SRPEDD Releases the Top 100 Most Dangerous Intersections List
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Safety has been at the forefront of transportation planning at SRPEDD for a long time. In the 1980s SRPEDD began identifying high crash locations as a stand-alone publication to bring awareness to our communities, to investigate and implement remedies, and to highlight areas of concern for the public where extra caution should be taken. Our goal back then and now is to reduce the number of crashes on our roadways, as well as to assist our communities and the state in reducing the number of injury-causing and fatal crashes to zero in helping to meet Vision Zero goals.
Our most recent publication focuses on the 100 most dangerous intersections in the region based on 2017-2019 crash data. These 100 most dangerous locations are located within 16 of 27 SRPEDD member communities and yielded a total of 4,193 crashes; 3020 involving property damage only, 1167 involving injuries, and 6 involving a fatality.
Out of the current Top 100 intersections, 65 were previously listed on our 2014-2016 top 100 list, including the current most dangerous intersection in the SRPEDD region in the town of Swansea, as seen in the photo. The intersection at GAR Highway (Route 6) and James Reynolds Road/Market Street (Route 136) is #1 and was previously #4 on our 2014-2016 list. Improvements to address safety and mobility at this intersection are planned and include traffic signal upgrades, geometric improvements, as well as improved bicycle and pedestrian accessibility. An additional 8 intersections on the current list have improvements underway; 18 have improvements planned; and 24 have had improvements made within the last 10 years. SRPEDD has recently studied four intersections as part of larger studies, and the remaining locations provide an opportunity for closer examination.
Please contact Lisa Estrela-Pedro at lestrela@srpedd.org with any questions on the Top 100 Most Dangerous Intersections list or other safety or congestion concerns in your community.
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SRPEDD Regional Resilience Plan Launch |
SPREDD staff have taken our first steps on a two-year journey we will be taking together with local communities and subject area experts to develop the SRPEDD Regional Resilience Plan (SRRP). After the final funding source for the project was secured in October, staff began on several foundational tasks, which include the formation of the project Steering Committee and developing the plan’s basic outline. At present, we conceive of the plan as being organized into three volumes: environmental resilience; social resilience; and economic resilience, an approach that corresponds to the classic environment-economy-society “triple bottom line” of resilience planning.
To meet the requirements of multiple funding source timelines that have been combined to make the full SRRP possible, the environmental and social volumes will be completed by June 30, 2023, and the economic volume will be completed by September 23, 2024. For the first, the environmental volume, to be conducted over the next four months, our ten-person SRRP team will be working on an assessment of regional existing conditions and community vulnerabilities related to environmental resilience. By environmental resilience, we mean supporting the inherent abilities of certain lands, air, and water to:
1. Protect human health and serve essential human needs like clean drinking water, air, local food, protection from extreme heat, and mental health;
2. Protect human settlement, especially protection from flood and supporting sustainable waste disposal; and
3. Draw down carbon from the atmosphere in forests and soils.
But we don’t just have our face in the books! Our team has also been out and about in SRPEDD member communities (see photo), documenting different land use patterns as we develop a typology for the region based on the Council of New Urbanism’s Transect approach for classifying places on a rural to urban core gradient. Plan recommendations will ultimately be tailored for each place typology, so that areas throughout the region can pursue similar resilience-building approaches based on their land use similarities. For more information, please contact Helen Zincavage at hzincavage@srpedd.org.
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Middleborough Adopts Chapter 40R Smart Growth Zoning
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At its Special Town Meeting on October 4, 2021, the town of Middleborough adopted Chapter 40R Smart Growth Zoning Overlays in two locations; one adjacent to the town’s future MBTA Commuter Rail station and one at John Glass Square. These new zoning districts and design guidelines will allow more compact, mixed-use, walkable developments that are close to the downtown, public transportation, and with easy access to Interstate 495. Middleborough identified the adoption of Chapter 40R as a Community Compact Cabinet (CCC) Best Practice in 2018.
SRPEDD was honored to work in partnership with the Middleborough Office of Economic and Community (OECD) and Middleborough Planning Department to complete this work. The project team used a combination of OECD resources and grant funds, including CCC, District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA), and Municipal Assistance (MA), to fund the effort. In addition to the bylaw and guidelines, the project featured civic engagement materials, a series of 40R handouts, and an educational video that described 40R using local images, recent and historic development studies, and testimonials from Middleborough residents, business-owners, and elected officials.
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Open Space and Recreation Plans
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A community Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP) sets forth a series of measures that will help to protect, preserve, and increase conservation, open space, and recreation assets and resources. Massachusetts communities update their OSRP on a seven-year cycle. SRPEDD is currently assisting the member communities of Carver, Dartmouth, Freetown, Marion, Middleborough, New Bedford, and Taunton in updating their OSRPs. While we continue to follow requirements established by the Commonwealth so that draft OSRPs are successfully certified, SRPEDD is taking additional steps to ensure that these plans are user-friendly and impactful in preserving open space areas that also build community resilience.
In terms of building community resilience, open space has become even more valuable for its function, particularly where we can retain large intact areas and native vegetation and underlying soils that infiltrate water, protect against flood, and sequester carbon. SRPEDD is making a routine practice of cross-referencing local Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) plans during the open space and recreation planning process, enabling the identification of conservation recommendations that also have benefits for community resilience. This integrated planning adds climate resilience into the factors for community members to consider as they develop and prioritize OSRP action items. This approach is particularly powerful in combination with MassAudubon’s Green Infrastructure Network dataset, which shows where lands with high resilience scores are undeveloped and, as yet, unprotected.
In addition to bolstering OSRP content, SRPEDD has also been implementing different community engagement practices. In Carver, our team held a “drop-in” style meeting that could be self-paced and still supported with information from an on-demand video as participants arrived. For the City of New Bedford, we are developing a companion digital StoryMap, describing the goals of the OSRP, and providing specific details about each facility. We look forward to concluding ongoing OSRP processes, and moving from planning to assisting communities in plan implementation. For more information, please contact Helen Zincavage at hzincavage@srpedd.org.
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SRAC Hosts Two Nationally Recognized Active Shooter Preparedness Training |
The Southeast Regional Homeland Security Advisory Council (SRAC) recently sponsored two active shooter preparedness trainings for its service area. SRAC is proud to have partnered with the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training (NCBRT) at Louisiana State University (LSU) and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to hold these events.
Both trainings were hosted by Chief Mike Winn at COMM Fire Department in Centerville, MA. The first three-day training, the Law Enforcement Active Shooter Emergency Response (LASER), took place from November 8th to 10th. The purpose of LASER is to increase officer awareness and preparedness, to improve technical aspects of planning, and to enable more rapid deployment in the event of an active shooter situation. Twenty-seven law enforcement officers from the SRAC region took part in classroom presentations and hands-on performance-based field training, such as gaining entry via the use of breaching tools.
The second three-day training, the Active Threat Integrated Response Course (ATIRC), took place from November 16th to 18th. Thirty law enforcement officers and firefighters took part in this performance-level training designed to enhance integration between law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services during active shooter events. ATIRC provides law enforcement officers with supplemental medical skills that might not be part of their base training. For example, instructors demonstrated how to deploy emergency casualty care tactics (such as applying tourniquets) that increase victims’ survivability rates. ATIRC also incorporates the rescue task force concept using the Active Shooter Incident Management Checklist.
Participants reported extremely positive results from these trainings. Chief Winn stated that “ATIRC and LASER are without question the best trainings out there for preparing responders for active shooter or hostile event situations. On the last day of ATIRC, we were fortunate to have both Massachusetts Sen. Walter Timilty, Joint Chair for the Committee on Public Safety, and Rep. Bruce Ayers attend and observe the importance of the training and how valuable it is to the Commonwealth.” For more information, please contact SRPEDD’s Homeland Security staff.
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On Saturday, November 20th, the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA), unveiled their new fleet of six electric buses. GATRA is one of the two Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs) that operate in the SRPEDD region. These buses are state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly, and carbon-free. Angie Constantino, GATRA’s Mobility Manager, created the unique and eye-catching bus design. Angie is a former Senior Transportation Planner and Mobility Manager at SRPEDD, and during her time here, Angie played an essential role in working with the RTAs to improve and enhance mobility across the region.
GATRA partnered with the Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant (TMLP) to install six charging stations for these new buses at the bus maintenance facility. The purchase of these buses was made possible from the 2017 Volkswagen diesel emissions settlement, with a nearly $3 billion trust fund for states to put cleaner vehicles on their roads, such as electric powered vehicles.
These buses will service routes in the Taunton area and are in the process of being evaluated to see how they work within the system. A big thank you also goes out to Senator Marc Pacheco, State Representatives Carol Doherty and James Hawkins, GATRA Administrator Mark Sousa and Amanda Barlow for their assistance. With the acquisition of the new electric buses, GATRA is helping lead the way in the transition to a transportation system that is as clean, renewable and sustainable as possible.
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SRPEDD Sponsors Citizen Planner Training Collaborative Virtual Workshop
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The Massachusetts Citizen Planner Training Collaborative (CPTC) is again sponsoring a fall workshop series to address a broad range of planning topics ranging from Fair Housing Laws to Design Review. And, as with the 2020 series, CPTC’s 2021 sessions are taking place online and being held in partnership with regional planning agencies across the Commonwealth.
At 5:30 PM on Wednesday, December 15, SRPEDD will sponsor “Special Permits and Variances,” presented by Alex Weisheit of KP Law. The session will address “the difference between special permits and variances; the issues and criteria for decision-making; and procedural requirements. Additionally, the course will discuss who has the authority to issue special permits and variances and how judicial decisions guide the way we work with them.” The training will provide MIIA credits and CPTC certificates to eligible participants.
It’s not too late to register at the CPTC website! These instructive and engaging classes are only $20 and help support CPTC, “a collaboration of citizens, nonprofits and government agencies dedicated to providing essential and advanced training to citizens involved in municipal planning and land use.” Register today!
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88 Broadway
Taunton, MA 02780
Phone: 508-824-1367
Fax: 508-823-1803
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