This fall, Leonard and Front streets will be getting new signage and pavement markings as part of the DPW’s traffic calming efforts. These improvements are in response to safety concerns expressed by neighborhood residents and will be paid for out of the $50,000 for traffic mitigation paid to the city by the developers of the Beaver Brook project. The signs will mark curves and indicate recommended speeds, while the double yellow center line and white shoulder lines will serve to visually narrow these streets. According to Laura Hanson, the DPW engineer who met with Leeds residents at a traffic-calming forum held at the Leeds School in February, visually narrowing a roadway has been shown to be effective in slowing down traffic. Additional traffic calming efforts in the Yankee Hill neighborhood will occur as determined after further discussions between neighbors and the DPW.

View map here.