Time to upgrade century-old Upland Road
This narrow tar and pebble road was never designed for today’s traffic load nor improved in its over 100 years.
Very early in the 20th century, Upland Road bordered agricultural land, most likely dedicated to growing strawberries and asparagus. Then in the 1920s, the land was sold, and a residential neighborhood was born with a tar and pebble road. Supposedly, these were the very first mortgages in Acton, and so the name “Mortgage Hill” was used to describe this area. Bought in August 1980, our residence makes us the family which has lived on Upland Road the longest.
In 1981, Digital was in full swing in Maynard. The count of cars using Upland as a bypass to the traffic lights in West Acton Center was about 300 an hour. I counted them.
Now with the Rail Trail, numerous dog walkers (such as the one who was hit by a driver on June 14; see the August 1 Acton Bridge for details), families with strollers, adults and school children on bicycles, runners, and others populate the sidewalks and streets of Upland Road like never before.
This narrow tar and pebble road was never designed for today’s traffic load nor improved in its over 100 years. Yet the type of vehicles have changed. Just two months ago, a monster truck hauling a trailer carrying a mammoth front-end loader could not make the corner of Pine and Upland and had to back down Pine. This was not the first commercial vehicle to fail to negotiate this corner, just the most recent. Make no mistake, this is first and foremost still a safety issue deserving a high priority with the town.
I suggest limiting the size/weight of commercial traffic on Upland Road and putting in at least three speed bumps.
I ask, how many more pedestrians have to be injured or worse by aggressive driving on Upland Road?
David Schaefer
Upland Road
