At its Jan. 16 traffic hearing, the Revere City Traffic Commission authorized staff to conduct one week of traffic counts on Charger Street after the Department of Planning and Community Development submitted a resident petition asking for traffic-calming measures.

Julie DeMarre, Department of Planning and Community Development, told the commission the petition came through the ward counselor and that the department will “conduct one week's worth of traffic counts, and then I will bring it back to the traffic working group.”

The petition asks the city to examine complaints of cut-through traffic and speeding where Charger Street meets Squire Road. Ward councilor Giannino told the commission he had speed and volume data from 2023 and 2024 and said prior city work in 2022 also examined the corridor. “The problem appears to be consistent volume as opposed to speed,” Giannino said, adding that most observed cars recorded speeds of about 22 to 25 miles per hour during weeklong samples and that daily vehicle volume was on the order of 1,800 to 2,000 vehicles on sampled weeks.

Commissioners and staff discussed the scope of the forthcoming count. DeMarre said staff will collect both speed and volume data at multiple points on the street, noting they plan to examine Charger Street between Malden Street and Romney Road and again between Charger at Romney and the traffic signal at the bottom of the hill. “We will look at both sections of the street,” DeMarre said, “we won't just be looking at it at one end.”

Commission members and staff listed potential solutions that would be considered only after data review, including targeted traffic-calming installations, sidewalk improvements or curb/narrowing changes. Chief Callahan (police chief) and other staff noted that prior studies and site geometry — notably a change in driver behavior approaching the signal at the bottom of the hill — affect the location and type of countermeasures that might work. DeMarre emphasized that the study may show no changes are warranted: “We don't even know if the speed bump is really warranted here, but, hopefully, the study will kinda give us the data that we need.”

The commission directed staff to proceed; DeMarre said the ward counselor, identified as Councilor Giannino, will receive the findings and staff will return to the commission to propose any specific measures. The commission did not adopt any traffic-calming devices at the Jan. 16 meeting; it authorized the data collection and follow-up process.

Next steps: staff will deploy equipment to gather one week's worth of speed and volume counts, analyze the data, present findings to the traffic working group, and report proposed solutions back to the Traffic Commission and the ward counselor for further action.