Where The Braintree Mayoral Candidates Stand On Traffic Issues

BRAINTREE, MA — Residents and candidates for mayor and Town Council have continued to highlight traffic as one of the most important issues the town must address. With major highways like Interstate 93 and Route 3 and a major Red Line MBTA stop, Braintree roads face consistent backups, since the entire South Shore is usually going through town to get to Boston.

To help voters understand where candidates stand on the town's most important issues, Patch will focus coverage on specific issues, such as traffic, and give residents the ability to be more informed. Mayoral candidates Charles Kokoros and Thomas Reynolds discussed how they'd try to improve the town's traffic issues in a candidates forum last week.

See Where The Candidates Stand On Other Issues

• Where The Braintree Mayoral Candidates Stand On Zoning

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Reynolds said the issue of traffic isn't just a town-wide issue; it's a regional one. He told Braintree residents he would meet with local officials in neighboring communities, as well as officials from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to come up with solutions.

Reynolds spoke about the some of the town's ongoing efforts to fix traffic in town, such as signal control technology to improve the flow of traffic at major intersections. But he said that isn't enough to improve the issues.

"Coordination of lights is part but is only a minor fix," Reynolds said.

Reynolds said Braintree's next mayor will also need to have conversations with map app developers. He said he would ask developers to divert traffic outside of neighborhoods to keep them from becoming congested during rush hour.

Kokoros said the traffic signal control signals the town has explored are improving because they collect data over time and use that data to determine how long lights should be based on traffic. He said he's hopeful they can continue to reduce congestion and make an impact long-term.

Another suggestion Kokoros made was restricting access to certain neighborhoods during rush hour for nonresidents.

"We have massive amounts of traffic, and it's cut-through traffic," Kokoros said. "A lot of it is coming from off the highway."

Kokoros also said the town needs to look at re-configuring certain roads and intersections, one of which was the Granite Street intersection near the South Shore Plaza.

"It creates chaos for anyone not going to the South Shore Plaza," Kokoros said.

To determine which roads need re-configuring, Kokoros suggested appointing a committee of residents to identity some of Braintree's worst bottlenecks.

Next on Braintree Patches issue election stories will be economic development.

Check back for more election coverage.

Patch Candidate Profiles:

• Braintree Candidate Profile: Thomas Reynolds Jr. For Mayor
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Charles Kokoros For Mayor
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Timothy Carey For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Lawrence Mackin For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Julia Flaherty For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: David Ringius For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Steve Sciascia For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Gisca Bonhomme For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Donna Connors For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Meredith Boericke For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: John McKinley For Town Council