CREC Traffic Study Results Deem Traffic Light at Waterville and Avonwood Roads Necessary

A recent traffic study has concluded that the intersection of Waterville and Avonwood roads needs a traffic light, regardless of whether or not the proposed Reggio Magnet School of the Arts moves next to Avon Cider Mill.

The Capitol Region Education Council, which already has a smaller pre-kindergarten through second grade school on 150 Fisher Dr., commissioned the study to address concerns about the traffic impact of the magnet school.

"It concludes that the traffic volumes that already exist at Avonwood Road and Route 10 already meet the need of a light without the school," Town Planner Steven M. Kushner said before the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Tuesday.

The intersection rates as an F, based on engineer standards, which is the worst rating an intersection can get, A being the best.

Laura Sturgis Boulé, assistant vice president of investments for Equity Residential, which owns Avon Place apartments along with 500 others nationwide, wrote a to John Mena, director of school construction for the education council, on June 17. She highlighted the property management firm's concerns about how a magnet school built at 59 Waterville Road would affect Avonwood Road. The private road runs past Avon Place and Avon Mill apartments.

"Lastly, our residents have expressed a concern regarding the potential influx of traffic that your school would bring to the vicinity," Boulé wrote in the letter. "As such, we would request that a traffic light be put it in at the corner."

Eric Throndson, an Avon Place condominium owner, noted on his website, avonwoodroad.org, a forum for updating neighbors on the magnet school proposal and raising concerns about its impact on nearby residents, that turning left onto Waterville Road from Avonwood Road is already difficult.

"A traffic light needs to be installed at this intersection and programmed for the various left-turns, etc.," he wrote as a suggestion. "At night it can be programmed to flash red on Avonwood and flash yellow for travelers on Waterville Road."

The State Traffic Commission would have to approve the signal, Kushner said, and the education council would fund the installation.

"The town wouldn't pay at all," Kushner said. "There's already an existing problem. CREC will add more traffic. The signal would both mitigate the problem and meet the needs of CREC."

The commission cannot vote on the site plan until the Inland Wetlands Commission approves the operation of the school near wetlands. If inland wetlands does so at its July 5 meeting,  the earliest planning and zoning can do so is at the next meeting on July 19, Kushner said.

"The wetlands are modest on that site," Kushner said, but a permit is still needed. Until then, there are many issues the education council needs to resolve, he said, including parking and who is responsible for Avonwood Road maintenance.