(Editor’s note: there will be more coverage of the State of the Town discussions tomorrow.)
At Saturday’s State of the Town meeting, residents shared their thoughts about speed limits, distracted drivers, dangers for bicyclists and other roadway issues, though there seemed to be more problems than immediate solutions.
Selectman Peter Braun voiced what everyone has noticed: there’s more traffic all over town especially at rush hour, because GPS has revealed commuter shortcuts through town to more people. He and other officials also reminded residents that many issues such as area-wide traffic and making changes to state roads like Routes 117 and 126 are largely out of Lincoln’s control.
Several measures have been tried to slow and reduce traffic, such as speed bumps and updating signage. There were speed bumps on Lincoln Road at one time but there were removed, and their drawbacks—traffic noise from accelerating cars, and safety issues for emergency vehicles and snow plows—outweigh their benefits, said Braun and Chief of Police Kevin Kennedy.
Changing signage has been somewhat more effective, especially at Five Corners, where stop signs were recently realigned. Sight lines have also been improved at Route 117 and Lincoln Road, but both intersections are still problematic, residents noted.
Reducing speed limits can also have unintended consequences. To change the speed limit on a road, a town must apply to the state, and the new speed limit must be close to the speed at which 85 percent of the motorists already travel on it under normal conditions—something that could actually result in the speed limit going up, Kennedy noted.
“The best way to control speed is volume. It’s one of those double-edged sword things,” Braun said.
When roads are repaved, the shoulder is usually widened a bit, though trees and utility poles often limit how much can be done. But again, there are pros and cons. “Narrower roads serve as effective traffic-calming mechanism but can make it difficult for cyclists,” Town Administrator Tim Higgins said.
Other proposals that were discussed:
Increased enforcement of existing speed limits—this requires hiring more police officers. Braun rhetorically asked if residents would support a Proposition 2½ override to fund such a measure and was met mostly with silence.
Crosswalks—“They can give a false sense of security… we’ve kind of shied away from them,” Braun said.
Roundabouts at difficult intersections—this has been considered, even to the point of having a traffic engineer sketch out some possibilities, but roundabouts are costly, and the town usually doesn’t own enough land adjacent to the intersection to make this feasible, Higgins said.
Restricting access to smaller roads to reduce commuter cut-throughs—one resident objected that “this is a zero-sum game; if you close a road in one place, you increase traffic in another. Don’t change the policy of letting one neighborhood have less traffic than another.”
Other suggestions to improve safety seemed more promising, such as free-standing speed sensors that blink or flash a warning message if approaching drivers are going too fast, or banning cellphone use while driving in Lincoln. Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont already have state laws requiring cell phones in cars to be hands-free, though Massachusetts failed to pass a similar law over the summer.
The town has gotten a Complete Streets state grant to study and identify specific roadway and path improvements, with the chance to apply for a larger grant for any construction projects that can be completed by June 30, 2017. However, even projects that can’t get done in that timeframe can go on a “wish list” to be considered later for town-only funding, Braun noted.
Officials urged everyone to complete a Complete Streets online survey. There will be a presentation and discussion of ideas on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall’s Donaldson Room. Officials also encouraged anyone with comments or suggestions about specific roadway and traffic issues to contact Higgins at higginst@lincolntown.org.