Cheshire Officials Request Guard Rails for Restaurant
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 Bass Water Grill is undergoing repairs after a truck slammed into the front of the building, missing the sign and a small tree. |
CHESHIRE, Mass. — Town officials are hoping to help a local eatery keep motorists from using it as a drive-through.
Bass Water Grill on South State Road has been hit at least twice by motor vehicles, most recently this weekend.
Francis "Bigs" Waterman, owner of the property, told the Selectmen on Tuesday that a vehicle struck the restaurant sometime after midnight Sunday.
"I got there at 11 and the band had just picked up all of their stuff and left at midnight," Waterman said. "We were just getting ready to leave and we heard bang ... we went out there and the dining room was wiped out."
Selectwoman Carol Francesconi said collisions happen too frequently and it is incredibly dangerous.
"They keep hitting the same window, and there is a table with customers there," Francesconi said. "Luckily they hit it at 1 [a.m.] when no one was there, otherwise somebody really would have gotten hurt.”
She suggested that a guard rail along the front of the building might help.
Executive Chef Ed Bassi on Wednesday said, "someone made a hard right into the building."
He said the damage was equal to if not worse than the first time it happened.
"In terms of damage to the front of the building, they took out two large windows, and the front of the truck was into the dining room," Bassi said. "As far as physical damage to the building, it was a little worse. The only difference was with the other one, there was a lot more plumbing involved."
The speed limit drops to 40 mph heading north toward the lakefront; there are also warning signs and lights indicating the crossing of the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail just before the restaurant. Guard rails flank the property's wraparound driveway/parking area.
The Selectmen said they would gather photos from the occurrences and send them to the state Department of Transportation. It would be up to MassDOT to decide if a guard rail is called for along the state highway in front of the restaurant.
Tags: motor vehicle accident, restaurants,
