During the spring and summer of 2007, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) conducted a study analyzing traffic volumes, speed, accident rates, turning movements, and other traffic patterns in the neighborhood street network comprised by Florence Road, Scanlon Avenue, Bliss Street, Cross Street, Ryan Road, and Pine Street.

The Northampton Transportation and Parking Commission (TPC) requested this federally-funded study in response to neighborhood concerns following the City Council's decision to make Scanlon Avenue a one-way street in 2006.

A pre-study neighborhood meeting was held at the Florence Community Center by the TPC on April 24, 2007. At that well-attended meeting, traffic engineers from PVPC collected public input from the affected neighborhoods that it used to design and carry out its study.

Those same traffic engineers from PVPC presented the draft findings of its traffic study to a special public meeting of the Transportation and Parking Commission and the neighborhood on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 at 7:00 pm in the Florence Community Center, 140 Pine Street, Florence, MA.

The meeting was attended by 39 area neighbors and included a lengthy question and answer session between the public, Commission, and PVPC representatives.

A copy of PVPC's draft traffic study is downloadable at:

Please send your comments and feedback on the study to the Transportation and Parking Commission or e-mail them to dnarkewicz@comcast.net