Weston Voted for a Route 30 Sidewalk in 2018. December Decides What It Became.

The current drawings for Route 30 remove the slip lane at Winter Street and square off the Highland Street intersection. They add a center island and new crossings at Oak Street, plus a pedestrian-activated signal at Ash Street, where a stone wall would be rebuilt beside new traffic-calming geometry. Near 192 South Avenue, a 500-foot timber boardwalk would carry the path along a stretch shaped by a nearby stream. The path is 10 feet wide and runs about 3.7 miles, from the Natick town line to Cutters Bluff Road.

Town Meeting never voted for a path that size. In 2018 it approved a 5-foot sidewalk by a margin of 563 to 35. The project changed because of the rules attached to the state and federal money that would build it. The advisory recommendations the town's Traffic and Sidewalk Committee will vote on Dec. 2 are about the project in the form those rules produced. The Select Board, which makes the actual decision, will receive them next.

How a Sidewalk Became a Shared-Use Path

The town started the corridor project in 2017. MassDOT logged the initiation forms on Nov. 22 of that year and approved the project review on Dec. 14. In May 2018, Town Meeting approved $937,800 for design and survey, and Howard Stein Hudson got its notice to proceed on July 1, 2018.

Then the requirements changed. The 2024 Town Meeting warrant said the design now included a shared-use path or buffered bike lanes, as required by MassDOT's "Healthy Design Standards," so the project could stay on the state and federally funded Transportation Improvement Program, according to the Weston Observer. Howard Stein Hudson has said the path came into the design as MassDOT guidance evolved and to keep the project eligible for that funding.

Support for the project dropped as the design grew.

With those two votes, Weston has put about $1.54 million into design. In June the Observer said the project could still be stopped. The plan now under committee review is Howard Stein Hudson's pre-75 percent design.

What the Drawings Change Along the Corridor

The March 31, 2026 Traffic and Sidewalk Committee minutes describe the path running mostly on the south side of Route 30 and crossing to the north side near Newton Street. The 2020 design memorandum put the crossover at Newton Street as well, so that part of the layout has held since October 2020. The minutes name these locations and changes:

• Natick line: an island and crossing meant to connect west to a future path on the north side of Route 30. In places the route follows the MWRA aqueduct property, then returns to Route 30 where wetlands and streams leave no other option.
• Winter Street: the slip lane is removed and the intersection reconfigured.
• Highland Street: the intersection is squared off and the split lane eliminated.
• Ash Street: traffic-calming geometry, a rebuilt stone wall, and a hybrid signal that runs only when a pedestrian activates it.
• Oak Street: a center island, new crossings, and removal of the eastbound slip lane. East of Oak, the path goes through an existing opening in a stone wall.
• 192 South Avenue: the 500-foot timber boardwalk.
• Newton Street: a new landscaped island, upgraded signals, and one eastbound and two westbound lanes.
• Eastern end: the path crosses from south to north by way of Nash Lane and Whitehouse Lane and ends at Cutter's Bluff. Howard Stein Hudson said MassDOT was starting a separate "Gap Project" to link it to the path being built in Newton.

The design discussed in March also dropped some items from earlier versions. Proposed traffic signals at Winter Street and Oak Street are gone, and the only new signal on Route 30 would be the pedestrian hybrid at Ash Street. The road itself gets narrower. The Weston Observer's October 16 report describes a smaller driving surface, which makes room for the path. Near the fire station, the stone wall would be rebuilt behind the path.

The Tree Count Is Still Going Up

A 10-foot path through a wooded roadside means removing a lot of trees. The design calls for 360 removals. The 252 trees rated in fair condition or better would be replaced one for one, and the rest of the planting would be shrubs, perennials and ground cover.

The committee isn't sure 360 is the final number. "Our recent field checks have raised concerns about the tree counts, and it appears more trees would be removed than HSH has indicated," Chair Richard Flynn told the Weston Observer. He added that the committee is also looking at how steep parts of the path are, how far it sits from the road, its effect on wetlands, and the traffic projections behind the design.

The path also needs land beside the road. The 2020 memorandum counted 16 permanent easements for the path as designed then, plus 23 permanent utility easements and many temporary construction easements. Town Manager Leon Gaumond has said that if the project goes forward, the town will at some point be asked for more money for "easement takings and the like."

What the 116 Letters Said

By the Sept. 30 comment deadline, the Traffic and Sidewalk Committee, the Department of Public Works and the Select Board had received 116 letters. The Observer read nearly 50 letters opposing the project and found 10 in support. The most common concerns were the environment, safety, doubts about how many people would use the path, and the town's semirural character. In one letter quoted in the Weston Observer's October 16 report, a Bittersweet Lane resident wrote:

"Weston has a feel that is different than all the surrounding towns because of this town's commitment to keeping it green. While I appreciate the interest in a bike lane, it cannot be done at such a grave cost."

In June, Winter Street resident Barbara Fullerton, who serves on the Tree Advisory Group, told the Weston Observer that the original sidewalk had been more acceptable. "It's not what people expected," she said. She also asked whether people living on Route 30 would bear the impact while people from elsewhere got the benefit. In the same article, Coburn Road resident and cyclist David Hutcheson said he supports the project as public infrastructure: "I think their objections might be overblown." He pointed to the Mass Central Rail Trail, which Weston voters rejected at Town Meeting in 1997, approved years later, and which he called a wonderful amenity for the region.

Committee member Jay Doyle noted that many letter writers said they support a sidewalk and bicycle accommodations, just built some other way. "I think we have to be careful of magical thinking. What is that other way? And what are its impacts?" he said in the Observer's October 30 report.

Where the Money Comes From, and Where It Goes

The construction money comes from the state and federal governments. MassDOT's project page for Route 30 in Weston places it in the Boston Region MPO's federal fiscal year 2029 Transportation Improvement Program, with planned funding of $19,999,712. That breaks down as $16 million from the Surface Transportation Block Grant program and $4 million from the Transportation Alternatives Program, mostly federal with a state share. The same page lists Summer 2029 as the construction start.

That funding depends on Weston moving the project forward. At a May listening session, Howard Stein Hudson's Mark Gravallese said that if Weston does not, MassDOT "will take the money and gladly give it to other municipalities," the Weston Observer reported. Gaumond said that if the Select Board declines to advance it, his guess is the project would stop then or once the current scope of work is done.

Under the program paying for construction, the sidewalk Weston voted for in 2018 is no longer an option. Whenever the Select Board decides, it can advance the current design, with whatever changes Howard Stein Hudson can make, or step away from the federal and state money.

The December Calendar

The Traffic and Sidewalk Committee is advisory. It is reviewing the resident letters and the pre-75 percent design and will send the Select Board an assessment of what works, what needs fixing, and how the project should proceed.

• Nov. 18: the committee meets to share its views.
• Dec. 2: a second meeting to finalize and vote on its recommendations.
• Week of Dec. 14: a joint meeting with the Select Board, tentatively scheduled.

"We are a public group, so remember after our meeting on [Dec. 2], everybody in town knows exactly where we are," committee member Kit Diver told the Observer. "Our formal meeting with the Select Board will be no surprise to them. It will be a ratification."

The Select Board may be voting short-handed. In June, two members had recused themselves, leaving three to vote on the project. Board member Anupam Sachdev said then that he was wary of ending a project that residents had approved at Town Meeting twice: "I think the appropriate thing would be to bring it back to Town Meeting." If the board advances the project, Gaumond said residents will "more than likely" get another say when the state requires Weston to acquire land along the corridor.

Project documents, summaries of resident comments and the committee's list of open questions are in the public database on the town's Route 30 Reconstruction page.

Changes to a road affect how the homes along it are reached and screened from traffic. Those effects are easier to judge in the field than on a plan sheet. If you live on or near Route 30 and want a construction-informed walk through what the Winter Street, Oak Street or Newton Street changes could mean at your property line, Jennifer Fish can go through the drawings with you. Book an appointment.