Two major intersections —the Pine Street, Forge Village Road, Abbot Street, and Town Farm Road intersection and the Forge Village Road and Cold Spring Road intersection— will change from two-way stop to four-way stop intersections on Wednesday, Sept. 10. Implemented to improve safety and create traffic fluidity on the road, the new traffic routes are a result of Westford’s collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT).
In January 2025, the state asked local town government bodies to provide feedback to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on any necessary safety improvements that needed to be added to intersections. The initiative has introduced the idea of increasing security on roadways which, on previous MassDOT evaluations, had met the federal warrant for all-way stop control due to the high number of accidents and traffic volume seen in the area.
“The town saw that there were a lot of accidents happening at the [Pine Street, Forge Village Road, Abbot Street, and Town Farm Road intersection], so they needed to make the change to make it safer for everyone,” School Resource Officer Anthony Bernadin said.
In addition to safety issues, the two-way stops caused traffic build-up at the intersection, interfering with drivers coming to and from Westford Academy. The change to four-way stops intends to help alleviate some of the traffic when leaving school, and should not affect the attendance and punctuality of students.
“Oftentimes in the morning, the traffic builds up on that intersection when people don’t let buses and other drivers continue to the high school,” sophomore Elijah Jaz-Lynde said. “Many mornings, my bus driver takes an alternate route or [a] shortcut to avoid the intersection.”
To remind drivers of the new changes, “New Traffic Pattern Ahead” signs will be posted for several weeks, and portable message boards will also be used.
The Westford Department of Public Works and the Westford Police Department have both posted about the new change on their Facebook and received positive feedback from residents, with many individuals requesting similar changes in other intersections, such as the Pleasant Street, East and West Prescott, and Forge Beach intersection.
