Crash Course: 2011

8/4/2019 Crash Course: 2011

1/8

ON THE WEB: www.duxburyclipper.com E-MAIL: [email protected] Newsroom: 781-934-2811 x25 Advertising: 781-934-2811 x23 Newsstand: $1.00VOLUME LXI NO. 35 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2011Two wrongs dont make a right, but three lefts do. Jason Love

TINY & SONS GLASSRS 649Since 1978

tinyandsons.com

237 Washington St.

(Rte 53) Pembroke

781-826-7779W E S U P P O R T B O Y S A N D G I R L S C L U B

MOBILE AUTO GLASS SERVICE

1-888-64-TINYS

PLUMBING & HEATING

Jonathan Clarke

Special- High Efficiency Hot Water Heaters!

934-7800 Lic. # 11961CREDIT CARDSACCEPTED

[email protected] I N G S T O N

EAST COAST FENCE .COMWHERE QUALITY & VALUE MEET!

1-781-585-9500

LANDSCAPING

Mark Ferrari 781-934-7719

ferrarilandscaping.net

FERRARI

LANDSCAPING

Huge InventoryNew & Pre-OwnedExit 8, Off Rte. 3, Kingston

HOTSULLYDEALS.COM

6 Pembroke Street(Rte. 27 & 106) Kingston

Open 7 Nights 4pm to close

Dinner for Two$3995Includes: Soup or Salad, Choice of Dinner from Our Special Menu, with a side,

plus hot beverage, dessert and a Bottle of Wine!

+Tax

781-582-1022paisanosrestaurant.net

Not valid with any other offer. Excludes: Friday, Saturday and Holidays. Limited time only.

Call Ben Carlson, MLO#203062781-820-5809

[email protected] Finance LLC, NMLS #20130 MA LIC. #5335

Buying A Home?Have Mortgage Needs?

Loam & Seed

Podiatrist

StandishCapitalMortgage.com

MB#2269 Mortgage Loan Officer #7280

We arrange loans,we do not make them

30 yr fixed 3.990 0 points APR 4.121 20 yr fixed 3.750 0 points APR 3.931


Closing costs are only $1,500

NEXT TO FOODIES

MONOGRAMMING at RandysPersonalize as well as identify your towels,

back packs, team jackets.....

OFF TO COLLEGE

WHY NOT MONOGRAM YOUR TOWELS

See school bus routeson page 6 in section B

continued on page 6

continued on page 12

Crash course

BY JUSTIN GRAEBER, CLIPPER EDITORJUSTIN@DUXBURYCLIPPER .COM

Thank God for the forsythias.The large flowering bushes atthe edge of Jeanne Whites

property are often what keeps a car

from skidding off the road into herliving room.

White and her husband Mike live ina brown-shingled home at the corner ofRoute 53 and Winter Street. The houseis set back from the road a good thingfor the Whites, as they have seenmore accidents at the intersection

than they can count.

Weve had the lawn torn up eightor nine times because they come throughand land on the lawn, White said.

What are the most dangerousintersections in Duxbury, andwhat can we do about them?

Jeanne White photo byAnne Steele

Satellite images from GIS/Duxbury Town Web site

SPECIAL REPORT

HOT SPOTS: The intersection of Route 53 and Winter Street (at left) is oftenspoken of as one of the most dangerous intersections in town. It is a place

with a high incidence of crashes, according to MassHighway engineers,but its far from the only trouble spot. Coxs Corner (above) saw the mostcrashes 25 during the study period, from 2005-2008. Police officialssay the odd angle at the intersections of Church, Tremont and Enterprisestreets can cause roll-over accidents.

Jeanne White says shes seen many acci-dents living at the corner of Winter Streetand Route 53. She snapped this photo(inset) after a June 2011 crash.

BY SUSANNA SHEEHAN, CLIPPER STAFFSUSANNA@DUXBURYCLIPPER .COM

Duxbury Town ManagerRichard MacDonalds contracthas been renewed for anotherthree years.

Selectmen announced thisdecision Monday night aftermeeting behind closed doorsin an executive session beforethe open meeting. Discussingemployee contracts is allow-able in executive session un-der the states Open Meetinglaw.

Selectmen ChairmanShawn Dahlen said the select-men voted to renew MacDon-alds contract with some minorchanges in the terms and con-ditions.

As the vote was takenduring the boards executivesession, Dahlen said he couldnot elaborate on whether thevote had been unanimous. Hesaid to wait until the minutesof the executive session werereleased.

Under the Open Meetinglaw, it is unclear whether theselectmen were required tovote on the contract in opensession. Calls made to towncounsel Robert Troy were notreturned before press time.

Townmanagercontract

renewed


2/8

6 Wednesday, August 24, 2011Duxbury Clipper

The intersection is oftenregarded as one of the mostdangerous in Duxbury. Ac-cording to raw crash data pro-vided by MassHighway, there

were 12 accidents at the inter-section between the years 2005and 2008 (the most recent yearMassHighway provides thedata. Only accidents reportedby the police that involve over$1,000 in damage are reported.See sidebar below for more in-formation.)

More recently, the Whiteswere rudely greeted by an ear-ly morning accident on Thurs-day, June 16.

We were just gettingready for work and heard thecrash, White said. Whenyou hear it, its incredible the

impact is so severe. I just wentand called 911 immediately.

At this point, White hadonly heard the sound of thecrash, she hadnt seen whathad actually happened.

Then I saw one car up onWinter Street and I thought

well, who hit her or who didshe hit? I went to the otherwindow and theres the whitevan.

A white SUV had skid-ded onto the lawn, plowingthrough the bushes and onlystopping inches from the sideof the house.

This poor fella in thewhite van said, I tried not tohit your house.

The driver crossing Win-ter Street never saw the SUV,White said. Many drivers whohave been in accidents at thiscrossing complain of a blind

spot that prevents motoristson Winter Street from seeingoncoming trafc.

White is worried thatsomeday an accident will bemore than an inconvenience toher family.

One of these days itsgoing to come through thehouse.

State ofcials have recog-nized the problems at the in-tersection, and are proposinga roundabout. A preliminaryhearing was held in October of2009, and MassHighway engi-

neer John Diaz said the issueisnt so much the number of

accidents, but the frequency.Speed was the major problem,he said, and the roundaboutwould work to slow down mo-torists.

At the end of the hear-ing, Diaz and a fellow engi-

neer promised the state wouldreturn with another hearingwhen the design was 75 per-cent complete, and that con-struction would likely begin in2010 and nish in the fall of2011. However, no follow upwas ever done and the inter-section remains as it ever was,a blinking yellow light thelone warning to drivers. (Readmore in the second story inthis series, to be published in afuture Clipper, which will ex-plore the politics of how road-way improvements are made.)

Edna Cuneo was in an ac-cident at the intersection onJan. 20 of this year. However,she said it wasnt the design ofthe intersection that caused theproblem it was nature.

There was a huge snow-bank on my left, she said.Thats the whole story right

there ... I could not see.Cuneo was coming from

Winter Street, trying to crossRoute 53. A driver on the oth-er side of Winter Street ashedhis lights, making her think itwas safe to cross.

The next thing I know Ihit the brakes, I could hear thecar coming, she said.

The accident was scary,but no one was seriously in-

jured.If I could have backed

up a couple feet she wouldnthave hit me, Cuneo added.

While it wasnt the maincause of her accident, she be-lieve speed is a major factor incrashes there.

People do y on thatroad, she said of Route 53.You have to look left andright.

While it often gets the mostattention, the Winter Street in-tersection isnt the only dan-gerous intersection in town.

Danger in numbers

From 2005-2008 therewere 744 reported motor ve-hicle crashes in Duxbury. The

highest number was 264 in2005, and the lowest was 134

in 2006. (For the purpose of

this story, crashes that tookplace on Route 3 within Dux-burys borders were not includ-ed.) There were two fatalities,one in 2007 and one in 2006,although the 2006 crash wason Route 3 at an overpass.

Fifty-seven percent ofaccidents involved propertydamage only, and 30 percentinvolved at least one injury(13 percent of crashes did notreport whether or not anyonewas injured.)

The accidents also havesome identiable trends. Mostaccidents took place, not in the

dead of night, but in the morn-ing, between the hours of 6a.m. and noon. Fifty-eight per-

cent of crashes involved two

cars; one-car crashes account-ed for 36 percent of accidentsin town. Duxbury is also not atown that has multi-car pileups

only 5 percent of crashes in-volved three cars or more.

Most of the accidents in-volved motorists hitting an-other car. However, betweenthe 2005 and 2008, 39 driversstruck a tree, 28 hit guardrailsand 23 crashed into utilitypoles.

Pinpointing the exact spotin Duxbury that poses the mostdanger to drivers is difcult.Some of the data provided by

MassHighway does not list theexact location of a crash on aparticular street, which means

it may have been at an inter-

section. Different roads havedifferent trafc volumes aswell, which means more well-travelled roads may have morecrashes, even though a neigh-borhood corner may have ahigher crash rate.

Even so, some conclusionscan be drawn. In terms of sheernumbers, Coxs Corner, whereTremont Street, Church Streetand Enterprise Street meet, isone dangerous place to drive.

During the period studied,there were a total of 25 report-ed accidents there, includingsix where at least one person

was injured (four accident re-

How we got the numbersCrash data for years 2005 through 2008 are derived from the

Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) Crash Data System (CDS).Numbers are not available after 2008. The RMV obtains crashreports from local police, State Police, other police agencies,and operators (motorists) who were involved in crashes. Thereporting threshold is the same for all years: any injury or fatal-ity, or damage to any one vehicle or other personal property inexcess of $1,000. Crash data are not completely standardized.Several different variations of a street name (or other eld) mayexist.

Source: MassHighway supplemental data

See for yourself where crashes occur

In order to better analyze the raw crash data provided by MassHighway, Clipper staff members tookeach accident and plugged it into a custom Google map, using colored thumbtacks to mark thelocation of each reported accident. A green pin represents a fatal accident, red means a nonfatalinjury occurred, blue is property damage only, and yellow means the crash report did not say whetheror not anyone was hurt. On our Web site, duxburyclipper.com, readers can find links to maps show-ing crashes from the years studied: 2005-2008.

SPECIAL REPORT: Danger on the roadwayscontinued from page one

Exit 10 off Route 3, on theDuxbury/Kingston line, was thescene of a number of accidents,including the one at right, whichoccurred April 23, 2009. Moreaccidents occur here 26 duringthe study period than at Exit 10,where conditions have improvedsince a roundabout was installedat Lincoln and Congress streets.

continued on next page

One of these days its going to come through thehouse.

Jeanne White, talking about accidents at Winter Streetand Route 53.


3/8

7Duxbury ClipperWednesday, August 24, 2011

ports did not say whether ornot anyone was hurt.)

Just what makes this inter-section so treacherous? Thereis a large volume of DuxburyBeach trafc, both from Trem-ont Street and a sign on WestStreet, near the police station,that directs motorists alongRoute 139 (Church Street)into Coxs Corner. There arealso a number of businessesin the area, the now-defunctMillbrook Motors, and a num-ber of shops in a complex just

beyond the intersection.The intersection is also at

a funky angle, which can cre-ate a visibility problem.

Its not a traditional T,said Police Chief MatthewClancy, who said police re-spond to a lot of rollover acci-dents in the area. A lot of ourintersections are offset.

Drivers heading alongRoute 139 toward Marsheldand the beach have to make anangled turn at the intersection.However, motorists travelingalong Route 3A are moving in

a relatively straight line andare often moving at a high rateof speed.

Indeed, most of the acci-dents in Duxbury during thestudy period were reported asbeing at an angle (28 percentof total crashes, 42 percent ofmulti-car crashes) followed byrear-end crashes (21 percentof total crashes, 31 percent ofmulti-car accidents.)

Highway to trouble

Its of little surprise thatthe high volume of trafc atthe highway exits off Route 3create a lot of accidents. Look-ing at the data, however, it be-comes obvious that the Exit 10exchanges, near the Kingstonline, have more crashes andmore injuries.

From 2005-2008, therewere 14 accidents at Exit 11,including the on/off ramps andthe trafc circle at Lincoln andCongress. Of these, only twoinvolved injuries (one was un-reported.)

During the same period,there were 26 accidents at Exit10 and nine of them involved

injury.Police ofcials said that

years ago they saw similarnumbers at Exit 11 many se-vere crashes including fatali-ties before the roundaboutwas put in. The roundabouthas the effect of slowing trafccoming off the ramps towardsDuxbury as well as slowingdrivers headed for the high-way.

It was bad, said DuxburyPolice Sergeant Michael Car-bone. Its worked, its slowedpeople down.

It clearly is the most ef-cient way to get trafc througha multiple road intersection,added Clancy.

The roundabout was therst of its kind in the state, andthe project planned for WinterStreet and Route 53 would besimilar. The logistics of Exit10 dont seem to lend them-selves to a roundabout, butthere has been talk of placingtrafc lights there in fact,as part of the comprehensivepermit for the Island Creek af-

Duxburys dangerous roads

continued one page 9

continued from previous page

TRAGEDY ON THE ROAD

A woman from Middleborowas killed in a three-car acci-dent at the intersection ofFranklin Street and Route 53on Thursday, June 1, 2011.

Most of the crash-es plotted forthis special re-

port involve property dam-age or nonlife threateninginjuries. However, there havebeen several fatal accidents inDuxbury over the past severalyears.

In September of 2007,the community was stunnedwhen an accident on UnionBridge Road, near the inter-section with Franklin Streetclaimed the life of DuxburyHigh School senior StevenLaramee, and left Larameesbrother Eoin and friend Spen-ce Meine hospitalized.

Laramee was rememberedas a funny, sweet student whohated Harry Potter but lovedlife, during a candlelight vigilthe following Sunday after-

noon at the Town green.In June of 2011, a Middle-

boro woman was killed at theintersection of Franklin Streetand Route 53.

Duxbury police and reunits were dispatched to thereport of a three-car accidentat the intersection of SummerStreet and Franklin Street at9:45 a.m. on Thursday, June11.

The female operator ofone of the vehicles, SusanDurant, 58, of Middleboro,was seriously injured and wastransported to Jordan Hospi-tal by the Duxbury Fire De-partment. Durant later died ofher injures at the hospital.

While this story did nottake into account accidentsthat took place on Route 3,there was a fatal accidentalong the highway in Dux-bury in 2006.

On Feb. 26, 2006, a truckdriven by 35-year-old Daniel

Reddington struck an over-pass. Reddington was killed,and the tragedy was com-pounded later that day. Theowner of the company Red-dington worked for, Ben Ian-nucci, collapsed upon hearingthe news the victim of a fa-tal heart attack.

This 1986 Audi station wagon driven by Steven Laramee crashedinto a tree on Union Bridge Road on Sept. 14, 2007. Laramee diedin the crash, and his passengers, his brother Eoin and his friendSpencer Meine, were seriously injured.

The crash, and Laramees death,hit the community hard. A rallywas held to help his friends,loved ones and schoolmatesdeal with the tragedy.

St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church

410 Washington Street, Duxbury

www.stjohnsduxbury.org

As you get ready for fall we invite you tocome and explore a faith journey with us.

Summer Service: 9am

Beginning Sunday 9/11

8am & 10am services

! Vibrant Sunday School

! Engaging Worship

! True Community

Yikes!!Summer is almost over!

436 Oak Street (Rt.14) East Bridgewater

781-447-7888

www.cameronsonthegreen.com

LobsterFestival!

Lunch or Dinner

$1299Camerons

Everyday Lunch & Dinner - No Combinations, No Coupons, Eat in Only!

Includes Potato

& Vegetable

$2199Single Twins

SkyyVodka..........Regular or Citrus........... ............... ................ ................ ................ ...........1.75L..................$19.99CupcakeVodka..........All Flavors .............................................................................750ml.................$14.99Blufeld Reisling.............. .............. ............. .............. .............. ............. ..........750ml .............. .....$7.99Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc ..................................................750ml ..................$12.99Lacrema Chardonnay or Pinot Noir........... ............................750ml ..................$16.99Lindemans Australian Wines...............................................................1.5L ......................$9.99Coors Light or Miller Lite ........................................................20 pk. bottles ..........$15.99+dep

prices good through 8/30/11

C o u n t r y S t o r e

POOL

SmileHINTS

900 Webster Street

The best way to blue.

and services inc.

Shore Pools

Q.My pool smells like chlorine and my eyes getirritated. What should I be doing? A.Tow things. One is the pH proper (7.4 to7.6), and two is there enough chlorine in thewater? The pH of of the human eye is 7.4 to 7.6and low pH will irritate the eyes. Also, low avail-able chlorine (sometimes caused by chloramines)creates these symptoms. The pool water must beheavily shocked to get rid of these chloramines.

THIS WEEK'S

SPECIAL

BURNOUT 3

SHOCK

REG. PRICE$4.35 1 LB. BAG

SALE PRICE$3.98 1 LB. BAG


4/8

9Duxbury ClipperWednesday, August 24, 2011

the development company hadpledged to put a trafc light atthe entrance to Island CreekVillage. There has been somedebate over what exactly the

company is responsible for,and that light would be partof a larger state constructionproject where an additionaltwo lights (for a total of three)would be put near the exit.

The idea of trafc lightsisnt pleasing to everyone.Many Duxbury residents takepride in being a one-stoplighttown. (The only fully func-tioning trafc light is at theintersection of Tremont, Westand St. George streets. Thislight has not proved a cure-allfor accidents, however. Therewere 14 accidents during the

study period, seven of themwith reported injuries.)

Others simply believelights wont solve the problemat Exit 10.

Youre not going to curethat intersection with lights,said John Hamilton, who wasin an accident at Exit 10 onAug. 6, 2006. It would becounterproductive to the owof trafc.

Hamilton said a drivercoming up the road fromHanafords in Kingston struckanother car, which careenedinto his vehicle.

Took out two of my doorsand two of my tires, he said.

The drivers of the othercars were injured, but Ham-ilton was unhurt, and went tocalm the female driver of therst car, who appeared to be inshock.

In this case, the design

of the intersection wasnt thelikely cause of the crash. Ham-ilton said both drivers were intheir 80s and it was more like-ly a case of driver error.

Fatal danger on Franklin

Another intersection oftenpegged as a danger spot is alsoon Route 53, at the intersec-tion with Franklin Street. AMiddleboro woman was killedin this spot in June. (See side-bar on page 7.)

Like the Winter Streetcrossing, drivers on FranklinStreet often have difcultyseeing trafc coming down 53in both directions.

Theres a curve comingfrom the south, you have tonudge out to see, said MikeMcAuley, who lives on Saw-mill Road near the intersec-tion. He used to live near theWinter Street crossing as well.

On Aug. 6 of this year, heand a neighbor heard the noiseof a three-car accident at theintersection while setting upfor a block party.

We just heard the

screeching and the crash, he

said. At least one of the driv-ers involved was injured andtrapped in his or her car afterthe crash.

Residents who live in theneighborhood consider the in-tersection so dangerous, thatthey will often nd alternateroutes, such as High Street.McAuley thinks speed is themajor factor especially thetrafc on Route 53.

People are just yingthrough, he said.

And its not just neighbors.In response to the fatal crashand others, Duxbury Police of-cers took a look at the inter-section and led a report.

Police looked at 19 crash-es between the years 2001 and2010, to try to nd a pattern inthe at fault vehicle.

Therefore, with 12 crash-es tting our criteria [travel-ing East on Franklin Street],

63 percent of all accidents atthis intersection involve ve-hicles that are traveling east ofFranklin Street and fail to stopat the stop sign, the report,authored by Thomas Brown,reads.

So why are drivers not stop-ping? It could be people unfa-miliar with the area (McAuleysaid Franklin is often used asa cut-through for people tryingto reach Route 27) or it couldbe poor signage.

Of the 12 crashes ttingthe criteria, seven were op-

erated by nonresidents whocould possibly be unfamiliarwith the area and did not real-ize that they were approachingan intersection. The possibilityalso exists that the design ofthe intersection and placementof signage may not be optimalto alert drivers that they areapproaching an intersection,wrote Brown, who pointed outthe actual stop sign is obscuredby a telephone pole (there is astop ahead sign before theintersection itself.)

Jeanne White said unfa-

miliarity may also contribute

to problems at Winter Street.I dont think out-of-towners know theres a stopsign there on Winter Street,she said. The majority of thetime, accidents happen becausesomeone has gone through thestop sign.

Poor design to blame?

The Franklin Street/Route53 intersection isnt the onlyplace where people believebad line of sight or signagecontributes to the problem.But its difcult to separateroadway design from driver

error.You cant blame it all on

the drivers, said White of hertroubled intersection. I reallydont know why they donthave the concept that that is anintersection. People say ,OhI never saw the sign, and thepeople who got hit say that theother person never stopped.

Almost everyone agreesthat speed is a factor in manyof the crashes. Streets likeRoute 53 or Tremont Streethave posted speed limits ofbetween 30-45 miles per hour,depending on where you are.Yet many drivers some per-haps not familiar with the area

treat them like highwaysand race around corners andthrough what they believe willbe straightaways. (Speed lim-its are set at the state level.)

Speed is an incredibleproblem on 53, said White.

I always use precau-tions, added McAuley. I go40 miles per hour on 53.

Whatever the causes andpotential solutions of acci-dents are, White hopes some-thing is done soon.

Its way overdue, shesaid. Its almost suicidal outthere you take life in yourhands.

Clipper Intern Anne Steelecontributed to this report

Duxburys dangerous roadscontinued from page 7

Part 2 of this special re-port will focus on the possiblesolutions to trafc problemsand dangerous intersec-tions around town, and howthe often ponderous processfor roadway improvementsworks. Look for it in an up-coming Clipper.

The intersection of Franklin Street and 53, pictured above, was thesite of a recent fatal crash. Duxbury Police examined the intersec-tions history of crashes and determined most of the accidents hereare caused by people travelling East on Franklin Street (the directionof the arrow) who fail to stop at the stop sign.

Youre not going to cure that intersection with lights ...It would be counterproductive to the flow of traffic.

John Hamilton on Exit 10

Massachusetts Grown...and freshest

(781) 585-2392 / www.bongis.com

Bongis Turkey Roost

GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE

Summer-timemunchin...

NEW DAY AND NEW TIME!!!

BRING A FRIEND!Every THURSDAY, 1:30-5:30 pm, August 18 through

September 15, Tarkiln Community Center, Route 53

Brian MolisseCell: 781-831-4754

[email protected]

Molisse Realty Group, LLC

18 Snow Road, MarsheldPhone: 781-837-5600636 Middle Street, WeymouthPhone: 781-331-3900www.molisserealty.com

European AntiquesCustom Furniture & Upholstery

(508) 747-2242


5/8

ON THE WEB: www.xbclie.com E-MAIL: [email protected] Newoom: 781-934-2811 x25 Avetiing: 781-934-2811 x23 Newtan: $1.00VOLuME LXI NO. 37 WEdNEsdAy, sEpTEMBEr 7, 2011I wont be a rock star. I will be a legend. Freddie Mercury

TINY & SONS GLASSRS 649Since 1978

tinyandsons.com

237 Washington St.

(Rte 53) Pembroke

781-826-7779W E S U P P O R T B O Y S A N D G I R L S C L U B

MOBILE AUTO GLASS SERVICE

1-888-64-TINYS

PLUMBING & HEATING

Jonathan Clarke

Special- High Efficiency Hot Water Heaters!

934-7800 Lic. # 11961CREDIT CARDSACCEPTED

[email protected] Bay Road, Duxbury

781-831-2681

LANDSCAPING

Mark Ferrari 781-934-7719

ferrarilandscaping.net

FERRARI

LANDSCAPING

Huge InventoryNew & Pre-OwnedExit 8, Off Rte. 3, Kingston

HOTSULLYDEALS.COM

Individual Business Estates Trusts

IRS Audits and Problems

Tax & Bookkeeping Services

(781) 293-1040

Call Ben Carlson, MLO#203062781-820-5809

[email protected] Finance LLC, NMLS #20130 MA LIC. #5335

Buying A Home?Have Mortgage Needs?

Loam & Seed

Podiatrist

StandishCapitalMortgage.com

MB#2269 Mortgage Loan Officer #7280

We arrange loans,we do not make them



Closing costs are only $1,500

NEXT TO FOODIES

MONOGRAMMING at RandysPersonalize as well as identify your towels,

back packs, team jackets.....

OFF TO COLLEGE

WHY NOT MONOGRAM YOUR TOWELS

Irene leavesa big mess

By Justin GraeBer, Clipper [email protected]

Tropical Storm Irene cer-tainly left her mark on Dux-bury some residents wentalmost a week without power.

Irenes powerful windsfelled trees and knocked outpower lines all over town,and it took the power utilityNSTAR until Friday to fullyrestore electricity to all Dux-bury residents.

Kimberly Weimeyer, wholives on Bay Road, was one ofthe last residents to have her

lights turned back on. Her timein the blackout started around

10 a.m. on Sunday, in the mid-dle of the storm.

A tree limb fell on theline that brings power to thehouse, she said.

Workers from NSTARcame on Monday and discon-nected the wire, so it wouldntbe dangerous.

It was in the road, it wasbatting around the tree limb,Weimeyer said.

Some wait until Friday for power

By Justin GraeBer, Clipper editorJustin@duxBuryClipper .Com

People who live near theintersection of WinterStreet and Route 53, re-

garded by many as one of the mostdangerous in town, crowded into the

Mural Room at Town Hall to hear aproposal from Mass Highway engi-neers.

The ofcials were proposinga roundabout, a circle designed toslow down trafc, that they said

would help reduce the number ofserious accidents at the spot. Neigh-bors were optimistic about the plans,with many saying some kind of in-tersection improvement was over-due.

That was in October of 2009.The intersection remains as treach-erous as ever, with a blinking yel-

low the only signal telling driverson Route 53 to watch their speed.

Some of the reasons for the de-lay are economic the state simply

Traffic in circlesA lack of funding and a convolutedbureaucracy make road work difficult

SPECIAL REPORT

CALMING TRAFFIC: In 2009, MassHighway engineers proposed a round-about at the intersection of Route 53and Winter Street but the project hasstalled.continued on page 4 Photos by Justin Graeber

Mourners at a memorial service for Lt. Timothy Steele of Duxbury include, from left, his sister JulieMaxwell; his niece Charlotte Maxwell; his mother Mary Ellen Steele; and father Jack Steele, at theHoly Family Catholic Church in Duxbury on Sunday. Timothy Steele, 25, died Aug. 23 while servingwith the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan. He leaves his wifeMeaghan and daughter Liberty, 1. See more photos on page 15. Pool photo/The Patriot Ledger



6/8

4 Wednesday, September 7, 2011Duxbury Clipper

doesnt have the money toconstruct this as well as otherhighway improvements aroundthe state. But making changesto roadways is a complex pro-

cess that requires working witha large state bureaucracy, andDuxbury ofcials are learn-ing that they have to maketheir voices heard in Boston ifthey ever want to see improve-ments.

TIP of the iceberg

Few large-scale road im-provement projects are takenon with only town funding.State and federal money comeinto Duxbury for road work ina couple of ways. State Chap-ter 90 money is appropriatedevery year, and is based on

the amount of accepted road-ways in town and the numberof people employed withinDuxburys borders. (See chartbelow.) This money, accord-ing to state statute, can be usedfor maintaining, repairing, im-proving and constructing townand county ways and bridges.The town spends it, and it isreimbursed by the state.

More involved projects,however, are funded throughthe Transportation Improve-ment Project list, better knownas the TIP.

The TIP is a list of highwayprojects, and includes bridgework, trafc lights, highwaywidening and resurfacing andeven the construction of bikepaths. In most cases it involvesfederal money as well as statefunds.

A breakdown of projectsbeing funded in the federal s-cal year 2012, available on thestates Web site, does not in-clude any projects in Duxbury

although there are many inDistrict 5, the Mass Highwaydistrict that covers Duxbury.However, there are a number

of Duxbury projects on theTIP, in various states of com-pletion.

Some of the projects, suchas road resurfacing on Route 3in Duxbury and Hingham, andtree trimming on Route 53,have already been completed.But others are in the designphase, according to the De-partment of Transportation

including the roundabout atRoute 53 and Winter Street.

The town has a few advo-cates when it comes to gettingfunding for roadway projects.

Town Planner Tom Broadrickis the TIP representative forDuxbury. He attending meet-

ings in Boston, on Thursdays

every other week, and saysits a place where you have tostand up and be heard.

Youve got to go to theirmeetings and advocate foryour project, he said.

Even guring out which of-ce to plead to can be tricky. Ifa project is being funded withprivate money - either by adeveloper as part of a projector something entirely fundedby a town it is handled bythe Department of Transpor-tation ofce in Boston. If itssomething that involves stateor federal money, its handledby the district ofce District5 in Taunton, for Duxbury.

The planning authority thatDuxbury belongs to, MPAC,stretches all the way up toGloucester and includes MetroBoston. The major problemstanding between Duxburyofcials and the completionof the Winter Street/Route 53roundabout is money theresimply isnt enough to goaround in these tough nancialtimes. Duxbury is the south-ernmost community out of 101cities and towns in MPAC, and

when funding is limited itstough to convince the state tothrow some of those limiteddollars in Duxburys direc-tion.

Roundabout we go

Broadrick and Paul Brogna,the co-chairman of the townsHighway Safety Committee,both say the top project on thedocket is the roundabout.

Our number one project interms of priority is that Route53 and Winter Street intersec-tion, Broadrick said.

Each year the committee

votes the three intersectionsthey believe most need to be

looked at, and sends that listto the state. For the past sev-eral years, the names haveremained the same WinterStreet and Route 53 as the toppriority, then BaileyCorner(the intersection of Tobey Gar-den Street, Chestnut Street andTremont Street) and CoxsCorner (the intersection nearthe former Millbrook Motors.)

In October of 2009,MassHighway Engineers JohnDiaz and Mike Papadopouloscame to Duxbury Town Hall topresent preliminary plans for a

roundabout at the intersection.Diaz said that there are

complaints about trafc at thecrossing, but thats not the rea-son MassHighway decided totake on the project.

This project is more of asafety issue, he said. Thereare not a lot of breaks in thetrafc to safely make it across[coming from Winter Street].

The problem, he said, isntso much the number of acci-dents as the frequency, whichis much higher than similarcrossings.

Were looking at this asa trafc calming measure, hesaid.

The term trafc calmingis often used to describe round-abouts. They are different fromrotaries in that they will nar-row trafc by dropping a lane,and are angled so that driversslow down upon approachingthe circle. At this particularintersection, engineers hope toslow trafc coming up Route53 down to 25 mph, saidDiaz.

Residents at that meeting

were encouraged.This has been an incon-

venience for a long time, saidDon Christenson. You cantcross the street in three min-utes, theres always somethingcoming.

The trafc on that in-tersections got to be sloweddown, said Don Sjostedt.

Some people were worriedabout infringement on theirproperties, but Diaz said exceptfor some temporary construc-tion easements, the roundaboutwould be built within the exist-

ing right of way.Papadopoulos told the

crowd design would be com-plete by fall of 2010, with con-struction nishing by the fallof 2011, at a cost of around$900,000, paid for by the state.Yet no further hearings wereheld, and its now the fall of2011 and no work has beendone.

The project remains atabout 75 percent design com-pletion, but because there isno money for construction, thestate is reluctant to nish the

design process.Money is the main rea-

son for the projects stall, butearlier this year, Duxbury losta powerful advocate when itcame to roadway improve-ment. Joseph Shea was chair-man of the Highway SafetyCommittee for many years, andhe had contacts in the state thathe would lean on to make sureDuxburys projects got atten-tion on Beacon Hill. He was amajor factor in pushing for theExit 11 roundabout, at Lincoln

SPECIAL REPORT: Slow process for road workcontinued from page one

First roundabout no easy task

This cartoon ran in the Clipper 10 years ago, and it referred to delays at the Lincoln Street/CongressStreet roundabout, but it could be just as true today, speaking to Winter Street and Route 53.

The proposed round-about at WinterStreet and Route

53 wont be Duxburys rst.The roundabout near Exit 11,at the intersection of Lincolnand Congress streets, was one

of the rst of its kind in thestate. The intersection was aproblem for many years andsaw dozens of accidents, in-cluding fatal ones. All thatstood at the intersection was ablinking yellow light (whichhasnt proved useful at Win-ter Street or Baileys Corner,either.)

First proposed in 1999-2000, the project was sup-posed to take seven monthsand cost $372,000. It stretchedlonger than that, however, as

Duxbury ofcials had to pres-sure the state to complete thework.

The roundabout loweredthe speed limit to 25 miles

per hour and slowed trafcapproaching the on and offramps, cutting the number ofaccidents there.

The roundabout under construction in May of 2000.

The Mass.gov Web site providesa breakdown of FY2012 Chapter90 funds for Duxbury. Chapter90 money is used for things likerepaving and maintenance.

continued on page 6

READ MORE

This is the second part ofa two-part series examiningautomobile crashes and theprocess for improving inter-sections around town. Youcan read the first part of theseries at our Web site, dux-buryclipper.com


7/8


and Congress streets (see side-bar) and he brought the idea ofthe Winter Street and Route 53roundabout to the selectmen acouple of years ago.

He was a good one tohave for us, said Broadrick.He had connections.

Safety committee local advo-cates

The Highway Safety Com-

mittee is Duxburys other linkto the state in terms of road-way improvements. It is atown committee, reporting tothe Board of Selectmen, thatBrogna described as an initiallistening point for residentswho may have traffic or road-way-related concerns abouttown.

Brogna and Jeff Lewis areco-chairmen of the seven mem-ber committee, which includesengineers and representativesfrom the police and fire depart-ments.

Its a good cross sec-tion of experience and com-mon sense, said Brogna. Itworks.

Police Chief MatthewClancy praised the group, say-ing that every town doesntnecessarily have such a com-mittee as a sounding board fortraffic and safety issues on theroads.

I think thats a fantasticforum, Clancy said.

Brogna has been on High-way Safety since 1988, and thecommittee existed for a fewyears before that. The group

meets on the first Thursday ofthe month at the EmergencyOperations Center at the Trem-ont Street fire station.

The group consults on largeprojects around town. Theyrenow tackling traffic flow onthe fire station expansion, newpolice station and the proposednew middle/high school. Butthey are also approached bycitizens who have a concernabout their neighborhoods.

For example, the commit-tee was recently approachedby a group of citizens who

want to see an additional stopsign at the intersection of VineStreet, Cross Street, UnionBridge Road and King PhillipPath. According to accidentdata analyzed by the Clipper,there have been only two re-corded accidents, both withno injury, during the period of2005-2008. But fender benderswith no police involvement orless than $1,000 worth of dam-age are not catalogued, andneighbors are concerned aboutthe speeding and near misses.

The Highway Safety Com-mittee will listen to residents

concerns, then gather informa-tion for about a month, Brognasaid. There are some things thecommittee can ask (throughthe selectmen or Town Man-ager) the Department of PublicWorks to do right away, suchas tree trimming or limitedsignage, such as an Intersec-tion Ahead sign. More seri-ous changes, such as a stopsign, may be under the townspurview, but the committeewill check with the state. Anew stop sign will only be ap-proved if its the best possible

solution, Brogna said.What the committee doesnot have much control over arethings like speed limits. Dux-burys default limit is 30 milesper hour, and 20 for a schoolzone, but some roads likeTremont Street and Route 53go up to 40-45 mph. Anotherroad item that is set at the statelevel is the dotted yellow linesthat indicate drivers can safelycross into the opposite lane topass. Brogna said his groupcan make suggestions whenthe state repaints the lines, butthey dont have much local

control.Theres a lot of things we

end up doing, he added. Wetake very seriously the safe-ty protection thats requiredhere.

Waiting for fixes

Other than Winter Streetand Route 53, the other twopriorities on the Highway Safe-ty Committees list are CoxsCorner (the intersection ofRoute 139, and Route 3A nearthe Marshfield line) and Bai-leys Corner (the intersectionof Tremont Street (3A) TobeyGarden Street and ChestnutStreet.)

During the Clippers re-view of crash data providedby Mass Highway from 2005-2008, Coxs Corner stood aloneas the most dangerous intersec-tion in town. There were 25crashes there during the periodstudied, including at least sixwhere someone was injured(four reported accidents did notinclude injury data.)

A solution for that inter-section isnt obvious. Policeofficials say the angle wherethe streets meet causes side im-pact-type accidents, and someresidents suggested that treetrimming (such as the bushes infront of the former MillbrookMotors) would improve vis-ibility. Although the HighwaySafety Committee has askedthe state to look at the crossingfor years, it isnt on the TIP,and theres no plan for any kindof signal, additional signage orany other traffic improvement.

Baileys Corner is anotheroften-mentioned intersectionwhen residents discuss trouble-some spots around town. Itsnot the intersection with themost accidents 12 during thestudy period, two reported withinjury. But it is a place where,despite Duxburys pride inbeing a one stoplight town(Tremont Street and West/St.George), some residents haveclamored for a traffic light.

There is a blinking yellowhanging about the crossingnow, but residents say its not

See for yourself where crashes occur

In order to better analyze the raw crash data provided by MassHighway, Clipper staff members tookeach accident and plugged it into a custom Google map, using colored thumbtacks to mark thelocation of each reported accident. A green pin represents a fatal accident, red means a nonfatalinjury occurred, blue is property damage only, and yellow means the crash report did not say whether

or not anyone was hurt. On our Web site, duxburyclipper.com, readers can find links to maps show-ing crashes from the years studied: 2005-2008.

Got an opinion you want to share?

Sound off on this or any other issue.

Send your comments to:

What

do YOU

think?

E-mail: [email protected]

Mail: P.O. Box 1656, Duxbury, MA 02331


www. t r a cy sheehan . com * 781 -585 -7363

Portraits by

Brian MolisseCell: 781-831-4754

[email protected]

Molisse Realty Group, LLC

18 Snow Road, MarsheldPhone: 781-837-5600636 Middle Street, WeymouthPhone: 781-331-3900www.molisserealty.com

European AntiquesCustom Furniture & Upholstery

(508) 747-2242

continued from page 6

Sonia T. Kelly, M. Ed.AMI Montessori Certified

State Certified: Preschool through Third Grade

Visit us at www.bluerivermontessori.org

484 Temple Street, Duxbury


8/8


enough. Lou Tretakoff orga-nized a petition in 2004 push-ing for a light, and he said itonly took him three weeks togather 1,300 names.

While the intersectiondoesnt have a lot of high speedcrashes, Tretakoff has a differ-ent perspective.

A trafc light is for traf-c, he said. He pointed out thenumber of cars registered intown has doubled over the past10 years, and when he original-ly proposed the light, the statemeasured the trafc and foundthat Baileys Corner has thesecond most trafc after Route3s Exit 10 on the Kingston line.He believes the lack of a lightcreates serious trafc problems people coming from TobeyGarden Street cant see trafccoming from the right, and carstrying to cross Tremont fromChestnut Street can wait a longtime before there is a safe breakin trafc.

Baileys Corner, interest-ingly enough, is on the TIP list,but not for a light . The proj-

ect is described as intersectionimprovements highway re-construction, minor widening,and its in the design state. Butneither Broadrick nor Brognaknew what that entails.

One of the other majorhighway projects on the Trans-portation Improvement Listmight mean Duxbury willgo from a one stoplight townto a four stop light town, as

three new trafc signals areplanned for the Route 3 on andoff ramps on the Kingston linenear Exit 10.

This potential project cameto light as part of the IslandCreek Village expansion lastyear. As part of the comprehen-sive permit approval process,the developers at Island Creekagreed to pay for the design ofthe light near the entrance totheir complex. Three lights intotal are planned, one at IslandCreek, and one at each on/offramp.

Exit 10 is an area that sees

a lot of accidents, 26 from2005-2008, including nine withinjury.

Brogna, who worked withthe Island Creek developmentteam, said the lights are at 25percent design, but as withthe roundabout, the process isstalled because theres no mon-ey for construction.

The waiting game

Its hardly a news ashthat getting things done inMassachusetts or any state

requires some political wran-gling. But the reason thingsarent getting done in Duxburyis simple: theres no money.Until the economy improves,and transportation money be-gins to ow from Beacon Hilldown to the cities and townsof the Commonwealth, majorprojects like the roundabout atRoute 53 and Winter Street, orthe trafc lights at Exit 10, willcontinue to stall. And driversheading through Coxs Cornerto the beach, or trying to turnleft on Tremont Street at Bai-leys Corner, will continue to

face dangerous driving condi-tions.

continued from page 6

The intersection of Tremont Street, Tobey GardenStreet and Chestnut Street, known as Baileys Corner,is a messy one not necessarly because of accidents,but because of traffic, according to a resident who

petitioned the state for a traffic light at this location.

viti.com401-624-6181 / 1-888-BUY-VITI

Will

Dame

General Sales

Manager

Conservatory to host free arts festivalA free Family Arts Festival hosted by South Shore Con-

servatory will be held Saturday, Sept. 10, from 1-3 p.m. Opento the public, the event welcomes the areas families to spendtime together exploring music, theater and dance at SouthShore Conservatory, at The Ellison Center for the Arts, 64 St.George St.

The festival kicks off with a free interactive Family Con-cert featuring a musical tale of a baby violin in search of itsfamily. Immediately following the performance, children willbe treated to an Arts Passport, which allows them to travelthrough a variety of activities,

Admission to all of the activities is free of charge. Fami-lies are welcome to tour the facility, meet faculty and staff,and learn more about the broad range of programs offeredfor children of all ages. Those unable to attend the afternoonfestival in Duxbury are welcome to attend the same event atSSCs Hingham location, also on Sept. 10, from 9-11 a.m.at One Conservatory Drive, Hingham. For more information,call 781-934-2731, ext. 11, or visit sscmusic.org .

Bay Path Nursing Home

resident show Sept. 28Bay Path Nursing Home will be holding its resident art show

on Sept. 28 at 5:30 p.m. refreshments will be served. Ten BayPath residents have been working hard painting watercolors un-der the teaching of volunteer Sandy Sweetser. A variety of sub-

ject matter, fruit, still life, owers, seascapes and more, will beon display.

Duxbury Camera Clubwill launch its third season onWednesday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.in the Merry Room of the Dux-bury Free Library. Memberswork will be the feature of theevening, starting with a visualretrospective of last yearsnumerous eld trips, amongthem excursions to Bay Farm,Scituate Harbor and Plimouth

Plantation. During the meet-ing members will also havethe opportunity to illustratewhat I did this summer withone or two of their best printstaken during the summermonths. All are encouraged toparticipate and to tell the storybehind the shots.

The Monthly Challenge isa regular Camera Club featurewhereby members vote on theprint of their choice. Becausethe June meeting was can-celed, due to severe weather,the September meeting willinclude two themes spring

and summer. Members are en-couraged to bring in up to twoprints for each season. Win-ners are posted on the ClubWeb site.

In addition to a full slateof monthly programs, theClubs Steering Committeehas assembled a full scheduleof events for the 2011-2012season, including workshops,

eld trips, exhibitions and thepublication of a book com-memorating Duxburys 375thAnniversary. Full details willbe available at the Septembermeeting.

The rst workshop isscheduled for Saturday, Sept.17 in the Merry Room, from10 a.m.-1 p.m. Photographyexperts will be available to an-swer members questions ona variety of subjects, rangingfrom camera settings to photoediting software. No questionis too elementary, and every-one is encouraged to get some

mentoring on vexing ques-tions. Sign-up for this work-shop will be available duringthe Sept. 7 meeting or on theclub Web site, duxburycam-eraclub.org.

Also on Sept. 17, a late af-ternoon eld trip is scheduledto Snug Harbor and the Blue-sh River areas in Duxbury.All eld trips conclude with

an informal social gatheringwhere images can be sharedand discussed. Full details canbe found on the Web site.

Duxbury Camera Clubmeets the rst Wednesdayof each month, from 7-9:15p.m., in the Merry Room ofthe Duxbury Free Library.Guests are welcome to visitone monthly meeting, whileworkshops, eld trips, exhib-its and critiques are availableto members only. For moreinformation visit the Web siteor contact [email protected].

Duxbury Camera Club set for new season

Long road to improvements

Crash Course: 2011

Documents

Transcript of Crash Course: 2011