Abutter offers thoughts on Rte. 138

Dear Editor:

When we moved to Canton five years ago, we were shown a beautiful home and property on Route 138 on a Sunday morning. Although we were quite naïve when we purchased our home, we soon understood the traffic situation. Despite 138 traffic, we love living in Canton and being active members of this vibrant community. I greatly appreciate the article by our town planner, Laura Smead, in the September 13 edition of the Canton Citizen discussing the progress of the master plan update, new issues (such as mitigating climate change), the vision for future development of the town planning process, and her extending an invitation to Canton residents to participate in the planning process.

I also read with great interest the personal views of Master Plan Steering Committee member Emilio Mauro Jr. relative to his thoughts about Rte. 138 in the October 4 edition of the Citizen. I appreciate several of Mr. Mauro’s ideas about the future of 138 and agree it may well be worth evaluating where additional traffic signals would aid the safety and ease the flow of traffic. Also, while some sections on the outgoing south side have a sidewalk, there are significant portions where adding a southbound sidewalk would be highly beneficial. Also, as a committed gardener, I appreciate all the abutters’ efforts along the route to beautify the landscape. I also love the more natural sections with various trees, wild grasses, Golden Rod, Cattail, and other plants of the route.

There are two significant issues on 138: the trucks and rush-hour traffic. I am concerned by Mr. Mauro’s suggestion to make 138 more conducive to heavy traffic, particularly to intermodal traffic (freight transport). The idea that Rte. 138 should be expanded into a four-lane highway may be an overly narrow view. It seems to me that one of the key factors contributing to heavy commuter and freight traffic results from the bottlenecks in the larger transportation system such as Route 24. I do not think the expansion/widening of 138 is the right direction and will not resolve the larger issues which heavily contribute to the problem. The reconstruction of 138 at Randolph Street was an excellent project, although the timing of the lights is dangerous to pedestrians. The bottom line is 138 does not have the capacity nor can we make up for the deficiencies in the larger transportation infrastructure, and the possibility of the further encroachment of 138 to homeowners is certainly an unwelcome possibility.

Jen Wexler

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=42577

Posted by Canton Citizen on Oct 13 2018. Filed under Featured Content, From One Citizen to Another, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.