spot lacks crossings, and Town Planner Elizabeth Hughes told the West Acton Advisory Committee that staff are working “to leverage this project with other improvements.”

The existing setup is “very confusing” for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians, Transportation Advisory Committee Chair Mark Gailus told The Acton Bridge. 

West Acton Advisory Committee Chair Anna Feldweg mentioned possibly eliminating a “slip lane” and merging the pocket park (often called simply “Kenny Dunn”) with a park across the street at the Warner’s Pond dam. 

“Everybody knows it’s terrible, and there’s plenty of plans,” she said of the status quo during her interview with The Bridge, “but we just have to get there.” 

Robert Loynd, a retired Marine Corps colonel who grew up in West Acton, said that as they plan, leaders should keep in mind the memory of Dunn, a Massachusetts National Guard sergeant who died in 1942 at Guadalcanal. 

Acton should “ensure that none of these changes marginalize or consume the solemn presence” of the square that bears his name, Loynd wrote in a letter to The Bridge.

“[S]ome places exist not to be optimized,” he said, “but to be honored.” 

Development at the 166 Commonwealth Avenue E & S property is working its way through Acton’s regulatory process.

The town hasn’t settled on a larger plan for Kenneth J. Dunn Square, according to Public Works Director Alan Cathcart, but it’s another point of consideration as officials weigh what happens with other area projects, notably the redevelopment of the MCI-Acton property.

The prison shutdown “underscores the need,” Cathcart said, and any planning should be done “with an appreciation of all of this impact.”