At the Aug. 26 Zoning Advisory Committee meeting, the proposed Marguerite Concrete building was re-examined. ZAC voted yes (despite a unanimous no vote at the May 2023 Town Meeting), recommending that the Planning Board consider rezoning the property from residential to rural business district zoning.

I wanted to express the general concerns regarding traffic issues this building could cause.

The accompanying map shows the proposed new building, with parking for 80 cars. The yellow arrow indicates the building entrance, the blue arrow shows Hayward Street (already busy, residential, narrow 1.5-lane two-way traffic road), and the red arrow identifies South Street.

Not pictured: The South Street and Hayward Street traffic light, 264 feet from the building entrance. South Street has heavy traffic from 7-9 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. Across South Street from Marguerite’s entrance is an entrance for Riverside Services. Auciello Drive abuts Marguerite’s building.

Dangerous traffic ripple effect:

— Cars moving left from the Marguerite building will be moving into 264 feet of space (dangerously short stopping distance for cars already exceeding posted speed limits on South Street) into and across three traffic lanes.

— Meanwhile, traffic flows toward the Hayward/South corner traffic light.

— Simultaneously, cars are moving left into the building entrance.

— Cars are moving left at the South/Hayward light into the same traffic flow.

— Cars are moving right out of Marguerite’s entrance, with increased traffic at the light.

— From 7-9 a.m. and 3-6 p.m., traffic will be overcrowded. Concern? Daily traffic jams on Hayward Street and South Street.

This forces traffic in and out of the Hayward neighborhood onto Downey Street (a narrow 1.5-lane residential street). Concern? Daily traffic jams on Downey Street and accidents on 
Hayward and Downey.

— West Main Street/Downey Street intersection could become exponentially dangerous (outer ripple effect).

— Possibly exponentially more dangerous moving left from Downey onto Hayward.

— Emergency vehicle traffic possibly inhibited.

— Children and adults regularly walk on Hayward and Downey. They should be able to continue this freely. Treacherous?

Remember the regular terrible accidents egressing 42 South Street (EMC site adjacent to Price Chopper) while EMC employees resided there? What will happen at South Street and Hayward Street with Marguerite’s new building there, but now with many more obstacles for drivers traversing a short distance?

Do ZAC and the Planning Board still think that this proposed lot rezoning is a good idea despite this unsafe perfect storm?

— Terry Dever, Hopkinton

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