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No adverse impacts observed from traffic pattern changes on State Street

Barrels are being used to narrow State Street to one lane in both directions as traffic approaches the Central Library. This is being used to observe the impact of making permanent safety improvements to the area where pedestrians have been killed while attempting to cross the street in the middle of the block.
Paul Tuthill
/
WAMC
Barrels are being used to narrow State Street to one lane in both directions as traffic approaches the Central Library. This is being used to observe the impact of making permanent safety improvements to the area where pedestrians have been killed while attempting to cross the street in the middle of the block.

Study continues of possible pedestrian safety improvements

It has been two months since orange barrels, traffic cones, and signs were put in place to create a new traffic pattern on a busy and dangerous block of State Street in the Metro Center of Springfield, Massachusetts.

The idea is to force drivers to reduce their speed as they travel past the Central Library. It is a spot where people have been killed while attempting to cross the street in the middle of the block.

Pedestrian safety advocates, residents, and elected officials have clamored for years for changes.

Before making permanent safety improvements however, city officials wanted to create a mock-up to study the impact on traffic flow.

WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill got an update on the project from Springfield DPW Director Chris Cignoli.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.