The Select Board approved making Elm Place a one-way street and is considering additional traffic changes, following recommendations from the Swampscott Police Department.

The Swampscott Police Department recommended changes to streets throughout the town. Officer Kevin Reen presented plans for Elm Place, Kings Beach Terrace, the Norfolk and Middlesex Avenues intersection, as well as Burpee Road.

Elm Place will be converted into a one-way street, with traffic entering near The Westcott apartment complex and exiting near The Swamp gym.

“That’s the general flow of the traffic as it moves through that street,” Reen said. “We spoke with all of the residents of the area.”

The town will need to repair and modify a few things to convert Elm Place into a one-way street. Reen noted shrubbery on the exit side would need to be manicured to allow a better view point of parking signs. It remains unclear whether the overgrowth is located on private or town-owned property.

In addition, one parking spot may need to be removed.

“Mr. (Gino) Cresta and I did speak about this, possibly eliminating a spot at the very end, entering onto Essex Street,” Reen said. “It could possibly pose a problem for traffic pulling out.” 

Parking signs at Kings Beach Terrace as well as the Norfolk and Middlesex Avenues intersection have become difficult to read.

“We had worked through social media to put out an information request for people in areas noticing traffic signs or street signs being washed out or hard to read, to notify us,” Reen said. “This was a result of that.”

For Burpee Road, Reen suggested holding a community meeting to discuss the potential of a one-way street.

“We have about a month’s worth of data, where there’s only been about 14,000 to 15,000 cars that travel on that,” Reen said. “There hasn’t been any conversation with anybody outside of Burpee Road, up into the upper precincts…I think the infrastructure of those streets would bear a lot of weight with the additional change in traffic.”

Reen, however, did add that he is not a traffic engineer, suggesting that the town may want to bring in an engineering company to “evaluate what might need to be constructed, moved, adjusted.”

“I wouldn’t want to rush anything forward,” Reen said. 

Select Board Member Danielle Leonard noted that some residents have shared that they will be burdened with needing to reroute each morning if Burpee Road does become a one-way.

There was discussion about adding speed bumps to the road in an effort to reduce car speeds on the road.

“You have residents that are asking for these speed bumps,” Select Board Member Mary Ellen Fletcher said. “They’re temporary. Why don’t we just put them in there?”

The average speed on the road is 24 mph, according to Reen. He suggested the town looks into if there will be a difference after speed humps are put in place.

“We’ll put in the temporary speed bump, and have a community meeting at some later point. I can work on collecting the data from the speed bump time, and compare it to the data that we have before the speed bump,” Reen said. “If it works, great, and if it doesn’t we have other options.”