5 years ago our Westborough, MA, Board of Selectmen established a Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee charged with improving cycling and pedestrian access and safety and building trails in town. Over the past 5 years, we’ve worked persistently to do exactly that. We’ve installed 9 sets of Carmanah R920 solar-powered flashing crosswalk signs, like those shown below, at well used, high-priority crosswalks in town – and have more on order.

We’ve worked with Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation to  take steps to improve safety in our downtown traffic rotary, like installing the Traffic Safety Corp. TS40 flashing yield sign shown here – there are more modifications to come. (Click this link for Jan. 2016 MassDOT Rt. 135 at Rt. 30 Road Safety Audit for more information.)

And then this Wednesday, after years of prep work, the first backhoe shovel hit the ground to start building the Westborough portion of a 12-foot wide multi-use trail intended to connect Framingham to Worcester along what used to be the Boston to Worcester Air Line Trolley right-of-way.

Although this first section is only 1/3 mile long, it will connect a significant number of our town residents on the east side of town to Westborough Shopping Center, one of the town’s major shopping centers.

Of particular note, a special thanks to Westborough-based PW Brown for donating their excavation work and to our Westborough DPW for supervising the effort, grating a good portion of this section and providing reclaimed asphalt grindings that we’re using as a base layer for the trail service. It’s all about working together, and we’re seeing that team work full-on alive right here.

Click this link for a complete, recently revised BWALT Trail plan.