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Advocates ask Northampton to adopt 20 mph safety zones using a MassDOT procedure
Summary
A local mobility advocate recommended using MassDOT's section 10c process to establish 20 mph safety zones without full MassDOT approval and urged the city to develop a local application process and mapping to accelerate safe-street changes.
A Northampton resident and member of Strong Towns Northampton urged the Ordinance Review Committee to adopt a policy that uses MassDOT's Section 10c procedure to set 20 mph safety zones in places that attract vulnerable road users.
Danny McCaughn described the Section 10c criteria, including adjacency to land uses likely to attract pedestrians and a minimum length for safety zones, and said the city could develop a local process for citizens to nominate corridors that meet the criteria. He cited Cambridge's 2019 initiative to install hundreds of 20 mph safety zone signs as an example of rapid city-level action.
Committee members acknowledged ongoing work on speed limits and transportation safety and said they would incorporate the suggestion into the committee's review work. No ordinance was adopted at the forum.
The speaker provided specific procedural references from MassDOT but the committee did not record a formal vote or directive at the public forum.
