“The reason it’s on flash is that no one wants to cough up the money to repair it,” said Guilford Mooring, director of the Department of Public Works.
That’s because the town has long been considering whether that traffic light was actually necessary. Without a conclusion on that question, spending money to repair it wouldn’t make sense.
“The last time we looked at it, it didn’t meet the warrants for a traffic light,” Mooring said.
Michael Moore, supervisor to the town’s traffic and street light division cited insufficient traffic volume and short wait times at Fearing Street, and the fact that “You can’t queue up too many cars between Triangle and Fearing (on North Pleasant Street,)” as details that would support removing the light.
Once the light was damaged and the question became how best to proceed, data needed to be collected in the form of additional counts and other analysis of how the new status affected traffic flow. Mooring said the DPW had been “hoping to have that wrapped up by the end of the (last) school year,” but when his National Guard unit was deployed to Iraq, this was among the lower priority situations that got delayed.
Though the flashing situation did result from damage, Moore said there was no reason for drivers to regard the signal as “broken.”
“Flashing yellow and flashing red are legitimate traffic lights,” he said.
Cars on North Pleasant are supposed to proceed with caution through the flashing yellow light. Cars approaching the intersection from Fearing Street should treat the flashing red light the same as a stop sign. And pedestrians in the crosswalk have right of way. It’s all in the driver’s manual. But many haven’t thought of that manual since passing their driver’s test. Some cars come to a complete stop at the flashing yellow. Pedestrians and drivers alike flout the crosswalk rules.
Moore conceded that some drivers react incorrectly to a flashing signal, but said “You can’t design your system around people who don’t follow the rules.”
Mooring said that the status now is to finish gathering data on the intersection and to then create a proposal for the Select Board, which would likely be either a recommendation that the light is necessary and should be repaired or replaced, or that it is not necessary and should be removed. If it is the latter, putting a stop sign at the top of Fearing Street would turn that approach into a standard “T” intersection and traffic on North Pleasant would be unimpeded.
The bus stops on either side of North Pleasant just south of this intersection attract and supply pedestrians to the area and could influence whether or not an upgraded crosswalk, of the higher-visibility design like those on 116 by Amherst College, would be beneficial.
UMass’ plans for Fraternity Row might require readdressing traffic and pedestrian management there again in the future, if redevelopment of the area has an impact, but Mooring said the town would not wait on those plans in making its near-term recommendation.
Need to brush up on the rules of the road? Here’s the Massachusetts’ drivers manual:
www.mass.gov/rmv/dmanual/
-- Stephanie O’Keeffe
