By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
1/28/10
Hundreds of residents are petitioning the town to make traffic improvements near Paul’s Bridge, where Milton borders Boston and several streets intersect. Town officials agree that the current road layout in that area is dangerous and causes accidents. But they said improving the situation is difficult and will take time because it involves collaboration with the state, which owns one of the main roadways in the area, Neponset Valley Parkway. It also involves a spending plan that the town is not ready to commit. Officials say they will seek guidance from state lawmakers, whom they hope can find funding to make the improvements. Residents are particularly concerned with two intersections: Brush Hill Road at Milton Street, and Brush Hill Road at Neponset Valley Parkway.
The issue was raised at the Jan. 20 meeting of the Traffic Commission. Betsy Buchbinder, a resident at Fuller Village, said she has a petition with 350 signatures requesting improvements, in particular with an additional stop sign at the four-way intersection at Milton Street and Brush Hill Road. There are currently two stop signs there, for north and southbound commuters crossing the intersection via Brush Hill Road.
“It becomes a drastic challenge to get to Hyde Park to shop. That’s quite serious for us,” said Buchbinder, as she explained the many close calls she has had.
“I think it’s a serious accident waiting to happen,” added resident John Driscoll, who served as chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (now MassHighway) for over 20 years before retiring.
Driscoll said the general area is plagued by several dangerous intersecting roads. He said an additional stop sign should be placed at Brush Hill Road and Neponset Valley Parkway. Currently, there is a northbound yield sign at the intersection, which is more of a two-way fork, but there is no signage for southbound commuters.
Police Chief Richard Wells, who serves as chairman of the Traffic Commission, said there are no recent records of accidents at Milton Street and Brush Hill Road, though several have occurred at the Neponset Valley Parkway intersection.
Town Planner Bill Clark said his daughter recently got into a “head-on collision” in the area.
Clark added, however, that fixing the problem would mean the mobilization of a complex state bureaucratic process. Although the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) owns and maintains Neponset Valley Parkway, its funding comes from another state agency, the Department of Transportation (DOT).
He said in recent years, the state has tried to consolidate its various funding channels through these agencies, but it has led to a lengthy process of getting actual funding in place for road projects.
“This is a very complex and convoluted issue, even within the state,” he said.
“There are four major stakeholders: Milton, the city of Boston, DCR and DOT,” said Public Works Director Joe Lynch, who said a request for funding for signage at the intersection has actually been pending since October.
Signage at the Milton Street/Brush Hill Road intersection would strictly be a town initiative, but officials were quick to point out that the town has no money to put toward the project and would have to petition the state for that as well.
Then again, some said the intersection is already adequately marked with the two stop signs, and adding more would only confuse motorists.
“We believe the current stop signs are adequate. A third stop sign would increase accidents,” said Paul Pasquerella, a Milton Street resident and part of the Brush Hill Area Neighborhood Association. He and others at the meeting pointed to the “accident data” that Wells mentioned, suggesting that Neponset Valley Parkway not Milton Street is the real trouble spot.
“It seems these roads were built for traffic patterns that no longer exist,” Pasquerella said.
Some said it is confusing as to who has the right-of-way.
Wells said the Traffic Commission will invite state officials and lawmakers to the commission’s next meeting, which he said will likely happen some time later this month, to discuss problems of the roadways.
Also at last week’s meeting, the Traffic Commission voted a recommendation to Selectmen to install a “Slippery When Wet” sign on Belcher Circle, at the top of the incline. Stephen Rines, of 46 Belcher Circle, requested the signage as a way of slowing commuter traffic on the road. He said the road is used as a cut-through by those looking to avoid gridlock in East Milton Square, and during bad weather he has witnessed motorists lose control on the decline. In a few instances, he said vehicles have skidded into his front lawn and said that he fears for the safety of his young child. He said he has had to invest thousands of dollars in rock wall to protect the home.
“I’m asking for help,” said Rines.
Lynch said part of the problem is that two of Rines’ neighbors have snow blowers, which they use to move snow into the street. He said the town has talked to them about it.
“This is being caused by the gross negligence of two of your neighbors,” said Lynch, who added that he is “astonished” with the “complete lack of courtesy” from many residents who remove snow from their properties onto streets.