Traffic Council OKs Parking Trial Near Newton South

Traffic Council · Meeting of September 24, 2026

Newton's Traffic Council approved a long-term parking trial covering four streets near Newton South High School. Chair David Kozes said the school has about 500 seniors but only 145 on-campus permits at $208 per semester, prompting a data-driven plan to restrict parking on narrow sections of Roosevelt Road and Littlefield Road while opening a wider stretch of Brandeis Road. The council voted 5-0 to hold the plan, known as TC 5526, for trial, and separately voted 5-0 to take no action on two related Littlefield Road and Greenwood Street petitions already folded into it.

In a separate vote, the council denied 63 Cottage Street resident Jeffrey Ricklin's request to remove four no-turn-on-red signs in Petty Square, with Director of Transportation Planning Jen Martin's letter urging retention "given the concentration of walking, bicycling, transit, school...activity." The council also approved, 5-0, converting signage to official "blue zones" at Bigelow Middle School and starting a two-hour parking trial on nine Chestnut Street spaces near the Gamewell building.

In the full story:

• Bigelow Middle School Blue Zone Conversion (TC 6126)
• Petty Square No-Turn-on-Red Signs (TC 1126)
• Chestnut Street Parking Near the Gamewell Building (TC 1226)
• Newton South High School Neighborhood Parking Plan (TC 926, TC 2726, TC 5526)
• Background and the data-driven framework
• Roosevelt Road
• Brandeis Road
• Littlefield Road
• Greenwood Street
• Procedural outcome
• Implications and what is next
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,866 words

Source: the Traffic Council meeting of September 24, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.