Letter: Arguments against Route 30 project

Leslye and I have lived in Weston since 1989 and since 2003 we have lived at the corner of Wellesley Street and Route 30.

It’s not a road project anymore. Route 30 was fully repaved in 2023 and is good for another 20 years according to Town’s consultant. Why are we building a $20 million, 3.7-mile bicycle path?

Town Meeting never approved this project. Voters okayed a $6 to $7 million road repair in 2018. A committee quietly swapped in a 3.7-mile bike path in 2019 – no vote. No one uses this bike path today.

Route 30 project makes traffic much worse. The travel lanes narrow/shrink to 11 feet, shoulders to 3 feet, and slip lanes disappear. See our future – drive Route 30 east to Newton Marriott. Their project removed a lane, narrowed the remaining lanes, raised the sidewalks, installed islands in the middle of the road, and the congestion/confusion today is 100% worse than ever.

Route 20 and Route 30 are major commuter thruways – taking 20 to 30 minutes to travel from Natick to Route 95 and similar times to get from Dairy Joy to the high school. Traffic congestion is forecast to double in the next five to 10 years.

Let’s make it worse – Add the Route 20 project. MassDOT is weighing new signals at Route 20/Highland Street, which is a Massachusetts’s top 5%-crash intersection carrying 25,000 cars a day. Weston’s own Traffic Committee chair said – Route 20 project will push commuters onto alternate routes and side streets including Route 30.

Two big developments aren’t even in the model. The 200-unit “Weston Whopper” at 518 South Avenue and a 62-acre Regis College parcel on Wellesley Street will add hundreds more daily trips — NOT reflected in this design.

This project has to be terminated.

Andrew and Leslye Fligor, Wellesley Street