Not expected to be completed until 2022
By Matt Caron | May 10, 2017
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Springfield’s notoriously dangerous “X” intersection will be redesigned with safety in mind.
West Springfield engineering firm Fuss and O’Neill is working on a total redesign of the intersection, where Sumner Avenue, Belmont Avenue, and Dickinson Street cross.
There will be several public hearings on their design plans as they evolve, but the goal is to improve traffic flow, safety for bicyclists and pedestrians,access to the parks, schools and businesses, and increased walk-ability.
The engineering firm says traffic at the “X” intersection has increased over the years.
“The major change is going to be that Belmont Ave is going to be one way out of the ‘X,’” Project Design Manager Steven Savaria said. “As you are coming towards the ‘X’ on Belmont Ave., you will be rerouted to other intersections that are further North on Sumner Avenue [so that will get that traffic out of the ‘X.’”
Fuss and O’Neil say the project will cost roughly five or six million dollars. The firm hopes to have it finished sometime around 2022.
Springfield City Councilors first floated the idea about the intersection’s redesign in 2015.
According to MassDOT, the intersection is one of the state’s top 200 most dangerous intersections, recording 13 accidents with injury in 2013.
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