Frustrated commuters trying to walk from Rustcraft Road to the Dedham Corporate Center MBTA station will gain a temporary form of access this week with the completion of a new fence opening between the two.
The T is constructing a safe entryway through the fence, with a railing that will force pedestrians to walk in an arc as a means of forcing them to slow down, rather than walk straight through an opening in the fence that people have made to avoid taking a long way around to get to the station.
Town Administrator William Keegan said he expected the opening to be completed by tomorrow. MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the new entryway should be ready at some point this week.
Pedestrians from the Station 250 and Jefferson at Dedham Station developments have been blocked from directly accessing the train station recently by a locked gate in the fence.
"It was never intended to be a gate for public use," Pesaturo wrote in an e-mail.
Access from the northern side of the tracks has been a years-long issue, with commuters going around the fence or through openings in it to get to the train station, which is on the southern side. The site already has two pedestrian crossings on the tracks between the fence and station.
The alternative is a roundabout drive to the station on Allied Drive.
Developer Fairfield Residential is required to pay for safe pedestrian access from Rustcraft Road to the station as part of its Zoning Board of Appeals permit for Station 250. That longterm arrangement is still being worked out between Fairfield and the T. Pesaturo said it would include a lights-and-bells warning system "that alerts pedestrians to trains approaching the station," and additional fencing.
Fairfield could not be reached for comment at their Framingham office Friday.
Keegan said Dedham has also applied for a $700,000 transit-oriented development grant from the state Department of Transportation to improve pedestrian access in the area.
"We're waiting on word on whether or not we're going to receive that," he said.
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
