Residents Will be Heard on Mt. Auburn Street Changes

Watertown residents will have several chances to weigh in on the proposed changes to Mt. Auburn Street.

The Town Council recommended funding the design of the project, which may narrow the main artery from two lanes each way to one east of Common Street. After designers come up with the next set of designs, public meetings will he held where residents can see and comment on the new designs, said Steve Magoon, Watertown’s director of Economic Development and Planning.

“We will have six or seven public workshops to go through some of the options and refine the designs,” Magoon said.

The town must bring the designs to the “25 percent level,” Magoon said, in order to qualify for Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) funds – dollars provided by the federal government and doled out by the state.

It will cost an estimated $500,000 to come up with those designs, Magoon said, and he hopes the first public meeting could take place within a few months.

“I think the (Department of Public Works) is working with our consultant, and will have some of the first workshops fairly soon,” Magoon said.

The project has been discussed for several years, with some concerns about Mt. Auburn Street going back at least a decade.