Great Barrington — Plans to pave Taconic Avenue and Alford Road this summer are temporarily on hold after an ad hoc citizen’s group of residents who live on or in the vicinity of the busy road asked the Selectboard Monday (June 22) night to first look at a proposal to add traffic calming measures to the paving process before putting out bids for the work.
The bids are set to go out in the next two to three weeks, according to Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin.
The Board agreed, in a 3 to 2 vote, to delay the bidding process until further discussion at the Board’s next meeting about the costs of a delay and details about what traffic calming measures might be added. Vice chair Stephen Bannon and Daniel Bailly voted against the delay after the failure of a previous motion to continue the project bidding process while still discussing the matter.
On behalf of the citizen’s group and “many residents who are frustrated,” David Logan and Dana Coleman — both of whom live on Taconic Avenue — and Tori Pajeski of West Avenue, said they appreciated all the work that has been done on the issue so far by Tabakin, Department of Public Works Director Joe Sokul, and Great Barrington Police Chief William Walsh, but want the town to rethink “the car-centric approach to transportation planning which has enabled drivers to feel they can speed on Taconic Ave. and other roads in Great Barrington without consequence.”
Reading from a prepared letter during the Board’s “citizen speak time,” Logan said that according to traffic studies the group has been gathering, “92 percent of drivers speed on Taconic Ave.” And he noted, “almost 60 children under the age of 15 years live on or in the vicinity of Taconic.”
The busy thoroughfare and Main Street bypass through the Castle Hill neighborhood has been a sore spot among residents for years, and indeed the rarely-observed 25 m.p.h. zone, with its two blind curves and straight downhill shot is a harrowing place to walk, ride a bike, back out of a driveway or wait for a school bus.
“Regrettably, after all these years,” Logan added, “ the only traffic calming options available to us are limited police enforcement, painted lines and crosswalks following the upcoming summer paving, and possibly more signage.”
He added that three years ago resident “John Horan stood here…and read a very similar letter.”
Exacerbating the problem is the increased traffic volume since the Main Street reconstruction project began tearing up downtown, creating delays.
Logan said that the reconstruction project was “designed to accommodate all users, not just cars, and we’d like to see that approach, referred to as “Complete Streets,” be applied to all road design here in Great Barrington.”
Logan cited the town’s 2013 Master Plan, which said that “transportation planning should focus on more than just cars and fixing potholes.”
“Roads should be designed to enhance the safety of all users, not just for high speeds and fast travel,” states the Master Plan.
“We all understand resources are limited, and as taxpayers we appreciate the work you do to keep our taxes low,” Logan added.
Tabakin’s first reaction was concern that the state’s Chapter 90 road money allocated to the work might disappear. All summer paving, which is extensive, was part of the town’s capital plan voted on at the annual town meeting to fix roads in disrepair. “We’ve had lots of complaints about Alford Road…and we’re ready to go,” she said.
She also noted the challenges of adding sidewalks and speed humps to slow speeds. Of sidewalks she cited a “design challenge…space constraints and properties,” and speed humps are “not recommended by transportation experts,” and are “a real Catch-22.”
Residents and others have suggested both ideas as possible solutions.
But Logan wondered, “How do we square the safety concerns of speed humps versus the fact that almost 92 percent of the drivers are currently speeding on Taconic…with so many children…” adding that Sokul said that “as soon as we repave that road, the speeding will increase.”
Steve Bannon suggested Tabakin and DPW’s Sokul meet with residents and see what can be “incorporated,” into the paving plan.
Chair Sean Stanton said that he had been “unaware of how little traction” citizens have had remedying the issue, and called the process thus far “a break in the system” between the town and residents.
Logan said that the Selectboard had been made aware of the problem over the last few years, but that more recently the group has been discussing the matter with town staff rather than the Board per Sokul’s instruction. Bailly said it was best come to the Selectboard for such issues. “We’re here to represent you…that’s what we’re here for.”
Dana Coleman said that Sokul thought the group’s proposed measures “aren’t feasible…or not legitimate” She added that she would like to see a town-wide approach. “I see Simon’s Rock children walking on side of road….” she said of a stretch with no shoulder, where the early college students are often seen walking into town on the road itself.
“This conversation has been going on for a long time,” Stanton said. “The Chapter 90 money’s not going to go away if we…take a step back and look at this from a more holistic perspective.” He wondered if something could be done in “the most densely populated section,” and suggested looking into “a separate paving project.”
Tabakin wondered how to split the job without jeopardizing funding. “I would think it’s a risk.”
“I don’t think it’s so much of a risk that we wouldn’t be able to find out the answer to the question,” Stanton said. “Given the fact that this has been going on so long, I think we should take a closer look.”
“But if we’re going to spend a lot of money…make sure we do this all over town,” said Board member Dan Bailly, adding that the problem isn’t unique to the Castle Hill neighborhood. Stanton agreed.
“My point is that we can’t just say we’re going to spend all this money up here…and just forget about the rest of the town…we really have to come up with a plan,” Bailly added.
Stanton said that there was a plan, the Master Plan, though it was hard to find funding for its vision. Logan said that the citizen’s group “would love to see the Master Plan fly across all of Great Barrington.” Bannon pointed out that residents of other busy roads have also asked the town for help. Stanton said that the Taconic Avenue residents were not asking for “special treatment.”
“I think what they’re saying is…we’re about to pave here, so let’s start,” said Board member Ed Abrahams. “Anytime we’re spending money on a road, let’s stop and say, ‘we’re moving cars through here faster, is there anything else we should be doing?’ ”
“And I would like to start it now,” Abrahams added, “because there’s no way we want to spend the money to pave this and then look at it [later].”
One of the citizen group’s ideas for slowing traffic is for homeowners who live on the road to cede some land to the town to change the roadbed in order to add curves. Logan said that some Taconic Avenue property owners have already agreed to it. Stanton said that he had spoken with Logan, who also told him that the group has a “designer who is standing by to do this.”
Bannon and Bailly pointed out that the ceding of land has to be approved by annual town meeting.
But at this point, what is normally a 5 minute allowance at citizen’s speak had runneth over into a 45-minute discussion that at times got testy in the hot meeting room. “The other can of worms that we’ve opened up, by the way,” Bannon said, “is we said citizen speak is just to listen.” He added that the issue should go on the agenda.
Tabakin asked that the conversation going forward should move into “specifics” about what was actually being requested for Taconic Ave.
Stanton said that Tabakin was “stuck on specifics, when we want to talk about the process.” Stanton said he didn’t know what the citizen group’s plan was yet. “Our job is to listen to people who come to us and say we have a problem…”
“You guys are way into a conversation,” Tabakin said, “and I don’t know what you’re actually saying…to do this at the end of a meeting in a way that’s questioning a very valid capital planning process that we had for a project that’s funded is…not very productive…I work for the Selectboard, but I am going to put out professional advice about the way that this should be done.”
Stanton said that this was a very important conversation about “our process, and something we don’t do very often,” and repeated that complaints of the frustration over the lack of speed limit enforcement and traffic calming measures has been going on for three years.
“I think we have failed in our responsibility to make sure that we’re doing what is not only in Master Plan but is also the appropriate thing to do for a densely populated neighborhood,” and other neighborhoods in town.
Bailly said the first step should be to find out how such a plan might affect the appropriated Chapter 90 money. And from there the Board decided to give a harder look at what Bannon called a “cumbersome process to change.”
Tabakin said she would look at specifics, but said that not moving forward with the project is “nuts.”
“There has to be a way to get people to drive the speed limit,” Abrahams said. He added that the priority thus far has been getting drivers from one place to another quickly and “without a flat tire, which is important.”
But, he added, “as soon as a child dies we’re all going to kick ourselves that we didn’t do everything we could.”
