7 December, 2019
I would like to correct Jane Moran’s comments that “this conversation has been on going since the 1950’s when the State first identified the downtown intersection needed improvement.” Think about that: in the 1950’s Hopkinton’s population was under 3,000 residents, most of whom did not own a car. It was truly a farming community then with several families owning 100+ acres actively farming them. You could cross ANY street in town without seeing a car pass for hours. There were more tractors on the road than cars.
The Town Barn was owned by the Town of Hopkinton and located at 61 Main Street (where CVS is currently located) up until 1955. So if that intersection was identified by the State as needing improvement why wasn’t it straightened out before the Town sold that property to my family? The answer is because there was no problem at that intersection in the 1950’s. In fact, the Town installed a light there in the 1960’s to move “traffic” along as 495 was being built and people started commuting through Hopkinton. Most of the time the traffic light was left flashing.
In a Middlesex News article on November 21st, Brian Herr refers to this intersection “as not aligned straight and often the site of crashes”. I called the Hopkinton Police Department to get the facts about how often crashes occur here. In the last 22 months there were 2 crashes in the intersection, 5 rear enders on Main Street, 2 were unfounded/gone on arrival, and 6 more that were unable to determine where exactly they occurred. No fatalities, no constant crashes and not the site of the worst intersection in town. West Main Street near the 2 gas stations has the most frequent accidents in Hopkinton according to HPD.
Realigning the intersection to solve crash problems that don’t exist will irreparably harm the 3 businesses located there: Marty’s Liquors, CVS and Middlesex Bank’s drive up window, as well as the owner Crosspoint. It will remove 20 parking spaces that none of the businesses can afford to lose and leave only 8 parking spaces out front for Marty’s Liquors and CVS to share.
Please attend the Special Town Meeting on Monday, December 9, 2019 at 7 p. m. and stop the Main Street Corridor Project as it is currently designed.
Respectfully,
Dale T. Danahy
25 East Main Street
December 6, 2019
**This article was written by a group or person in the Hopkinton Community and does not reflect the views of HCAM or any of their Board Members or Employees.**
