Complete Streets Program
Welcome to the Duxbury Complete Streets Landing Page!
News & Updates:
August 21, 2023 - DRAFT RIGHT-OF-WAY PLANS - The Merrill Engineering draft Right-of-Way (ROW) plan set is now available online for your review and comment. Please see this pdf of the plans HERE. Please send any comments or questions to both Chris Ryan cryan@duxbury-ma.gov and Emily Hadley hadley@duxbury-ma.gov and we will work on a response as quickly as possible. If you are able, we encourage you to attend the Open House at the Senior Center on Thursday, August 24, 2023 anytime between 3:30 and 6:30 pm to see large-scale plan set and discuss with project consultants (see below).
INTRODUCTION
Duxbury has been working on a Complete Streets planning initiative which is entirely funded by the Commonwealth, starting in the fall of 2020, as part of the implementation of the Envision Duxbury Comprehensive Plan. Complete Streets are those that provide safe and accessible options for all travel modes - walking, biking, transit, and vehicles - for people of all ages and abilities. The Complete Streets Program is a MassDOT funded initiative to help municipalities make infrastructure improvements on municipally owned roadways to better serve all users. The Town of Duxbury completed the Prioritization Plan in December 2021, which ranks viable projects.
The term "complete street" means that when planning, or improving, a transportation network, to the extent possible, best planning practices encourage bicycles, pedestrians, bus stops and other users to be able to safely navigate with the automotive users in the street networks. Prior to this approach, federal and state transportation funding did not include these users - funding had to be sought from other sources. In the past, the state's Complete Streets program design criteria was focused more for urban (city) environments, and relatively recently this program has been modified to adapt better to a more semi-rural character, such as Duxbury, making the program a better fit for the town: maintaining the scenic and rural character of Duxbury is very important to the residents of Duxbury.
Howard-Stein-Hudson is the consultant who coordinating through the Planning Board, with the Planning and DPW Departments and several local committees and stakeholders to facilitate the formal prioritization planning process and to garner public comment on a "complete streets" policy for the Town. Now that these two elements are in place, projects listed in the plan are eligible, based on program guidelines and locally-funded engineering design, for requests for state funding through this competitive funding program. Importantly, projects that are not within a public street layout or which are not listed in this plan are not eligible for funding. Chris Ryan, Planning Director, is the town's lead contact on this planning effort.
- Click here to view the Final 2021 Complete Streets Prioritization Plan.
- View the October 28, 2020 community outreach meeting online: https://youtu.be/l-s_XlSU5Xg. Handout: Complete Streets Toolkit. Slides: HSH Presentation.
- Click here to view or download Duxbury's Complete Streets Policy.
- Click here to view the Draft Prioritization Plan. A remote public outreach meeting was held via zoom on September 13, 2021 to receive public input - click here for more information about the meeting.
- The Prioritzation Plan was adopted by the Selectboard on October 4, 2021, along with one additional project to be added to the plan, and the final plan was submitted to the State.
- The final Prioritzation Plan was approved by the State, which means the Town will be eligible to apply for funding to complete several projects listed in the Prioritization Plan.
- NOTE: The prioritization plan was updated after the 2021 adoption - see the section below for more information.
PRIORITIZATION PLAN UPDATE PROJECT
While the Duxbury Complete Streets Prioritization Plan was just completed in December of 2021, there is a critical need to amend and update the Plan to include several key projects that were not included in the original, so they are eligible for Complete Streets funding. The Town retained consultant Howard Stein Hudson to complete this work, which was finalized in August 2023. The updated plan was adopted by the Town and accepted by the State.
- Click here to view the Updated Complete Streets Prioritization Plan - August 2023
- Click here to view the updated Complete Streets Prioritization Plan Matrix
WASHINGTON STREET ROW SURVEY AND ENGINEERING DESIGN PROJECT
As directed by Article 17 or Annual Town Meeting 2022, the Planning Department has developed and released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for a highly qualified consulting engineer to conduct a comprehensive engineering survey of the ROW extents of Washington Street. The project will also complete an engineering design of the segment of Washington Street from the Bluefish River Bridge to Fort Hill Lane and possibly 1-2 additional segments if funding allows. This section will keep you updated on the progress of this project.
Consultant
Environmental Partners, and subcontractor Merrill Engineers & Land Surveyors, were selected as the consultants for the project, following the RFQ review process.
Right-of-Way Open House
The Duxbury Planning Department, with the working group for the project, conducted an Open House at the Duxbury Senior Center so that residents along Washington Street can view the street right-of-way (ROW) layout, make comments, and ask questions. This effort is part of a project that was funded by Article 17 of 2022 Annual Town Meeting for the establishment of a public layout for a street that has never had a formal ROW created and adopted. In essence, the ROW line of a street is the boundary between the public realm and private properties abutting the street.
This Open House is an informal opportunity to come a view the 18 ROW plan panels so that residents that own property along Washington Street can see how the ROW has been developed and determine if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the draft plan. If there are any significant concerns or issues, we can convey these to the surveyor, who can help address your issue. Following this, the ROW plan will be reviewed by Town Counsel and then formally adopted by the Town. Also see Open House Flyer HERE.
Approval of Plans
Using the feedback received at the Open House, the ROW plans were finalized, and sidewalk design plans were drafted for three sidewalk segments. See the final ROW plan (called "Relocation Plan") HERE. The ROW plans were reviewed by Town Counsel, who informed staff that the plans will need to be accepted by the Town as a public way through a Town Meeting vote. Below is the process that was followed leading up to Annual Town Meeting:
- The Selectboard voted its intention to relocate the layout of Washington Street as a Town Way and referred the plans to the Planning Board.
- The Planning Board voted to recommend to the Selectboard approval of the relocation plan of Washington Street as a Town Way.
- The Selectboard held a public meeting on January 22, 2024, and voted to relocate Washington Street as a Town Way and to place an article on the March Annual Town Meeting warrant for the acceptance of Washington Street as relocated.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
- Washington Street Survey & Sidewalk Project Map - Map showing project extent for Washington Street survey and proposed sidewalk projects along Washington Street from Hall's Corner to the intersection of St. George Street
- Washington Street List of Project Segments
If you have any questions please contact the Planning Department at hadley@duxbury-ma.gov or 781-934-1100 x5476 anytime.
Learn more: Massachusetts Complete Streets Funding Program. Download the Complete Streets Program Guide.