Boards, residents push for intersection redesign in Shelburne

By CHRIS LARABEE

Staff Writer

Published: 02-08-2023 6:27 PM

SHELBURNE — The Selectboard is awaiting a response from the state about which entity would be responsible for modifications to the intersection of Frankton Road and Route 112, following a letter from the Colrain Selectboard and its residents.

Frankton Road, which is frequently traveled by both Shelburne and Colrain residents, slopes down to Route 112 at such an angle that drivers turning northbound onto the state route must often creep into the oncoming lane because the sight lines are so difficult. The road is also so narrow that it is challenging for two vehicles to pass one another.

Shelburne Selectboard member Bob Manners, who is the liaison to the town’s Highway Department, said the board received Colrain’s letter and has heard resident feedback about the road in the past. The Selectboard is now waiting on a response from the state Department of Transportation (MassDOT) before any sort of engineering or design proposals are pursued to remedy these problems because the town is unclear on whose responsibility it is to undertake work on a road that meets a state route.

“That letter went out last week,” Manners said. “Is it a state highway project or a local project? That’s what we’re trying to hash out now.”

Shelburne’s move follows a January letter from the Colrain Selectboard in which two dozen residents of Call and Patten Hill roads — which are Colrain roads in the vicinity of Frankton Road — signed a letter requesting their town reach out to their neighbors.

“Making a right-hand turn is very difficult at times, requiring the driver to make a two-point turn in the middle of Route 112,” the Colrain residents’ letter to both selectboards reads. “As residents who must regularly negotiate this intersection, we ask that you investigate and pursue possibilities for improving this situation for the safety of all who travel there.”

The Colrain Selectboard also sent its own letter to Shelburne’s Selectboard offering “any assistance we can provide” in the process of reworking the intersection.

If the state were to claim responsibility for the redesign project, Manners and fellow Shelburne Selectboard member Andrew Baker said that would open up several new funding streams, such as the federal Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which could significantly cut down the town’s costs.

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“We agreed to look into it and see what the parameters of the project are. It’s a state road and there’s a potential to put it on the TIP list with the (Franklin) Regional Council of Governments to achieve federal money,” Baker explained. “There’s a funding intersection as well as a physical intersection.”

Manners believes now is an opportune time to improve the problematic intersection because several nearby structures have been demolished and the town now has control of those properties.

“It’s a safety hazard. We’ve known that it’s been a difficult intersection,” Manners said. “With the demolition of the two houses … it gives us an opportunity to explore improving that intersection.”

While he’s known about the intersection’s shortcomings for a while, Manners noted there have been “very few motor vehicle crashes there,” which may be why MassDOT hasn’t paid any attention to it before. With more crashes occurring around intersections like Colrain-Shelburne Road and Route 2, he speculated that Route 112 and Frankton Road’s intersection may have flown “under the radar.”

If the state were to declare the project to be Shelburne’s responsibility, Manners said officials would probably look at Chapter 90 funding and several grants to pay for the reconfiguration, which will be a drawn-out project.

Before any work is done, however, Shelburne is waiting for MassDOT’s response.

“It is an area, that to do it properly, would need a significant amount of engineering. … It’s not something where we can just start digging into the bank and see what we come up with,” Manners said. “As a town, we would love for the state to be involved due to the amount of monies that will be required between the engineering and actual reconstruction of the road.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.

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