Needham residents press board to slow redesign of Hoover/Tower/Paul Revere intersection

Residents of the Hoover Road/Tower Avenue/Paul Revere Road neighborhood urged the Needham Select Board on Aug. 12 to pause planned curb and roadway changes and to require a full engineering study before altering the intersection.

Why it matters: Neighbors said the design would narrow travel lanes, constrict truck and emergency-vehicle movements, and fail to provide safe walking access for children who use the route to Mitchell School. Public-works staff said the plan aims to calm traffic, improve plowing and reduce impervious surface, but acknowledged more neighborhood feedback and finer design tweaks were still possible.

At the public-comment portion of the meeting, Debbie Pearson described a longstanding, low-crash four-way intersection and called the current plan “hasty,” saying neighbors were not broadly notified and asking the town to try less-intrusive measures first, such as lighted stop signs and limited placement of stop signs at key legs. John Halen and other residents told the board most neighbors support a…