State Studying Dangerous Fellsway East Intersection After Crash

MALDEN, MA — The state is examining the troublesome Fellsway East and Savin Street intersection following a crash that left a young woman using the crosswalk with serious injuries last week.

State engineers have been sent to review the geometry and sight lines of the intersection. The improvement suggestions they make will be considered by the Department of Conservation, which owns and operates the roadway.

The DCR has no immediate plans to remove the crosswalk, a spokesperson told Patch. The site study comes among calls for safety improvements, including the possible removal of the lengthy crosswalk that has long been the subject of complaints from residents.

State Sen. Jason Lewis joined residents Monday in calling for the DCR to make the intersection safer, even potentially removing the crosswalk.

"We are now urgently appealing to DCR to take action to make the crosswalk at Savin Street safer (and possibly remove this crosswalk entirely, at least temporarily,)" Lewis posted on Facebook.

Renewed calls to make the intersection safer came after a young woman was struck by a vehicle Thursday. State police said over the weekend she was in intensive care at Mass. General Hospital. The driver stayed on scene and has not been charged.

The intersection is not included in the nearby Fellsway East and Highland Ave. modification project, which is in the final design stages. That $1 million project, which includes the removal of the center island in the intersection and installing a four-way traffic stop, is scheduled to begin construction in the spring.

City data indicates at least four fatalities on the Fellsway in Malden since 1994.

A number of readers emailed Patch in the hours following Thursday's crash, many saying they have been complaining about the intersection for years. Some pointed to the lack of enforcement of the 25 m.p.h. speed limit as a bigger problem than crosswalk.

"There’s not a safe place to cross anywhere on that stretch of road," Jayne Wagenheim, who walks her dogs across the intersection every day, said. "The only way to resolve both problems [the crosswalk and speeding] would be to put a stop light at the crosswalk."

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Main photo by Mike Carraggi, Patch