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A car drives ahead after stopping at the stop sign with flashing light on Codman Road.

The recently installed flashing red lights atop the stop signs at the intersection of Codman and Lincoln Roads have cut down on the number of accidents—and most likely removed any need for making it a four-way-stop intersection.

Police Chief Kevin Kennedy said there was a spate of serious accidents, some with injuries, in the area in front of the public safety building over a period of several weeks in 2017. The crashes usually happened when cars on Codman Road didn’t stop or give the right of way to crossing traffic because drivers thought all four roads into the intersection had a stop sign, he said.

“We were all kind of, ‘What’s this all about? This is something we need to take action immediately’,” Kennedy said. He subsequently asked Chris Bibbo, superintendent of the Department of Public Works, to install brightly colored flags atop the stop signs, which seemed to be helping, but they became tattered from the elements and were not a permanent solution.

Last fall, Bibbo suggested installing the solar-powered flashers, which went into place over the winter. “They’ve been extremely effective. Since the installation of the flags and then red flashing lights, the flow of traffic through the intersection has been much safer,” Kennedy said.

There was briefly talk of seeking Complete Streets funding to install an overhead flashing red light to make it a four-way stop, but Kennedy didn’t support it because of concerns about dangerous lines of stopped cars at rush hour (morning northbound traffic on Lincoln Road backing up onto Route 117, and evening southbound traffic backing up onto the railroad tracks).

Changing the traffic pattern by adding more controls, rather than just calling attention to the existing stop signs, would also require a traffic study, input from the Roadway and Traffic Committee, and approval from the Board of Selectmen. “It’s quite a process,” Kennedy noted.

In recent years, traffic rules were changed after much discussion at the southern Winter Street/Old Winter Street intersection, at Five Corners next to the library, and at the Silver Hill Road/Weston Road intersection.

The Five Corners flower pot sustained damage after it was hit by a car (pieces of which can be seen at left).

The familiar flower pot marking the Five Corners intersection in front of the library was hit by a car on March 23 and is temporarily grounded.

Chief of Police Kevin Kennedy said the accident happened when a car driving south on Bedford Road tried to turn left on Trapelo Road. The car sustained more than $1,000 in damage, necessitating the police report, and several paving stones were also dug up in the crash. No one was injured and no charges were filed.

The town will have the flower pot repaired, but when that will happen is uncertain. “We will try to expedite the repairs as soon as possible, but we will be going through the insurance process, so I’m unsure as to a time schedule,” said Chris Bibbo, superintendent of the Department of Public Works.

The flower pot was installed in 1892 by Henry F. Jenks of Pawtucket, R.I., as a watering trough for horses, according to town historian Jack McLean. “In addition, water would flow over the sides and be caught in a smaller trough around the outer edge of the base, where dogs could also drink. It was hooked up to the town’s water system, with the water coming out of a top section that is no longer present (the street signs that projected above the flower pot stood where the water source was located),” he said in an email.

McLean noted that the town had a second similar watering trough at the intersection of what is now Routes 117 and 126 which is now on the grounds of the Old Town Hall on Lincoln Road, still with its original top section. A third horse-watering trough of a different design still stands at the intersection of Lincoln and Codman Roads.

To the editor:

I write, as many of your readers may know, as a great fan of small town democracy and the opportunity presented at the March 25 Town Election to participate in affirming (or not) the town’s elected leadership for the coming year(s).

But I write this time as a great fan of a particular candidate for an office of which I am also inordinately fond. That is to say, I write to recommend to you Valerie Fox, candidate for the office of the Town Clerk on this year’s ballot.

The scope of public services provided by the Town Clerk’s office is deep and broad. It requires patience and speed; knowledge and experience; a thirst for understanding or what you might call a truly inquiring and perpetually-prepared-to-upgrade mind. Val is blessed with all these virtues and more. 

She has learned the job from the bottom up, first joining the office in 2011 and mastering over the ensuing years both the regulatory framework and the digital platforms associated with the ever-burgeoning array of service functions assigned to the Town Clerk’s office by law. She has delved deeply, with some excellent tutelage, into the town’s history. She has expanded the office’s historic commitment to bringing civic engagement opportunities to our high and middle school students with what is now the annual dog license election with Smith School students. And she has done all this while earning two advanced learning certificates from her professional association.

I will cast my ballot for Val as Town Clerk with great faith in the person I have come to know and to cherish in these last eight years, not least because of the deep-seated respect she demonstrates daily for the office of the Town Clerk and for every human being who enters it. Please join me in voting for Valerie Fox as Lincoln’s next Town Clerk.

Sincerely,

Susan F. Brooks
138 Bedford Rd.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Due to a typographical error, an incorrect phone number for OARS was given in the March 12 edition of News Acorns. The correct number to call for more information about the Wild & Scenic Film Festival on March 27 is 978-369-3956.

The February 27 story headlined “Leaf blower forum on Thursday” inaccurately said that the First Parish in Lincoln had endorsed a proposed bylaw placing limits on leaf blower use. The Leaf Blower Study Committee on Thursday clarified that, contrary to their statement at a February 25 Board of Selectman’s meeting, the church as a whole has not taken a position, although some church members have expressed support for the measure. The story has been updated to reflect this correction.