The Belmont Transportation Advisory Committee heard its first community feedback on a potential pilot program that would ban cars from taking a left turn out of the drop-off loop at Belmont High School (BHS) onto Goden Street during school drop-off hours.
The pilot, which is still in the research stages according to committee Chair Daniel Eldridge, would aim to decrease traffic congestion on lower Goden Street. Currently, parents drop their high school children off at the front doors of the school in a small loop and drive around, taking a left to end up back at the stoplight at the intersection of Concord Avenue and Goden Street.
Under the pilot, instead of turning left between 7 and 8 a.m. after the drop-off loop, cars would circle the building to exit on Hittinger Street. Drivers would then take either Underwood Street or Blanchard Road to return to their route.
“This is not something that we’re proposing immediate action on. It’s something that we’re trying to get a sense of,” Eldridge said.
Neighborhood residents and parents alike spoke about the plan — some saying that while intentions are good, the change will do little to mitigate the impact area residents have seen since the high school opened in 2021.
“Frankly, all we’re doing now is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” said Anne Marie Mahoney. “This is not going to be a solution. It’s not going to solve the parking or the traffic or the safety on any of these side streets that surround the high school and the middle school.”
With parents forced to drive the long way after dropping off their kids, some residents say drop-offs in neighborhoods could increase. Areas like Myrtle Street already see compounded traffic with parents dropping off their high school kids and buses coming to the neighborhood elementary school, said resident Blanca Lain.
Lain added that her street is “a complete zoo” on school mornings, and that a change in traffic would only make it worse.
Some residents said they have already witnessed accidents or near-misses in their neighborhoods during peak traffic times. While barring a left turn might seem like a potential solution, neighbors insist it will only reroute the problem.
“[Drivers] are going to do whatever they can to avoid Brighton Street up at the light at Concord [Avenue]. It’s not going to mitigate anything, as far as I can tell,” said Emma Thurston.
Thurston added that the nearby train can increase congestion and urged Eldridge and others on the committee to consider its impact before moving forward.
“We’ve seen accidents at the train crossing, we’ve seen trains hit cars,” she said.
The committee has not yet discussed the pilot with the school district, Eldridge said. The committee hosted the public input session in hopes of moving forward with a pilot in May, if it receives district approval.
School Committee Chair Meghan Moriarty emphasized that neither the high school principal nor superintendent had signed off on the pilot at this time.
“Many of these types of changes affect school operations,” she said, “and, as many people have stated, [it affects] our student safety and our employees and how they access that parking area.”
