Traffic Commission Hears Safety Concerns on Nixon, Parmenter Roads

FRAMINGHAM - Members of the Framingham Traffic Commission addressed concerns related to speeding and overall safety along both Nixon Road and Parmenter Road during their meeting on Tuesday, July 23.

Complaints were raised by residents, including Parmenter Road resident Mark Wambolt. He pointed out consistent speeding mixed with additional factors like blind corners and hills as causes for concern for those who live in the neighborhood.

“I do know that, from my own experience, it is a dangerous place,” Wambolt told members of the Traffic Commission on Tuesday while calling for traffic calming measures to protect other drivers alongside pedestrians, local residents, and cyclists.

“We’ve seen numerous cars off the road at various sections, especially during the winter, and as you can look at the report: nearly nobody follows the speed limit.”

That report presented by the Traffic Commission featured data tracked along Nixon Road—which has a posted speed of 25 miles per hour—between July 9 and 11. Around 1,150 cars per day were tracked in both directions. The southbound average on Nixon during that time was 29 miles per hour, while the northbound average reached 33 miles per hour. The 85th percentile speed heading north was 36 miles per hour.

Chair of the Framingham Traffic Commission Brinsley Fuller, a resident of the area in question, mentioned that many drivers fail to slow down in spite of those hills and bends on the pair of roads.

“You’d think going uphill you’d slow down,” Fuller continued.

“I don’t know if, coming from Route 20, they have boosters or what—but they get some speed...The question will be what we can do about it.”

The Traffic Commission voted to collect more data in the Nixon and Parmenter area in order to inform future decisions on the matter, as they suspect that similar figures will be collected along the Parmenter Road corridor compared to what was calculated recently on Nixon Road.