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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-08-13-TSAC-min4D Town of Lexington Traffic Safety Advisory Committee TO: Deborah Manger, Chair Board of Selectman CC: Carl Valente — Town Manager, Bill Hadley — DPW Director, Donna Hooper - Clerk FROM: Traffic Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC) SUBJECT: Minutes of Meeting — August 13, 2013 Members present: Manuel Ferro, Dave Cannon, Mary Ellen Dunn, Sudhir Murthy, Steve Frymer, Members absent Steve Ades Liaisons Present David Kucharsky, Planning Dept; Jeanette Rebecchi, Human Services Dept Guest: Candy McLaughlin, Carl Valente Agenda: • Approval of July 2nd Meeting Minutes • Revised TSAC Charge • School Traffic Evaluation & Preliminary Recommendations Report • Fairview Avenue • Police Traffic Safety Monthly Updates • New Business Approval of July 2 " d Meeting Minutes Due to TSAC member work and vacation schedules, the minutes of the July 2nd meeting have yet to be distributed to the members for their review and approval. The minutes will be distributed and approved at the next TSAC meeting. Revised TSAC Charge The TSAC charge was recently revised by the Board of Selectmen to include "pedestrian, bicycle and parking safety" in addition to traffic safety. Jeanette Rebecchi will be the liaison for the Transportation Advisory Committee; David Kucharsky will be the liaison for the Planning Department. TSAC asked that a liaison be nominated for the Bicycle, and Sidewalk committees. The existing TSAC website shows the charge to be traffic safety and is in need of update. The TSAC website update also includes the intake form. This has been discussed in the past with Candy McLaughlin and will continue. Carl Valente suggested that TSAC work with Kathy Santos on any immediate website updates such as the TSAC charge. Lexington PD will continue to work with Candy McLaughlin to design the TSAC intake form. A critical aspect missing is the ability for TSAC and/or Lexington PD to update citizens on an approximate implementation schedule once an issue has been recommended to Lexington Engineering for implementation. TSAC members recognized that this lack of information sharing is not restricted to engineering but to many town departments and needs attention at the town management level. School Traffic Evaluation and Preliminary Recommendations Report The general TSAC input was that members needed more time to review and provide comment. Members recognized that all proposed recommendations by WorldTech Engineering may not be appropriate and may need further discussion and analysis. It was felt that some recommendations were based upon field observations and input from Safe Routes to School (SRTS) and not based upon field data collection. Some observations noted in the report (such as a fatality near Harrington School) were pointed out to be wrong by the Lexington PD. Mary Ellen Dunn suggested that TSAC members provide her their comments by August 18 At that point, the plan is to compile all comments and provide to WorldTech Engineering to review and revise their report as necessary, especially the facts included in the report. The recommendations in the Page 1 of 3 4D Town of Lexington Traffic Safety Advisory Committee report will be taken up by TSAC under advisement Based upon the final report, TSAC will review the issues and suggested recommendations on a school -by- school basis in the future. It was thought that each school deserved detailed review and development of recommendations by TSAC in future meetings. Fairview Avenue Carl Valente provided an overview of the issue on Fairview Avenue. The residents of Fairview Avenue and surrounding streets have complained to the town regarding cut - through traffic. During the morning peak period, the cut - through is from Old Mass Ave to Wood Street. The cut - through in the afternoon peak period is in the reverse direction. Fairview Avenue is not an "accepted way" with a small portion of the road close to Old Mass Ave in federal right -of -way. Consequently, any traffic control changes cannot be proposed on Fairview Avenue but has to be on the public right -of -way either on Old Mass Ave and/or Wood St. Lexington PD provided results of a recent traffic data collection on Fairview Avenue. The morning peak occurred at 9AM and the afternoon peak was at 2PM. A total of 474 vehicles were recorded during the 5 -day count period. The maximum speed recorded was 22 mph while the average was 11 -12 mph (median was 11 mph). The local residents attending the TSAC meeting felt that the counts could be higher in September. Additional comments by the residents included: a) the road has a steep downhill gradient from Old Mass Ave towards Wood St. Due to winter plowing and the existing width, it is hard to pass and difficult for some to travel uphill in winter. TSAC was willing to consider time -based turn restrictions on Old Mass Avenue and/or Wood St. It was clarified that any time /turn restriction will apply to everyone including residents. Consequently, TSAC recommended to the residents present at the meeting to get together with other abutters and confirm that a time restriction of turns from Old Mass Avenue and Wood St would be acceptable to everyone. It was also noted that turn restriction signage may also need to be placed at the intersection of Old Mass Ave and Bonair Ave (also an unaccepted way). Given that neither Fairview Avenue nor Wood Street have sidewalks, cut - through traffic impacts pedestrian safety, especially for school children walking to school. The Town Engineering agreed to review if a traffic signal would be warranted at the intersection of Mass Ave and Wood St. The residents felt that if this intersection would have an improved traffic operation, it would likely reduce the level of cut - through traffic on Fairview Avenue. Police Traffic Safetv Updates Audubon Road: The resident concern was parking on both sides of the road. The repavement had resulted in narrowing of the width. When people parked cars on both sides, it resulted in the need to zig -zag. TSAC recommended that no action be taken at this time, due to concerns that parking restrictions would increase vehicle speeds. Lexington PD will monitor to prevent side -by -side parking due to the limited roadway width. Militia Drive: The resident concern was the entrance to Militia Drive at Worthen Road with traffic allowed two -way access on both sides of the island. The suggestion was to make each side of the island one -way. Dave Cannon indicated that this option was previously suggested while Worthen Road was being re -paved but was not agreed to by Grace Chapel which owns parcels along Militia Drive. TSAC recommended that the Town do an abutter notification and Engineering present the one -way concept at the next TSAC hearing. Page 2 of 3 4D Town of Lexington Traffic Safety Advisory Committee New Business Shade Street: Residents along Shade St submitted a letter to the Board of Selectmen voicing concern about continued speeding and cut - through traffic on Shade Street. Lexington Engineering indicated that they have been in constant contact with the neighborhood representative. Due to various reasons, the proposed safety improvement plan on Shade Street has not yet been implemented. TSAC recommended that no further action be taken until all of the proposed improvements have been implemented on Shade Street. Lexington Engineering will get in touch with the neighborhood representative to keep them informed on the expected time schedule for completion of the project. Attached Documents: None Next Meeting Next TSAC meetings: September 10 October 8 Page 3 of 3