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Consultant outlines "peanut" roundabout and multimodal downtown plan; board asks for traffic modeling and parking impacts
Summary
A consultant presentation proposed a refined roundabout ("peanut" geometry), expanded sidewalks, bike accommodations and streetscape improvements for downtown Westborough, with a preliminary cost estimate of about $5.5 million; select board members asked for traffic modeling, phased options and clarity on net parking change.
Consultants presented a concept-level downtown improvement plan to the Westborough Select Board Dec. 2 that keeps a circular traffic movement at its core but tightens geometry into a "peanut"‑shaped roundabout, expands sidewalks, adds bike accommodations and redesigns on‑street parking.
Bill Scully of Kimberly Horn & Associates said the design retains a roundabout approach but refines its geometry to slow traffic and create single‑lane entries, remove unsafe angled parking within the circle and add bike accommodations around and through the center. "Ultimately, we ended with, we're recommending that we essentially retain the circle type of design in the movements, however, with a refined geometry," Scully said, describing the plan as a way to "order the traffic movements, improve the flow and the safety of the flow, reduce the potential conflicts within the center" and expand public space.
Scully provided a preliminary construction estimate of "about 5 and a half million dollars" and said the team tested fire-apparatus and large-truck (WB50/WB67) turning movements. The plan would eliminate parking inside the circle and change angle parking on West Main to parallel parking; consultants said Union Street angle parking could partly offset lost spaces but that a parking-deck feasibility study for the South Street lot may be needed longer term.
Board members pressed for more detail. Mark asked that crosswalks be set "far enough away from the roundabout entrance that 2 cars could queue," to avoid pedestrian conflicts with entering vehicles. Others sought staged or lower-cost options that would yield safety benefits without a full reinventing of the rotary, and questioned the $5.5 million estimate as low for the scope. Consultants said a traffic capacity (level-of-service) analysis and staged/short-term measures exist or are being prepared and that grant eligibility (including potential state funding) could affect phasing.
The board asked staff to pass questions and comments on to the planning board ahead of the planning-board presentation and requested more detailed traffic modeling, clearer net‑parking counts and cost refinement in future submissions.
