Route 62 Realignment Creates Better Sight Lines for Drivers and a Larger, Safer Garden Space

A drawing shows the colorful new ‘corner’ garden and the old island, marked with a broken line, at the intersection of Old Billerica Road and Burlington Road – Image (c) Bedford DPW, 2018 all rights reserved – Click to view a larger image

Compiled by The Bedford Citizen

As the Bedford Garden Club’s Civic Chair Jan Burnes looked on, Public Works Engineer Adrienne St. John marked the roadway to indicate the location of the new spigot and the boulders in the new ‘corner’ at the intersection of Old Billerica and Burlington Roads – Image (c) JMcCT, 2018 all rights reserved – Click to view larger image

Poor sight lines at the intersection of Old Billerica Road and Burlington Road/Route 62 have vexed drivers for years, now the garden on the intersection’s tiny island will benefit from the roadway’s soon-to-be-implemented redesign. The new plan offers increased safety for drivers as well as volunteers and greenery.

The island hasn’t looked especially lovely this week because Garden Club volunteers recently spirited all the plants away for safe-keeping to facilitate the realignment of the roadway. In its new configuration, the island will become a ‘corner,’ with traffic passing in front of the flower bed as it does at several other intersections.

Each summer the Bedford Garden Club maintains 20 handsome gardens at traffic islands and ‘corners’ in heavily-traveled areas of Bedford, as well as in gardens and planters around public buildings in town.

Garden Club members Judy Storer, Janet Schimelfenyg, Jane Button, and non-member Martha Bryson could have been at some personal risk as they maintained the little island — planting, weeding, and watering from earliest spring through autumn clean-up — as cars whizzed past.

The club’s Civic Chairperson Jan Burnes and her team of more than 50 members and non-member volunteers garden to beautify the Town each year. Non-member volunteers include neighbors, gardeners employed near a particular location, and members of the Friends of the Minuteman Bikeway.

Each of the gardens is staffed by a Garden Coordinator (*) and volunteers:

Brooksbie/Great Rd. (and Center Island)
*Christine McGovern, Kate Faulkner, Sandy Alexander, Ellen Kift, and Marie Sheffield (nonmember)

Burlington/Old Billerica Rd.
*Judy Storer, Janet Schimelfenyg, and Martha Bryson (non-member)

Dunster/Page Rd.
*Cheryl Miksenas

North/Chelmsford Rd
*Gayle Lewis, and Barbara Aldorisio

Page/Old Billerica Rd (often thought of as Page/Burlington Rd.)
*Barbara Kupfrian, Toni Wood, Lisa Di Sanzo, Dawn Warrington, Mary Kernan, Keiko Brown (nonmember), and Tina Miller (nonmember)

Springs/Hillside Rd.
*Claire Austin-White, Susan Wingfield, Chris Lipson, Priscilla Grunes, Carol Amick, Judy Watkins, and Kay Hamilton (nonmember)

Springs/Pine Hill Corners (2 gardens)
*Bridget Clayton, and *Cheryl Miksenas

Loomis/Webber Ave.
*Claire Higson, Gladys Drohan, Sue Giurleo, Jodi Mahoney, Joanne Orlando, and Tiffany Whitt (nonmember)

Hayden Fountain
*Kay Hamilton (nonmember)

Library (Planting and Weeding)
*Jan Burnes, Marion Connarton, Barbara O’Neil, Barbara Feehrer, Jane Button, Christine McGovern, and Gayle Lewis

Burlington/Hume Rd.
*Judy Brunner and Lori Gleason (nonmembers), with Dorothy Africa, and Kathy Recca

Old Town Hall
*Jan Burnes, Marion Connarton, Barbara O’Neil, Barbara Feehrer, and Gayle Lewis

Shawsheen/Page Rd
*Sandy Baker, Bonnie Kelly, Heather Day, and Caren Caplan (nonmember)

South Rd./Railroad Ave (Corner)
*Breena Daniell-Gordon, Jodi Mahoney, and Anne Meffan (nonmember)

Davis/Concord Rd (Corner)
*Mary Ellen Dunstan, Robin Edmonds, Judy Watkins, Mary Ellen Doherty, and neighbors

Herb Garden at Job Lane Farm
*Jeannette Pothier, Claire Higson, Bridget Clayton, Kathryn Rifkin, Dorothy Africa, Priscilla Grunes, Chris McGovern, and advisor Jo Champney

Minuteman Bikeway Gardens
*Terry Gleason and Friends of the Bikeway

Shawsheen Road Lily Bed
*Sarah Freeman