HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-10-02-TSAC-min
Town of Lexington
Traffic Safety Advisory Committee
TO: Deborah Mauger, Chair Board of Selectman
CC: Carl Valente – Town Manager, Bill Hadley – DPW Director, Donna Hooper - Clerk
FROM: Traffic Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC)
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SUBJECT: Minutes of Meeting – October 2, 2012
Members present: Dave Cannon, Manny Farro, Mary Ellen Dunn, Stephen Ades and
Sudhir Murthy.
Agenda:
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Approval of September 4 Meeting Minutes
Mason Street – Parking and X-walk
Peacock Farm Road – Signage
Eldred Street (at Grove Street) – Parking
Middleby Road - Parking
Police traffic safety monthly update
New business
Approval of September 4 th Meeting Minutes
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The motion to approve the September 4 TSAC meeting minutes was unanimously
approved.
Mason Street – Parking and X-walk
The residents of Mason Street expressed concern regarding vehicular speeds and traffic
volumes. Due to the long delays and queues resulting from the traffic operations at Mass
Ave and Pleasant Street, many are using Mason Street to cut-through the neighborhood
between Pleasant Street and points east along Mass Ave and Arlington. In addition, there is
a lot of pedestrian activity at the community pool; perhaps requiring a crosswalk.
The Town had reviewed the suggested crosswalk location in the field and had found the
location to be acceptable based upon sight distance requirements. However, the Town has
to conform to design standards related to crosswalks requiring wheelchair ramps on both
sides of a crosswalk. Currently, there is no sidewalk on the side adjacent to the community
pool making it difficult to construct a wheelchair ramp. Construction of a new sidewalk on the
community pool side may be challenge given the limited town funding and the more urgent
need to construct sidewalks at several other locations throughout the Town. The TSAC
would support and facilitate the construction of the crosswalk through private funds.
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The Town informed the residents about upcoming Nov 8 Public Meeting regarding the
Mass Ave study (between Marrett Road and Pleasant Street). The study is exploring ways
to improve traffic operations at the Mass Ave and Pleasant Street intersection. The
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Town of Lexington
Traffic Safety Advisory Committee
anticipated timeline for implementation of recommendations resulting from the study is likely
to be at least 2 years.
The Police Department’s review of the existing speeds on Mason Street did not indicate “out
of the norm” speed levels. The Department is procuring new equipment that will allow them
to collect traffic counts and speeds information on a continuous basis for a few days at a
time. In future, this data would be very helpful towards better understanding the
neighborhood cut-through and traffic speeding issue on Mason Street.
The TSAC recognizes that there are other streets within Lexington where residents are
concerned about cut-through traffic and speeding, and would like to adopt a consistent and
incremental approach whereby more cost-effective measures implemented to see if they
address the problem, before adopting more aggressive and costly approaches such as
speed tables and other traffic calming measures.
The TSAC unanimously approved the following recommendations:
Develop a signing and pavement marking plan for Mason Street, to include double
yellow center line, and solid white edge lines on both sides to delineate 11 foot lanes.
Install additional signing along the existing curve including Chevron signs as well as
solid white transverse lines to inhibit parking in the vicinity of the curve and ensure
proper sight distance.
Conduct traffic count and speed study a few months after implementation of the new
signing and pavement markings to assess the need for further strategies to better
manage neighborhood cut-through traffic and speeding.
In addition, the TSAC approved the location of the crosswalk at the community pool as long
as the crosswalk can be constructed to Town standards with wheelchair ramps on both
sides. The TSAC also recommends that the Mason Street residents explore both potential
private funding source and town funding (through the Sidewalk Committee) for the
construction of a new sidewalk on the side of the community pool.
Peacock Farm Road – Signage
The residents were concerned with the traffic volumes and speeding. One of the residents
described an instance of “road rage” given the need to travel at a slower speed due to the
existing roadway horizontal and vertical geometry. The residents were concerned of existing
“blind spots” where the sight distance is restricted due to existing roadway geometry. The
residents asked for better delineation of existing crosswalk at the community pool,
installation of new crosswalk at another access point of the community pool, additional
signage and potential reduction of the posted speed limit to 20 or 25 mph from the existing
30 mph.
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Town of Lexington
Traffic Safety Advisory Committee
The Town had reviewed the current location of the crosswalk and found it to not meet
existing Town standards. Furthermore, the existing crosswalk is not part of the official town
records, even though the crosswalk was painted about 10-year back based upon TSAC
recommendations.
The Town expects that recommendations resulting from the on-going Mass Ave study would
improve traffic operations at the intersection of Mass Ave and Pleasant Street which in turn
would greatly benefit Peacock Farm Road. Furthermore, the Police Department will plan to
deploy equipment (when they are procured in the near future) to collect data on traffic
volumes and speeds along Peacock Farm Road. The residents requested that the Police
coordinate with them in selecting the location for collecting traffic counts and speed
information.
Consistent with prior TSAC recommendations, where more incremental and cost-effective
approaches are tried before implementing more aggressive and costly alternatives including
traffic calming, the TSAC unanimously recommended the following:
Develop a signing and pavement marking plan for Peacock Farm Road, to include
double yellow center line, and solid white edge lines on both sides to delineate 11 foot
lanes.
Install additional signing along the existing curves including Chevron signs as well as
solid white transverse lines, if appropriate, to inhibit parking in the vicinity of the curve
and ensure proper sight distance.
Install a sign indicating “not a through street” at the entrance to Trotting Horse Drive.
Conduct traffic count and speed study a few months after implementation of the new
signing and pavement markings to assess the need for further strategies to better
manage neighborhood cut-through traffic and speeding.
Eldred Street (at Grove Street) - Parking
Parents are currently parking along Eldred Street in the vicinity of Grove Street which is
resulting in traffic gridlock at the intersection of Grove Street and Eldred Street. This is
impacting the school bus operations and potentially the operations of emergency vehicles.
The TSAC unanimously recommended the installation of No Parking signs to inhibit parking
on both sides along Eldred Street from Grove Street to a point 50 feet from Grove Street.
Middleby Road – Parking
This issue has been ongoing over the past 3 years. Due to haphazard parking by parents,
access to the school by school buses and emergency vehicles is being impacted.
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Town of Lexington
Traffic Safety Advisory Committee
The TSAC unanimously recommended the installation of No Parking signs to inhibit parking
along Middleby Road from the existing bike crossing to a point 100 feet from the bike
crossing.
Police Traffic Safety Update
The TSAC discussed items in the attached LPD TSAC Issues that were submitted in the
months of September and identified for TSAC review:
Item #52 – Hill Street at Cedar Street: The resident requested that the existing
unsignalized intersection be provided with a 4-way STOP control. The Town will
conduct a 4-way STOP warrant analysis and take appropriate actions if necessary.
Item #53 – Worthen Road East at Entrance to Bowman School: This is related to
parking by parents on both sides of Worthen Road East making it difficult for school
bus operations and pedestrian sight distance. The TSAC concurred with the
recommendations by the Police Department and unanimously recommended that No
Parking signs be installed to prevent parking on both sides of Worthen Road East
from the Hydrant to the school entrance and from the 229 Worthen Road East
mailbox to the entrance to the school entrance.
New Business
The Lexington Police has been dealing with the issue of parking at school entrance for a
number of years. Parents park their vehicles in a haphazard manner which is significantly
impacting the school bus operations as well as potentially the access by emergency vehicles
if a situation were to arise. Given the lack of ability to enforce parking restrictions within
school property, the Police Department has been unable to effectively manage parking at
school entrances to ensure proper school bus operations, as well as ensure safety of
pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
To address is on-going issue, the TSAC unanimously recommends to the School Committee
the following:
The Town shall implement and the Police Department shall enforce a 25-foot parking
restriction on both sides of all entrance and exit driveways within the school property.
Next Meeting
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The next TSAC meeting will be on November 13.
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