Wondering about Conway at South: Would on-street parking on both sides help slow down speeding cars?

The photos below are looking up Conway Street from its intersection with South Street directly adjacent to the commuter rail stop. Recently, I’ve noticed that signs have gone up seeking to encourage drivers to slow down, and even more recently a crosswalk has been painted after the street was repaved. Both interventions are visible in the photos, which I took this evening on the way home. My own personal observation is that these are well-intentioned steps taken by the city and/or residents on the street to deal with a real problem — drivers at this intersection tend, far too often, to ignore the stop sign at Conway/South coming down the hill, and they drive too fast. Apropos of the title to this post, I also wonder why there’s on-street parking only on one side of Conway at this location. The paved street width here is about 26′, about the same width as Fairview Street (one block over, about 25′ in width) and, to the naked eye, most other streets on Peters Hill. I would posit that one reason there’s excessive speeding on this street is that there’s parking only on one side of the street (as opposed to Fairview and most every other street I can think of in the immediate vicinity), leaving a too-wide driving area that signals to those behind the wheel that the way has been cleared for them to comfortably exceed the default speed limit of 30 mph. I would further posit that allowing for on-street parking on both sides of the street would signal to drivers that they must proceed on this street with caution and at a rate of speed at or below that posted speed limit. With only a single lane in each direction, cars going in opposite directions on the street have to yield to each other in order to safely pass, and they must therefore drive more slowly. This is a condition that generally works quite well throughout Peters Hill and elsewhere in the city. Comments welcome, especially from Conway residents following WalkUP who may have insight on why Conway is set up this way today.

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4 thoughts to “Wondering about Conway at South: Would on-street parking on both sides help slow down speeding cars?”

  1. Parking on both sides would seem to be one solution; but couldn’t we push for more creative traffic calming, like chicanes, which could also add green-space to the street? Would there also be any value to adding a bike lane?

  2. I love the idea. I didn’t realize the street was same width as other streets on the hill. Adding more parking here could allow for removing parking in key areas of the village.

  3. Just around the bend from Rozzie, you have a similar situation on McBride Street in JP off South St. It’s a one-way cut through from South to Amory and Washington. There’s only parking on the left side which encourages speeding as a straightaway. Putting parking on the right side of the street would slow cars down. Could also add a bike lane instead or in addition to connect South St cyclists to the Southwest Corridor that way.

    https://www.google.com/maps/@42.305963,-71.114207,3a,75y,89.64h,67.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYm9cvjxF_Dqgi-uWFRtsyw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

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