Great Barrington — In response to a serious January 12 car accident at a notoriously tricky and dangerous intersection along a fast-moving stretch of state road near Monument Mountain Regional High School, state, school, police and town officials met last week to come up with a solution, and find ways to mitigate the danger in the meantime.
“We threw a lot of things on the table, and we had a couple of ideas,” said Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox).
“It was very productive,” agreed Great Barrington Police Chief William Walsh.
Long a treacherous area with a flashing yellow light and multiple turn lanes from all directions that sometimes obscure traffic, the entrance to Monument High is challenging to navigate, even for seasoned adult drivers. The speed limit on Route 7 is 55 mph, and drivers often exceed that, despite a sign south of the school that says 35 mph “school busses entering,” and a 35 mph sign on the flashing light for southbound traffic.
The most recent accident involved a student leaving school around 1 p.m. attempting a left turn south, with southbound traffic visibility blocked by a car trying to enter the school. There were no injuries sustained by the student, and the occupants of the other car had minor injuries treated at Berkshire Medical Center, but it was considered a close call.
“It’s been put in front of the state Department of Transportation (MassDOT) for years and years and they do nothing about it,” said Ben Hillman, whose 18-year-old daughter, a senior, was unscathed in the accident. “Fortunately, my daughter came out OK. If things were slightly different, we could have had a tragedy.”
It got MassDOT’s attention this time. Parents complained. Selectboard member Ed Abrahams said he wouldn’t stop until the state did something. And Pignatelli called MassDOT that very day.
“They will send someone to the school,” Pignatelli said last week, “to take a look at the greenhouse road to see about the grade, and the possibility of an enhanced internal driveway.” The internal driveway idea, to send cars over to the nearby Monument Valley Road, one with a stoplight, was something floated in the past, but dropped when the cost was estimated at $1 million.
The stoplight at Monument Valley Road, the connector for both Monument Valley Regional Middle School and Muddy Brook Regional Elementary, also sees its share of accidents, Pignatelli said, and noted that MassDOT intended to take a look at that issue as well.
In the meantime, he added, MassDOT will do rough, preliminary engineering on the internal driveway idea and “more research on increased signage and lower speed limits.” It will also consider installing timed lights, and this week installed mobile digital speed trailers. He said it would take two to three weeks to research costs of permanent solutions, and those solutions “may take a few more weeks.”
“The question is what can we do that’s legal and effective,” said Abrahams, who said he along parents, school officials and police, have long been worried about the situation, in which police officers often direct traffic out of the school during the morning and afternoon rush. Abrahams said MassDOT’s reasoning has always been that “there aren’t enough accidents to justify” action there.
“If [MassDot] is waiting for someone to lose their child it’s unconscionable,” Hillman told the Edge after the accident. “Whatever their formula is should not involve a dead body. If they refuse to do it because of their rulebook, it means something is wrong with their rulebook.
“If you’re more worried about traffic moving slow than about somebody getting killed, something is wrong.”
“But at this meeting,” Abrahams said, “[MassDot] had a roomful of people saying yeah, but it’s dangerous. Those of us in the room who were not DOT were saying, ‘these are teenagers.’ ”
“At this point, nobody is fighting,” Abrahams added. “DOT is moving relatively quickly. The question is, what can we do and who’s going to pay for it.”
“The question is who’s going to pay for it,” Pignatelli also said. “It’s a state highway for a regional school in one community.” Pignatelli, who in his first term years ago, was instrumental in getting the flashing light that is there now, said he left the meeting “feeling very positive, having seen good dialogue.”
“Patience,” he said. “Nothing will happen till spring or summer anyway. There’s a short and long term agenda”
