Complete Streets Program

Last Updated January 30, 2024

Welcome to the Duxbury Complete Streets Landing Page!

News & Updates:

October 2, 2023 - TIER 3 CONSTRUCTION FUNDING SUBMITTAL - The Town submitted for Tier 3 construction funding for three sidewalk projects on Washington Street. The three segments are 1) from Fort Hill Lane to Bluefish River Bridge, 2) from Freeman Place to Bayside Marine Corporation, and 3) from Linden Lane to Freeman Place. The concept plans submitted with the Tier 3 application can be viewed HERE. We are expecting a response from MassDOT around February 2024.
 
September 15, 2023 - OPEN HOUSE - The Washington Street Sidewalk working group hosted an Open House on Friday, September 15th from 4-6PM in the Large Classroom, 2nd floor, of the Duxbury Senior Center in which residents were invited to review the sidewalk segments selected to be submitted for MassDOT construction funds, and to provide feedback on several propose designs for the sidewalk segments. The draft plans can be reviewed HERE.
 
August 31, 2023 - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - We have developed a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) and answers regarding the right-of-way (ROW) survey for Washington Street. You can download this document in pdf format HERE and please feel free to ask any additional questions by emailing hadley@duxbury-ma.gov or calling the Planning Office.
 
August 25, 2023 - COMPLETE STREETS PLAN MATRIX & REPORT - The recently completed Complete Streets Prioritization Plan Update has now been uploaded to this page. As an introduction or referesher to what Complete Streets is, please visit THIS PAGE. This project, as described in more detail below, was necessitated because it was missing a key project that was approved at Town Meeting in 2022 meaning that the project was not eligible for Complete Streets grant funding. This project rectifies this misalignment. You can download the Plan Update Report HERE and the project list matrix HERE. The project list matrix was uploaded to the State's Complete Streets portal on August 24th and the hope is that it will be approved by the state well in advance of the October 1st deadline for submitting applications for Complete Streets grant funding.

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).
 
August 17, 2023 - NOTICE OF OPEN HOUSE - The Duxbury Planning Department is hosting an Open House for Washington Street property owners and other interested citizens to view and comment on the draft right-of-way plans for the Washington Street corridor. We encourage you to attend on August 24th anytime between 3:30 and 6:30 pm to view the posted draft plan panels, ask questions of staff or consultants, and make any comments. See below for more information about this project and the Open House or download the Flyer HERE.
 
August 15, 2023 - Duxbury is in the process of updating its Complete Streets Prioritization Plan. This project is nearing completion with the assistance of consultant Howard Stein Hudson. The draft plan project list and narrative will be uploaded to this site below soon. If you have any questions, please contact Chris Ryan at cryan@duxbury-ma.gov or 781.934.1100.
 
August 15, 2023 - A consultant, Environmental Partners, has been selected for the Washington Street survey and engineering design project. This project is expected to commence with the Right-of-Way survey starting in May 2023. While there will be no public meeting to kick off the survey work, we want to notify Duxbury residents, particularly those who live or work along Washington Street that this survey work will be taking place and to be aware of the survey crews who will be progressing along the street over the next couple of months. Please see THIS PAGE for more information regarding the survey work.
 

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.


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.


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

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.