Speed limit raised on part of Route 9
Starts & Stops/West, a transportation column tailored to the western suburbs, runs every other Thursday. Feedback and questions on transportation topics from road to rail, planes to pedestrians are welcome.
The next time you're driving on Route 9 in Natick, be prepared to hit the gas.
The Massachusetts Highway Department has agreed to raise the speed limit on a section of Route 9 that runs underneath Speen Street from 40 to 50 miles per hour.
This stretch of road, you might recall, was a source of debate last year after Ivan, a Needham resident and speed limit critic, raised concerns that the posted speed limit of 40 was illegal. He cited state law that sets the limit on divided highways, including Route 9, outside thickly settled or business districts at 50, and also showed us a Highway Department memo from five years ago suggesting that the speed limit there could be as high as 55.
Last year, MassHighway told us that the speed limit along this part of Route 9 had been lowered to 40 in the early 1980s because of a number of fatal accidents, and because the nearby Speen Street on-ramp shoots lots of traffic onto the highway.
But Erik Abell, a MassHighway spokesman, said the department has reevaluated the road and is implementing a new speed limit of 50.
''MassHighway has received a flood of public complaints about the speed limit for that area, specifically over the last year or so," he wrote in an e-mail. ''The new regulation . . . will be the new valid speed limit for the roadway."
Ivan said he was happy with the outcome, but also puzzled as to why state officials changed their minds.
''Somehow they realized that it's not so dangerous," he said.
But not everyone is pleased.
Sergeant Brian Lauzon, Natick's traffic safety officer, said the state has raised the speed limit on other parts of Route 9, but he was unaware that they'd done so near Speen Street. He believes the 40-mile-per-hour limit helps regulate traffic near the Natick Mall.
''That's really a necessity for us," Lauzon said. Travel in the Speen Street area is also a bit more confusing these days because of roadwork on Route 9 over Lake Cochituate. That makes a 50-mile-per-hour speed limit even less of a good idea, Lauzon said.
''The road can't handle that, especially with the construction there," he said.
Hybrid advantageMore potential incentive to replace your gas guzzler with a fuel-efficient model: The state Senate has approved a bill that offers several rewards to drivers who use hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles.
The rewards include tax incentives -- such as a sales tax exemption for the purchase of a hybrid vehicle -- free Fast Lane transponders, free or reduced-price municipal parking, and use of the HOV lane even if you're not carrying any passengers.
In a release, Senate President Robert Travaglini said the incentives are intended to ''reduce our dependency on fuels that destroy our quality of life."
The measure is now working its way through the House.
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