September 15, 2025 By Carol Britton Meyer
While a roundabout at the dangerous Main/Middle/Short Street intersection in Hingham Centre is currently at the top of the list of recommendations to make that stretch safer, other alternatives have not been ruled out.
At a recent Traffic Committee meeting, numerous residents living in the area, committee members, and Town Engineer J.R. Frey discussed the situation at length.
The idea behind a roundabout is to slow traffic speed and reduce the number of conflict points.
There have been 19 crashes in this area in the past five years – including a fatality involving a motorcycle in 2021 – which led to a road safety audit conducted by traffic engineers Vanasse & Associates that identifies potential improvements to help make this intersection safer.
These include both unsignalized and signalized intersection control as well as a roundabout configuration. A roundabout is different from, and smaller than, a rotary.
The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization is reviewing the design alternatives as part of their technical assistance program.
Middle Street resident Kerrin Rowley is a strong advocate for change. She recalled a serious accident her son was involved in several years ago as a passenger – when a motorist flagged the driver of the car he was in to go, but another driver T-boned the vehicle, hitting her son’s side of the car and flipping it.
“Fortunately, my son and the driver survived with barely a few scratches after climbing out through the sunroof,” she said.
Rowley believes there are better options than a roundabout – which she talked about at the meeting and also during a follow-up conversation with the Anchor – including installing long, narrow islands to keep drivers from crossing over 228, which she believes “causes 100 percent of the car accidents.”
Change is hard, she said, “but if we can save someone’s life, it’s worth it.”
Rowley also suggested another option – to allow right turns only out of Middle Street onto Main and coming from Dependable Cleaners – which could be done in conjunction with signage and striping controls on the Hingham Centre Main Street and Middle Street approaches – rather than a roundabout.
Fire truck movement plan
Key to the roundabout discussion is inclusion of a fire truck movement plan to ensure there’s adequate space for all fire trucks – including the largest one, the Quint – and all vehicles traveling through the intersection to make it safely through.
This could include a textured concrete or cobbled surface for the interior island. “A regular passenger car will want to stay on the asphalt area, but any larger vehicle needing to would be able to traverse [over this area] at a reasonable speed without damage to the vehicle,” Frey explained.
Pedestrian safety
Rachel Condelli, who lives on Middle Street near the intersection, said she holds her breath whenever she heads for the bagel shop and wondered about pedestrian safety related to any roundabout that might be installed.
Frey explained that traffic would be channelized into the roundabout in a way that would force vehicles to slow down as they move through it — “at a safe speed of 20-25 mph, with plenty of room to stop to accommodate pedestrians. Also, people should not be on their cell phones, but rather paying attention to the road.”
Andrea Sullivan, who has lived near the intersection for many years, applauded efforts to address this issue. She reiterated what other neighbors shared during the meeting related to regularly avoiding traveling through the intersection, adding, “We’ve taught our kids to never cross Main Street from Middle Street.”
At some point, a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon will be installed for pedestrians crossing Short Street from Dependable Cleaners, which is part of a Massachusetts Department of Transportation Vulnerable Road user Equipment grant awarded to the town. The location of the RRFB can be adjusted based on the final design solution.
Complete Streets grant
A large portion of the cost of any roundabout work would be covered by a Complete Streets state grant, with the remaining coming from available funds, according to Frey.
In a followup email in response to an inquiry by the Hingham Anchor, Frey said, “We’re open to looking at alternatives, especially if we can’t identify a roundabout style solution that will work for all the necessary vehicles and various turning movements.”
At the same time, he’s “reasonably confident in our design consultants that we can find a solution that will improve traffic and pedestrian safety while not unduly causing delays, and that it will most likely have the operation, if not the strict form that people are familiar with, of a roundabout,” noting that this might be a variation of the “long island” referred to by Rowley.
It’s important to keep in mind, Frey said, that “there are always secondary effects that we try to avoid, and just like we don’t want to push heavy trucking off of Route 228 because they can’t maneuver through the roundabout, we don’t want to force a significant amount of traffic through residential neighborhoods as drivers attempt to navigate their way through town to avoid new movement restrictions if those were implemented at the intersection.”
There will be further discussion in the future.
Townwide 25 mph speed limit proposal also a topic
At the request of the Select Board, the Traffic Committee and Frey also discussed the pros and cons of the possible implementation of a townwide 25 mph speed limit.
This request came on the heels of additional Hingham streets being added to the list of roadways that were recently posted with 25 miles-per-hour signs at a late-August Select Board meeting.
At that time, Chair William Ramsey said he thinks there should be a 25-mph speed limit “across the town,” including collector roads – with the exception of Main Street and state-owned Rte. 3A – including widely traveled High and Cushing Streets “to slow people down.” He feels strongly that any inconvenience is worth it to help avoid accidents.
Following a lengthy discussion, Frye said he’s “largely in agreement” with Traffic Sgt. Jeffrey Kilroy and Police Chief David Jones – who aren’t in favor of blanket 25 mph speed limits.
It was noted that there are already visible 30 mph speed limits posted for thickly settled areas, which remind residents they are in such a zone.
“Blanket speed limits don’t respect the nature and use of a roadway or how it’s constructed and how it’s accessed,” Frey said.
He went on to say that when a blanket speed limit is assigned, “I think it encourages in a sense disrespect of the law, and a lot of people become scofflaws because the law as applied doesn’t make sense related to the nature and character of a roadway and how it’s constructed. Applying a 25 mph speed limit to roads that are safe when traveling 30 to 40 mph is not going to stop people from driving at what would otherwise be a safe and reasonable speed.”
At the same time, Traffic Committee member Christina Earl pointed out that “research shows” that the higher the speed, the more likely there will be fatalities involved when there’s an accident.
Understanding of Earl’s point, Frey said he would outline in a memo he intends to write to the Traffic Committee outlining the many facets involved in consideration of such a change “existing protections for vulnerable road users within the rights of way.”
Kilroy noted that while there have been “quite a few” pedestrian accidents in town, “thankfully — knock on wood – they’ve been minor and most not speed related – caused by blind spots in cars, inattention by drivers, or bicyclists or motorists not paying intention [among other reasons]. While speed was not a factor in [most of] these – which is somewhat reassuring – I do understand Christina’s concerns.”
There will be other discussions related to this issue in the future.
Every abutting town has a 25 mph town-wide speed limit, Hingham should do the same. Hingham should also install signs that post 4’ pass law for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, runners and cyclists.