THE DAY (January 24, 2019) — City officials might not like the state’s idea of installing several roundabouts along Route 82-West Main Street, but city officials were pleased to learn they have received a $400,000 grant to design a roundabout at Franklin Square that would allow two-way traffic in all directions at the key downtown junction.
The State Bond Commission approved funding for the Community Connectivity Program grant at its Dec. 11 meeting, “so your application for the Community Connectivity Grant Program has been approved,” said a Jan. 18 letter from state Department of Transportation Assistant Planning Director Colleen A. Kissane to Mayor Peter Nystrom.
The project calls for eliminating the confusing current traffic arrangement, which has vehicles entering Franklin Street heading north from Main Street along two one-way strips, one from the east and the other from the west.
But southbound traffic on Franklin — opened to two-way traffic in May 2017 — must stop and turn right onto Bath Street and wind its way back to Main Street along lower Broadway.
