Stop Signs on Cross Roads Needed - and Installed - before Intersections with Carriage Lane

One serious safety issue was that very often there was no official stop sign along the crossroad, north of the Carriage Lane, for southbound (SB) drivers. This presented extreme dangers: motor vehicles would head on a non-signalized crossroad south toward Commonwealth Avenue and drive straight through an intersection with the Carriage Lane, with no warning to any non-driver using the Carriage Lane. Furthermore, runners were coming from the west and heading eastbound, and near-collisions between EB runners and SB drivers were not uncommon.

We eventually learned that in Newton, the Traffic Council, a sub-committee of the Public Safety and Transportation Committee, has to approve all requests for stop signs. To the Traffic Council we went.

We began by asking Councilor Emily Norton to docket for stop signs for a few intersections, and were thrilled to have success. With that success in hand, we moved forward, in 2018 enlisting the enthusiastic assistance of Councilor Andreae Downs as a co-docketer. With the 2020 elections, City Councilor Andrea Kelly also co-docketed for these items. We are appreciative to all who played a role in this important essential feature. Below you can see all the intersections where we had success with the addition of a STOP sign for SB drivers on the cross road before the Carriage Road.

We also would like to thank traffic engineers Jason Sobel and Izaac Prizant, from the Transportation Division, for supporting these requests.