Town of Acton Announces New Traffic Calming Policy

New Pace Car Program Aims to Enlist Residents to Model Safe, Courteous Driving

ACTON — The Select Board has officially approved of a new Traffic Calming Policy, which will allow the town to implement new road safety precautions.

The policy, which was approved on Oct. 20, will allow the Town to implement new changes to assess, mitigate, and improve ongoing traffic issues. The Traffic Calming policy can be viewed here. 

Traffic calming is a design measure taken by municipal agencies to assist in the speed and flow of traffic. Traffic calming measures include narrowing streets through road diets or roadside features/curb extensions, deflecting and introducing curbs to the vehicle path through lane-offsets or various intersection measures, and altering the vertical profile of the vehicle path through speed humps, raised crosswalks, or textured pavements. 

An important item of note is that traffic calming policies do not include speed signs/lights or stop signs. Those traffic signs, while they must be adhered to at all times, are not a calming measure, and research through MassDOT shows that unnecessary stop signs can create more vehicle crashes, while traffic calming allows drivers and travelers to naturally slow down. 

Through the policy, the town will review and evaluate current procedures and review traffic calming requests, while also establishing a new Pace Care Program. 

The Pace Car Program is a community-driven initiative through which residents pledge to drive safely and follow posted traffic signs. Pace Car Programs are in place in numerous communities, including Northampton, Greenwich, Conn., and Rochester, N.Y.

The Town will be providing updates and additional information about the ongoing changes that will be made. 

The policy is published online at http://www.actonma.gov/trafficcalming, and additional outreach and education on the programs will occur this winter. Any questions please reach out to engineering@actonma.gov