Commercial Street Congestion Causes Concerns
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| Commercial Street in Adams. |
In addition to the vehicles that typically travel the Route 8 corridor through the center of town, hundreds more cars contribute to the early morning traffic jams when parents drop off their children at the C.T. Plunkett Elementary School or the Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School. Along that stretch of road — just beyond Commercial Street's intersection with Park, Myrtle and Center streets — cars trying to enter or exit the McDonald's parking lot also add to the chaos.
"All it takes is one or two vehicles to pull into McDonald's, one or two vehicles to come out of the charter school or out of the Plunkett School and you've got a traffic jam," said Poirot at Wednesday night's meeting of the Selectmen.
The issue came before the board because it had previously requested the most recent report about traffic trends in that area, said Town Administrator William Ketcham. Poirot's information, pulled from a 2004 report from the traffic commission, detailed problems with the setup, including narrow roads, a lack of places to put proper signage and general traffic backup.
With approximately 300 students enrolled at BArT and approximately 600 at Plunkett, the influx of cars on Commercial Street, especially those attempting to make left turns, swiftly backs up traffic. Much of the traffic is redirected along Liberty Street to relieve the tension but so many cars in such a short span inevitably causes problems, explained Poirot.
"There's 1,200 cars traveling through there in about an hour's time," Poirot said, who also called the placement of signs "impossible" because they would need to be erected on private property.
Selectmen Edward MacDonald suggested arranging for students to be dropped off at the crossing guard post on Center Street, which would ease congestion of the main drag. The children could then walk "the couple hundred feet" to school.
"It's an extremely congested intersection and there's no good alternative routes around it," said Ketcham.
Traffic Commission member Thomas Satko also noted that BArT has a stipulation on its permit and occupancy agreement that it monitor the parking situation and consider re-evaluation at a later date, if necessary.
The Selectmen voted unanimously to send the issue to the Traffic Commission for a recommendation.
Chairman Joseph R. Dean Jr. marveled at how nothing had been done for nearly four years on the issue.
"This report from 2004 is addressed to me. I was the chairman then, too. It's taken this long to get this settled," Dean said.
In other business, the board heard an update from Satko, also the director of public works, about the flooding at Reid Field. Saying the 36-inch culvert there works "most of the time," Satko told the board that there are already $1.5 million worth of drainage and flooding priority projects ahead of the Reid Field one.
"So far, it hasn't done any monetary damage. It's more of an inconvenience and a nuisance when it does overflow," Satko said.
He named projects on East Hoosac Street, Jordan Street and Depot Street, among others.
Agreeing to put the problem on the back burner for now, Dean said he didn't think the issue was truly a priority.
"When you see houses going down the stream, then you've got a problem," he said.
The board also:
