Eliminating the Concord Route 2 Rotary should top the list of changes to be made now that MCI-Concord, abutting the Concord Rotary and Route 2, is being closed in June 2024, and the area will be re-developed.
In the earlier 2000s, I attended a town-sponsored presentation with simulations demonstrating how the Concord Route 2 Rotary could be eliminated, allowing through traffic to continue on Route 2, while the local traffic could be routed off onto local roads. It seemed to be a viable plan. Later, it was disappointing to learn that the state decided to make improvements to Crosby’s Corner instead and would not continue with their previous plans to eliminate the Concord Route 2 Rotary.
Entering and navigating the Concord Route 2 rotary is a dangerous undertaking, it creates extensive, time-consuming traffic backups on Route 2 during rush hours, and many drivers dread having to enter this rotary at any hour of the day or night.
Understandably, there are groups expressing interest in creating housing in the area freed up, and also commercial development, but we can’t lose sight of what could be our last and best chance to eliminate the Concord Route 2 rotary hazard. It has been rated #1 in a survey of The Worst Rotaries in Massachusetts!
Let’s make eliminating the Route 2 rotary #1 on our list relative to the land now being freed up, and not put the cart before the horse by prematurely allocating the MCI-Concord property for other purposes before a satisfactory plan for elimination of the Concord Route 2 rotary and replacement with a new plan has been designed. Future housing and businesses can then be better located and designed in relation to the new and improved highway plan.
Connie Levine
Stow Street