Weston Panel Votes to Advance Route 117 Safety Redesign to Final Design

WESTON -- July 23, 2024, Weston's Traffic and Sidewalk Committee unanimously endorsed a conceptual redesign of the dangerous Route 117 intersection at Miriam and Lincoln streets, voting 5-0 to advance the plan to final design. Traffic engineer Emma Intiato of Howard Stein Hudson presented data showing the 2020 striping improvements had already cut 85th percentile speeds by 11 to 13 miles per hour on all four approaches, but the new long-term concept goes further, adding permanent curbing, truck aprons, compliant pedestrian crossings, a solar-powered rectangular rapid flashing beacon, and sidewalk connections east toward Old North Avenue and optionally west to Round Hill Road. Nearby property owners Bill and Pat Simmons, who have lived at the corner since 1976, called the plan "a dream come true" during public comment. Committee Chair Jay Doyle said funding, potentially through state transportation dollars or a future Town Meeting warrant, remains to be worked out with the Department of Public Works.