The Framingham Traffic Commission recommended the creation of the group, which would be a part of the Department of Public Works, during their meeting on Tuesday.
FRAMINGHAM - The Framingham Traffic Commission voted to recommend the creation of a traffic department within the local Department of Public Works (DPW) during their meeting on Tuesday, April 22, resulting in the matter being passed along to the City Council.
Framingham officials recently resumed work on a city charter mandate that dictates that the Traffic Commission is responsible for a recommendation on internal DPW organization. A study to seek how other municipalities organize their own traffic departments was published back in 2020, but no action has been taken since. Recently, the City Council requested that the Traffic Commission revisit the topic.
“Part of the review looked at engineering, maintenance, parking, parking enforcement—all of these items that some towns and cities include in their traffic and transportation departments, and some don’t,” DPW representative for the commission Matthew Hayes explained on Tuesday.
The new traffic department would feature a director who would report to the local DPW director, along with a traffic engineer and an administrative assistant. The new group would incorporate the Framingham Lighting and Signals Division, but they would not be responsible for enforcing traffic regulations—that would still fall under the police department’s responsibilities.
Framingham DPW Director Bob Lewis believes that bringing multiple municipal services together under the traffic department’s purview while also satisfying the local charter is a wise idea.
“It’s another level of consolidation and efficiencies that the city councils have been promoting…There’s a lot of synergies between those departments,” Lewis said during the Traffic Commission's meeting.
A memo provided to the Traffic Commission noted that initial and ongoing costs for the new department would be covered through grants, city appropriations, and mitigation funds.
Following the Traffic Commission’s recommendation, the traffic department question will now be passed along to the City Council for final approval.
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