West Street and Center Street had aging signal equipment unable to service recent changes in traffic patterns. Fuss & O’Neill addressed this deficiency with a design that improved safety and traffic operations for the urban intersection’s multi-modal users.

The design featured a new traffic signal, which includes strain poles, signal heads, and vehicle detection for actuation of vehicle phases. Pedestrian signals were replaced with fully actuated, accessible push-buttons. The new span wire improved signal head alignment, meeting MUTCD requirements, and eliminated the need equipment vulnerably placed in the medians. A left-turn lane was lengthened to accommodate an increasing volume of turning truck traffic. The design achieved greater signal phasing efficiency in lane use while improving pedestrian accessibility.

This project involved coordination with various utilities and MassDOT for construction through a public bidding process.