Letter: Don’t allow Route 30 project to change Weston

It is amazing to me how anyone who lives in Weston can see any value to our community, with the proposed changes to Route 30. How do these changes benefit our town in any manner? This proposed plan will change a beautiful and typical small town, two-lane road, shaded with beautiful canopied tree-lined roadsides and turn it into a smaller, sun scorched version of the Massachusetts Turnpike. The Mass. Pike, as we know, runs parallel to and in close proximity to Route 30 for the entire length of the project. This plan, if approved, would then sandwich those Route 30 residents living on the southerly side of Rt.30 between the Pike and the “new” Route 30, and also have a serious negative effect on the northerly side of Route 30 as well.

Who benefits from a sidewalk or the newly proposed,10-foot wide, multi-use pathway, as part of this package? Do we really need to provide a pathway from Newton to Wayland? Where is the demand from Weston residents for greater pedestrian use, bicycles, skateboards, electric scooters, etc.? Are we willing to vote to take land away from our neighbors to accommodate this proposal? We already have the state changing our town significantly (in the near future) with the new MBTA, multi-family law. Factor in the major housing development on Route 20, and the current legal ruling on the so-called “Whopper” on Rt. 30, and this town’s character will change dramatically.

I’ve lived in Weston for 58 years and served the town for 11 years as a selectman. I can honestly say that this proposal would have been dead on arrival during my time on the Select Board. Please don’t allow state bureaucrats to further take away the beautiful small town character of our community. They have done enough damage to us already.

Dick Murray, Conant Road