Sudbury holds public outreach on Route 20 corridor study; residents flag sidewalks, rail-trail connections, flooding

Planning staff and consultants held a public outreach meeting in Sudbury to gather local feedback on a study of the Route 20 (Boston Post Road) corridor, which runs about five miles between the Marlborough and Wayland town lines.

The meeting, led by Adam Birney, planning director for the Town of Sudbury, and Adam Deschano, a planner with the BSC Group, reviewed the study’s objectives, existing-condition mapping and next steps and then opened the floor to a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) exercise and a sticky-dot mapping activity for residents and business owners.

The study area defined by the consultant includes parcels with frontage on Route 20 and adjacent properties the team considered integral to the corridor’s function, including Meadowlark, Chiswick Park, the Wayside Inn area and parcels east of Union Avenue. Consultants said the right-of-way and roadway are controlled by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and that any changes within the right-of-way would require MassDOT approval. They noted that properties along the corridor use septic systems or private wastewater treatment plants and that about 75% of the corridor sits within a water-resource protection overlay district.

Why it matters: Route 20 is Sudbury’s primary east–west corridor and a regional connector. The corridor study is an action item in Sudbury’s 2021 master plan…