November 27, 1998

Survey says: Slow down!
Amesbury News–By DANIELLE LEWIS, NEWS EDITOR

Deterioration of Amesbury's streets and sidewalks, speeding vehicles, a lack of sidewalks, and traffic congestion ranked highest among residents' complaints compiled from a survey conducted this spring.

The Traffic and Transportation Committee presented its findings at a joint meeting with several neighborhood associations Sunday night at the middle school. More than 50 residents from all areas of the town showed up to hear the survey results.

Hillside Avenue resident John Iacobucci opened the discussion with a description of his neighborhood association's "gripe sessions."

"We talk about near misses at intersections, about quality-of-life issues and about how our houses shake when large trucks drive down our streets," he said, adding that the association would like to see more stop signs and crossing guards and would like the speed limits dropped.

"These things are not unreasonable to ask for," he said.

One year ago, the Municipal Council assembled the Traffic and Transportation Committee to review traffic issues and make recommendations for solutions. The seven-person committee included two councilors, three residents, a representative of the police department and a representative of the Design Review Committee.

The committee's one-year term has concluded, and the councilors are appointing new members after having voted for the creation of a permanent Traffic and Transportation Commission.

Of 5,550 surveys distributed, the committee received 558 responses from residents throughout the town. Residents were asked 12 questions about the town's streets, what speed limits should be, what "traffic calming" measures would residents support and what they consider the worst intersections.

Sixty-five percent of the respondents said the speed limit should be set between 25 miles per hour and 30 miles per hour.

Traffic and Transportation Committee Vice Chairman Robert Silvia said that many of the speed limits are posted, and motorists are simply not abiding by the limits.

Fifty-eight percent of the respondents answered that Amesbury's streets need to be more pedestrian-friendly. When given several choices of "traffic calming" measures they would support, 43 percent said police should issue more tickets, 39 percent favored more stop signs or warning signs, and 35 percent want to see more trees along the streets.

Municipal Councilor-at-Large and Traffic and Transportation Committee Chairman Thomas Iacobucci said studies have shown that tree-lined streets create the impression the streets are narrower, which in turn causes drivers to go slower.

Other residents would like to see rumble strips, raised crosswalks, curbed islands and increased on-street parking.

Residents were also asked to name the worst intersections in town. Among the five worst listed were Hillside Avenue at Highland Street, the Market Square rotary, Macy Street at Elm Street and Clarks Road, Friend Street at Main Street and Congress Street at Elm Street.

The survey also asked where residents about the areas with the worst parking conditions. Twenty-eight percent said the downtown area had the worst parking and 14 percent mentioned the library. Other areas included Town Park, Town Hall and Main Street.

Route 110 is a well-known traffic nightmare. As part of the agreement with the developers of the soon coming Stop n' Shop on Route 110, company engineers will come up with the plans for the redesign of the Route 110 corridor, and the state will be paying for the improvements.

The survey asked what improvements residents would like to see along the busy strip of roadway.

Thirty-seven percent of the respondents said the road should have one lane heading in each direction with a center lane available for turning.

Thirty-six percent said the road should have two lanes in each direction separated by a median strip and 16 percent want two lanes in each direction without a median.

Iacobucci said these suggestions would be brought to the engineers before the work begins.

Silvia mentioned that part of the problem is related to the need for tractor-trailer trucks to get off the interstate highways, Route 495 or Route 95, in order to connect to the other. He believes the state should create connectors between the two highways to keep the large vehicles out of the already heavy traffic along Route 110.

Jane Cook, Buttonwoods Road believes the town's traffic issues have more to do with carrying out recommendations than making them.

"The problem is not with making suggestions -- it's getting them implemented," she said.

Iacobucci agreed, citing two areas of town that the council voted to have "no parking" signs installed and the orders were never carried out.

Municipal Councilor and Traffic and Transportation member George Roy hopes the new commission will be established with a budget and the authority to get signs up and to approve, or disapprove, all road improvements.

According to statistics complied by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, 10 of the 3,778 accidents reported in Amesbury between 1988 and 1997, resulted in fatalities, 1,212 resulted in bodily injuries and 2,582 resulted in property damage. One resident asked if the committee had thought about buying a portable speed indicator that might help people realize how fast they are driving.

Officer Glen Chaput said the mechanism would cost the town about $15,000 and added that the police department is looking into grants to purchase one. He added that during the past year, have more than doubled the number of traffic citations they have written out to drivers not following the rules. Since 1997, the number of citations handed out increased from 1,300 to 2,500. He also said that the number of accidents has decreased over the past two years.

Silvia said the changes won't happen overnight, but believes if the Department of Public Works, the new Traffic and Transportation Commission and the state work together, things will improve.

He reminded the audience members to be courteous when driving. "Be a good neighbor," he said. "Everyone speeds in other people's neighborhoods -- but expects people not to speed in theirs."