Roundabout Eyed For Friend St., Route 8 Intersection
 Engineer Matthew Chase said he is early in the design process and he has not had a chance to meet with the abutters to flesh out their concerns. |
Matthew Chase of the design firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin presented on Wednesday three possible options to renovate the intersection - two installing stop lights and one to install a roundabout.
The roundabout seemed to be the most preferred by the Board of Selectmen but only if it won't infringe too much on the neighboring businesses.
"Exiting Friend Street today is a challenge," Chase said. "The state is funding design and construction."
With a federal earmark, the state Department of Transportation is redesigning the intersection and is asking for the town to direct the project's designs. Chase said the three options are less than 25 percent of the full design.
While the Board of Selectmen liked that a roundabout would require less maintenance and keep traffic moving, they voiced concern that it would cause too much of an impact on the neighbors.
On Wednesday McAndrews-King Buick GMC General Manager Dan Maloney said the roundabout option would severally hurt his company by taking away parking for half a row of cars. The roundabout design - as well as one of the two signal designs - calls for a right turn only lane onto Friend Street, which would require about two feet of the McAndrews-King parking lot.
"It's not just a parking lot," Maloney said. "We need to have the cars out there in order to sell them."
Board of Selectmen Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington said he couldn't support a roundabout if it would have significant impact on the property.
Another abutter, 7-Eleven franchise owner James Rose, also questioned access to his parking lot but later approved of the roundabout idea. Chase assured Rose that the Route 8 entrance would still be two-way.
Rose said the curb cut could be moved a little farther southward. However, if the roundabout is shifted more south than the initial design, which was discussed to alleviate Maloney's concerns, then it could cut off access, he said.
Chase is still tweaking the design but said there is about $1.2 million set aside to do the project. The other two options included stop lights and pedestrian crossings but that would cause the largest backup of traffic. One option included a right turn-only lane, which would cut down on the southbound backups, Chase said.
The queue of cars also presents safety issues because drivers might not be able to see the backup when they are heading south over the hill. Chase said flashing lights or signs could be added at the top of the hill to warn drivers. The roundabout provides the least amount of backup.
That intersection sees about 17,000 cars per day and there were about 27 crashes there, which is comparatively a lot, in the last five years, Chase said. Most of the crashes relate to the 7-Eleven parking lot, he said.
The Selectmen are hoping a renovation would improve safety without hindering traffic too much. The early designs are based on a 10-year forecast of traffic patterns that includes upcoming developments.
The next step is for Chase to meet with the abutters one-on-one and alter the design to try and alleviate any concerns. From there, he will return to the Board of Selectmen to decide on one of the three options. Later there will be public input meetings to fine tune the project.
The Selectmen were worried about time pressures but Chase said he already talked with the Department of Transportation and the funding is not in jeopardy.
"It's there. It's a federal earmark and its not going away," Chase said.
