Lanesborough's Bailey Road Residents Ask for Help With Speeders
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Residents on Bailey Road are asking the Select Board to do something about unsafe drivers.
A handful of residents have reported people who speed down their road making them feel unsafe to walk or pull out of their driveways as they are unsure who might be coming down the road and at what speed.
Residents Anthony and Madeline Siracusa have lived at the bottom of a hill on the road for about 20 years and said the road is very dangerous.
They told the Select Board on Monday that drivers are traveling roughly 60 mph, noting they are just eyeballing how fast they are going as they don't have radar guns. They said it is especially occurs in the morning and evenings as well as on the weekends.
Drivers speeding down the road are also them on double lines, and with Bailey Road having many turns where it isn't safe to pass, occasionally people are being driven off the road.
"I've had several people in my time pass me on a double yellow," Anthony Siracusa said. "Of course, that is really dangerous because if you've traveled that way, there are not very many street lines at all, and the people that are passing are not passing legally. So it really feels dangerous."
His wife said she used to walk the road with her three dogs but does not do it that much anymore because of how dangerous it is. But the occasional times she does walk, she finds the road is littered with nip bottles.
She told Police Chief Rob Derksen that she appreciated the radar trailer on one end of the road near Route 7 but asked if there could be more or moved to another spot.
"We need something to stop the vehicles. They're out of control. It's very dangerous," she said.
Jodi Reeves of old Steele Farm on Bailey Road said she has seen many accidents in front of her residence and asked if it would be possible to get a hidden driveway sign as they can not see most of the time because of the hill.
Chair Deborah Maynard also read a letter from resident Stephen Masterson about seeing excessive speeds and alcohol littering and who said his blind driveway was leading to him almost getting into accidents.
"On one occasion, I was exiting 44 Bailey Road and turning left. Both directions appeared clear when I began the turn. While I was still crossing the roadway, however, a vehicle came around the blind curve from the right at a highest rate of speed. I had to stop abruptly in the roadway to avoid the collision. I believe the town should consider warning signage near these curves, alerting motorists to the concealed and blind residential driveways," his letter stated.
He also stated that the posted speed limit is 25 mph in his area but the signs are outdated and sparse, asking for more to be put up.
"I would specifically ask the town to consider installing a radar speed feedback sign, your speed sign, on Bailey Road, particularly for the northwest-bound traffic coming from Route 7, even a temporary or portable radar sign could help document actual vehicle speeds while providing an immediate deterrent," his letter said. "I would also ask the town to consider additional or updated 25 mph speed limit signs, warning signs identifying the blind curves, concealed driveways near 36 and 44 Bailey Road, a traffic or speed study to document vehicle speeds, and periodic targeted speed enforcement by the Lanesborough Police Department, particularly on Friday and Saturday evenings."
Derksen said his department has a white board list of roads that have been complained about so that his officers can patrol when they have the chance.
He said they are doing the best they can and will always strive to be better but that they are constrained by resources, typically only having one officer on duty at a time and recently having an officer retire.
He mentioned more speed signs would help because there are about five different speed signs down the road ranging from 25 to 40 mph. With the sparsity of signage, he theorizes the New York traffic is going through at speed they are used to. Brodie Mountain Road connects to New York Route 43.
"I've always theorized that there's a lot of New York traffic that's probably because their GPS probably tells them to go on Bailey Road instead of continuing down Brodie Mountain to Route 7," the chief said. "I know my GPS tells me to do that, too, and coming from New York, spending the the vast majority of my life and career in New York, that type of road probably in New York is a 55 mph road because New York has a rule if you don't see a speed limit sign if it's not posted it's 55."
Board member Juli Baker and the residents said this is not the first time they have brought this problem up to the board and police.
Town Administrator Gina Dario brought up the minutes from the last conversation in October 2024 with the Select Board, when they were asked to adjust the speed limits on the road. She said she discussed it with the state Department of Transportation, which said a speed study had to be done. The speed limits were set 1975, a significant change from what the road is today regarding more houses and driveways, newer cars, and more traffic with Jiminy Peak.
"The document that established those four speed limits was actually set out by a special speed regulation in 1975. So Massachusetts has pretty much a set number of speed limits that are uniform throughout the state, and if towns want to change that, they actually have to do a speed study. It is not the state that arbitrarily changes those on request," Dario said.
"So, for example, for the town to look at Bailey Road fresh, we would have to do an additional study for probably various points about the road, and then make our own analysis and recommendation to Department of Transportation to make suggestions on whether or not we want to change any of those specific speed limits."
Derksen said the department as a data recorder but a professional would have to look at the data for analysis.
"We call it a covert radar unit that we can put on a utility pole, and it will give us data. It will give us you know speeds, average speeds, time of day, everything, any data you wanted as far as traffic and speeds," he said.
The board recommended Derksen place the radar unit in each zone for a week to collect the speeds. It also asked Department of Public Works Director Nate Harrignton to put up more signs regarding blind driveways and hidden curves.
Once data is collected it will be brought back to the Select Board, which will look at grants to fund the engineering analysis.
Tags: speed limits,
