Seven Villages, Janet Joakim

I have had little time lately to post on this blog, and there are several issues that I need to update.

This post is regarding the notorious Rt. 28 and Lumbert’s Mill Rd. - there has been a renewed discussion about the traffic lights at the intersection of rt 28 and lumberts mill.  While we were away, there was yet another bad accident at that intersection. Robert Gould spoke to me last week about the status of the lights that, we all know have been discussed for years and years.

I hear regularly from constituents and the sentiment is all similar. Stop talking about it and do it!

We have been talking about it for more than 10 years, and I have been talking about it since before I became a councilor.  In 2001/2002 Demetrius Atsalis was able to secure a transportation bond to address this intersection beginning with a study and the state decided to add the Sounth County and Rt 149 to that study.

After a meeting last summer for public input, we have been assured these intersections are now slated for traffic lights and they are on a schedule, and we are told to expect construction to start in ”autumn of FY09.”

I have faith it will happen, but honestly, I will believe it when I see a shovel in the ground. 

In the mean time, I don’t understand why the state won’t remove that 50 MPH speed limit sign that sits 100 feet before the intersection heading west. I discussed it with people from Mass Highway and was told that people don’t pay attention to those signs.  I don’t buy that. People see that sign and speed up.

And, beyond the 28 and Lumbert’s Mill intersection there are several small neighborhoods whose access is via rt 28. There have been many accidents along the stretch between Lumbert’s Mill and the South County. Slowing the speed in that area would do nothing but GOOD.

One major frustration in the argument for these three traffic lights is that despite traffic counts that in some cases didn’t “warrant” an intersection, the traffic that doesn’t use the intersections and is traveling through the neighborhood main arterial roads, that are mostly private roads and are not designed for that level of traffic, will not show up in traffic counts.

The fact that people cut-through neighborhoods to use intersections with traffic lights is hard to prove. But, the stress on those already signaled intersections is obvious in their traffic accident counts.

Which leads to another issue that is remains unresolved with Mass Highway. We have all requested more left turn signals. most needed is a left turn signal coming north on Old Stage, an West on Rt 28, the opposite of each has a left turn signal.  When I have stood out on that corner during various campaigns, the patterns of behavior as people creatively take left turns makes everyone wonder why there are more accidents then actually happen there.

I hope that by regularly reminding Mass Highway that we are expecting these traffic lights, we will see construction as originally committed.

Gould’s story was on the front page today. The photo that accompanied it was of a clean intersection with cars queued on both sides - unfortunately, I have photos of the same place with much different scenes.

 Links:

 - project details on mass highway site:    http://www.mhd.state.ma.us//default.asp?pgid=content/projectsRoot&sid=wrapper&iid=http://www.mhd.state.ma.us//ProjectInfo/

CCTimes : State gives crash course on bureaucracy - 3/29/2008   CENTERVILLE — Red tape has held up the installation of a traffic light for years at Lumbert Mill Road and Route 28, one of the most dangerous intersections on the Cape……