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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-02-23-TSAC-minTown of Lexington Traffic Safety Advisory Committee MEMORANDUM #0310 TO: Jeanne Krieger, Chairman Board of Selectmen FROM: David T. Carbonneau, P.E., Traffic Safety Advisory Committee DATE: 6/19/2000 SUBJECT: TSAC Meeting 2/23/2000 The Traffic Safety Advisory Committee met on February 23, 2000 to discuss the following agenda items: Fiske School Traffic - Continuation (1/19/2000 — Meeting) The Committee met with Margie Johnson and about ten other residents from Upper Colony Road to continue: discussion of traffic at Fiske School. The Selectmen recently approved a regulation prohibiting left turns from Colony Road to Fiske School to reduce the volume of two -way traffic on Upper Colony Road. The Board also .recently approved a crosswalk across the Fiske School driveway at Colony Road. The principal item of discussion at this meeting was a.proposed regulation prohibiting a right turn out of Fiske School on to Upper Colony Road which would remove all Fiske -School traffic from Upper Colony Road. The residents presented a petition supporting such a regulation signed by 31 residents of the neighborhood. Seven of the thirteen homes on Lower Colony Road, which would be adversely effected by the regulation, signed the petition. The TSAC was concerned about the impact of the regulation on Lower Colony Road, and other streets and intersections where traffic would be diverted as well as the effect on parents and staff driving to the school. The Committee evaluated likely alternative routes for drivers currently exiting on to Upper Colony Road and found none of them desirable from the standpoint of safety or convenience. Though seven of thirteen residents of Lower Colony Road signed the petition requesting the regulation the remaining residents did not and several were strongly against the proposal. Members of the Committee discussed the proposal with members of the Fiske School PTA and the Site Committee none of whom were in favor of the proposal. Lastly, the Committee thought that under the circumstances the effectiveness of the measures already adopted should be evaluated before additional measures were recommended. Based upon these considerations the Committee recommends no action be taken at this time. Mass Ave. & LocuStreet, Pedestrian Button The Committee met with Donna O'Malley and about 10 other residents from the Locust Sc t neighborhood to discuss their request for a pedestrian button on the traffic light serving the East Lexington Fire Station at Mass. and Locust. In addition to Mrs. O'Malley, the Committee • received letters supporting the request from Victoria Rothbaum of 1 Militia Drive; Tanya Iatridis and Timothy Cross of 6 Locust Street; Britta and Ed McCarthy of 922 Mass. Ave. and Sarah Garner and John Niles of 1 Spencer St.. All of the residents felt a pedestrian light was necessary to increase safety at the crosswalk. The specific factors .cited included: e . The high speed of traffic in this area Children crossing to reach the school bus stop a People crossing to reach the MBTA bus stop ® People crossing to reach the Bikeway One of the residents attending the meeting relayed that his child was hit while trying to cross at this location after having been dropped off by a school bus. The Committee explained to residents that the town must conform to state warrants with respect to installing traffic signals. The warrants governing installation of traffic signals for pedestrians require a minimum of 100 or more pedestrians crossing per hour in any four hours in an average day or 190 pedestrians in any single hour. It was clear to the Committee that these volumes are not met at this location. The Committee therefore could not recommend this installation. The Committee also discussed the fact that there have been numerous recent requests for pedestrian signals including Waltham Street near the Town line,. Mass. Ave. at Pelham Road, Pleasant Street • at Worthen Road East and Waltham Street at Mass. Ave. There is also a request pending fora pedestrian signal on Mass. Ave. at Oak Street. The Committee can not recopunend a pedestrian signal to the board, however, we do submit the following for the Board's consideration: rearrangement of the school bus stop to minimize Mass. Ave. crossings; installation of a yield to pedestrians cone; use of the Police Department speed board. Crosswalk on Lincoln Street at Temple Isaiah The Committee discussed a request from Arthur Sharenow of Temple Isaiah for a crosswalk opposite the Temple, Mr. Sharenow requested the crosswalk at the southern entrance to the Temple opposite a recently constructed walkway. The Committee did see a benefit in locating a crosswalk opposite the Temple but did not favor the location requested due to poor sight distance from vehicles going north on Lincoln Street. The Committee recommends a crosswalk and advance crossing signs be located at the northern entrance to the Temple.