September 7, 2006
Roadway roulette
The state highway department
continues to work in slow motion.
Last week, we asked why there were no traffic lights at
Route 28 and South County Road in Marstons Mills - a dangerous
intersection and the site of many accidents.
Turns out, Edward Barry of Marstons Mills raised the same
question about five years ago. He collected 1,200 signatures
from neighbors to petition the state to install the lights.
He and the rest of us are still waiting.
State Rep. Demetrius Atsalis, D-Barnstable, and state Sen.
Robert O'Leary, D-Barnstable, got the ball rolling by adding
money for lights there and at Lumberts Mill Road on Route 28 to
the 2002 transportation bond bill, according to Susan
Rohrbach, district aide for O'Leary.
''We've been pushing ever since,'' she said. ''These things
take a very long time.''
Rohrbach explained that Mass Highway is working on the
design for traffic improvements at Lumbert Mill in
Centerville, South County and Route 149, both in Marstons
Mills, three separate intersections along Route 28. She
expects a public hearing on the improvements by the end of
year, but construction is still months, possibly years away.
''The current Transportation Improvement Program, voted in
early August..., shows the improvements at these three
intersections in Fiscal Year 2008,'' Rohrbach said. ''So at
least it's on the state's agenda.''
But considering that the widening of Route 132 in
Barnstable has been on the state's agenda for more than 10
years, motorists should not expect improvements at those
dangerous intersections anytime soon.
Janet Joakim, vice president of the Barnstable Town
Council, said the accident rate at South County is higher than
at Lumbert Mill, but the personal injury and death rates are
higher at Lumbert Mill.
''South County's crashes are at lower speeds because the
sightlines are longer, but try pulling out of the north side
of Lumbert Mill and daring to take a left toward Hyannis,''
she said. ''The cars are traveling at high rates of speed and
are hard to see until they are right there.''
The speed limit there is 50 mph, she said, and motorists
can only see about 100 feet in either direction.
''And perhaps the biggest problem that results from
residents knowing how dangerous that intersection is is the
effect that it has had on my own precinct's neighborhoods as
people cut through to avoid the intersection,'' she said.
What's frustrating for Joakim and others is how long it
takes for the state to make highway improvements. ''The first
set of constituent letters I sent the state highway division
(about Lumbert Mill) is now gone,'' she said. ''The
administrations have changed twice since we started this. It
is so hard to get these things done.''
We realize nearly every community in
the commonwealth petitions the state highway department for
road improvements. But it should not take the state more than
five years to fix dangerous intersections.
(Published: September 7, 2006) |
