Voters should approve Articles 26 and 28

Town Meeting should approve Articles 26 and 28 to address long-standing safety and quality-of-life concerns on Sherman’s Bridge Road. This is a narrow, winding, 0.7-mile designated scenic road with few sidewalks, no bike lanes, and limited lighting. Residents and cyclists share the roadway with vehicles that routinely exceed the 25 mph limit. Many drivers aren’t even local, just cutting through our neighborhood en route to other towns as they use Sherman’s Bridge to bypass state roads.

Article 26 targets the heavy commercial truck through-traffic. The road isn’t designed for such vehicles. The trucks add noise and risk to a slim residential corridor surrounded by conservation land, while increasing wear to the road and the wooden bridge. Keeping with state law, this article preserves access for local services, emergency vehicles, school buses, and such, seeking only to redirect inappropriate heavy trucks to the state roads built for them.

Article 28 addresses residents’ daily safety. It calls for a 20 mph speed limit, better signage, a crosswalk — basic measures aligned with the state’s 2023 Vulnerable Road Users laws. The risk of severe injury or death by vehicles rises sharply with speed, and many residents feel unsafe walking along or even crossing the road.

Opponents point to necessary legal and procedural hurdles. But a “yes” vote is the first step. It signals to MassDOT and town management that Wayland is serious about improving safety here. Doing nothing guarantees the status quo: increasing risks, speeding traffic, heavy trucks, and continued deterioration of quality of life along this historic Wayland road. Please, vote yes on Articles 26 and 28.

Elisabeth Carter,