Downtown Railroad Crossing

Background

In the fall of 2005, the Division of Community and Economic Development secured a $40,000 grant from MEOT in order to update the 1997 "Route 126 Corridor Study," completed by Rizzo Associates.

The original study examined the highly-congested area around the intersection of Route 126, Route 135 and the Commuter Rail and freight tracks in Downtown Framingham. The scope of the study update includes detailed updates of traffic counts and other relevant data, in addition to a reevaluation of the options presented in the 1997 study.

Downtown Railroad Crossing Start

In order to inform the study process, the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Division initiated the Downtown Railroad Crossing (DRC) Task Force. The DRC Advisory Committee, working with the BETA group consultants, completed the Existing Conditions of a comprehensive downtown study including Transportation, Urban Design, and Economic Development components in March 2008.

The Final Draft Report

The Draft Final Report was completed in August 2009 and a public forum was held on August 27th to solicit feedback. On September 15th, the Framingham Board of Selectmen met to review and discuss the project and voted unanimously to authorize City staff to proceed to the next phase of design.

Updates

July 2010

MassDOT has hired The BETA Group to continue the project through the next phase of design and analysis, including a full environmental review.

Phase I: Existing Conditions

Phase II: Analysis & Preferred Alternative

Phase II: Final Report

Executive Summary (PDF)