To the editor:

In his recent letter to the editor, Gerry Lattimore is right: I’ve seen quite a few vehicles coming from Sandy Pond Road zipping down the wrong lane recently—very dangerous.

Another aspect of this intersection—besides unclear markings/signage and bad sightlines—is the tremendous breadth of the intersection, which makes it harder to judge when one should enter the intersection and also encourages some drivers to try to “beat” oncoming vehicles out of turn. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve nearly had a head-on collision due to a vehicle coming down Bedford Road following another through the intersection (or not seeing my turn signal) as I attempt to turn left onto Sandy Pond.

One way to solve all these problems (though admittedly an expensive one) would be to take Weston Road out of the equation. This would make the intersection far smaller, less complex, and much safer. But rerouting Weston Road would be—shall we say—controversial, to put it mildly!

Sincerely,

Allen Vander Meulen
30 Beaver Pond Rd.

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Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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 Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

To the editor:

I have read several letters to the editor on this subject, and I am surprised this is still a topic of conversation.

1. It doesn’t take much work to flip open one of the catalogs DPW likely gets every week with all these options for road signs, which have designs matching the style of the area. We aren’t the only town with this “problem” of historic significance trumping public safety.
2. I wonder if folks on the historic preservation side of the argument realize the double standard evident to anyone subjected to that intersection. On one side, we can’t get sign moved for aesthetic reasons, yet on the other side of the intersection we have ugliness that is that pile of advertising signs.

In a town with a large number of residents who are responsible for creating some of the most influential technology, innovations, and companies, I find it surprising this issue is still a conversation for that many years.

Maybe those stop signs need to be taken out and proper five-way traffic signal fitting the style of the area (yes, from the same catalog). While we are at it, let’s install sensors in the road, so every morning and evening traffic is managed better, and our fellow residents around that intersection can breathe that air little easier.

Sincerely,

Apolinaras “Apollo” Sinkevicius
124 Tower Road

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Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.

To the editor:

We live at the five-way intersection at the corner of Bedford and Sandy Pond Road where Trapelo Road ends at at the planted watering trough. I totally agree with Barbara Slayter’ s observations and suggestions, particularly the second, of writing “stop” on the pavement parallel to the pedestrian path—the point from which the whole intersection can finally be seen. That step would be likely to solve the problem.

I hope the problem can be solved without additional vertical signage. Recent new signs around town have seemed excessively large and colorful.

Another dangerous element at the intersection, which I see often from my kitchen window, is cars exiting Sandy Pond Road via the left-hand side of the forked mouth of the road, sometimes very fast. The cars properly entering Sand Pond road zip in via the same fork fast. Perhaps arrows painted on the pavement indicating “in” and “out” (just arrows, not words) would reinforce the correct use of the fork.

Sincerely,

Gerry Lattimore
2 Bedford Road

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Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.

To the editor:

I am a resident of Lincoln living on Trapelo Road near the five-way intersection and have negotiated that intersection several times a day for most of the past 25 years. I can attest to the difficulties of doing so despite the fact that each of the streets has a stop sign with an additional sign indicating “five-way” stop. The two streets  posing the most difficulty are Weston Road and Trapelo Road since drivers emerging from either street cannot easily see a vehicle from the other until they are actually in the intersection.

The safety issue is, of course, paramount, but I also agree with those who do not want to mar the beauty and historic presence of the watering trough (now garden) at the center of the intersection by placing a stop sign right by it. Why not consider the following:

1. An additional sign attached to the same pole below the “stop” that says “proceed with caution.” If those were placed on both Trapelo Road and Weston Road stop signs, I should think their presence would slow down impetuous drivers as they enter the intersection. All other drivers can readily see each other.
2. Alternatively, or in addition, one might have writing on the street pavement (similar to Waltham’s annoying arrows on Main Street!) further into the intersection on Trapelo Road and paralleling the pedestrian walkway guidelines, saying “pause here” or  simply “stop.”

Sincerely,

Barbara Slayter
7 Trapelo Road

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Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.