At last night's Select Board meeting, we heard from representatives of the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) on a study which they conducted to relieve congestion in the Faunce Corner Road and Route 6 corridors.
Specifically, SRPEDD recommended realignment of Tucker Road across from the terminus of Hathaway Road on Route 6. You can link to the report here.
The plan calls for a traffic light to be installed at the newly created intersection and removal of the light at Tucker Road. This alignment will allow travelers from Hathaway Road to turn onto Route 6 at a light and will help relieve traffic which backs up on Route 6 from the Tucker Road light into the intersection with Faunce Corner Road, blocking travelers from Old Westport Road and those traveling along Route 6. It will also reduce the number of accidents at Tucker Road and Hathaway Road which are dangerous intersections with frequent collisions.
The Select Board decided to hold a public hearing ...
... on the plan at our June 7th meeting. The proposal will be expensive and will require taking of some lands and buildings. One possibility to reduce the expense would be to route the realignment of Tucker Road through the North Dartmouth Library property. This would require that the library be demolished to make way for the roadway.
I support this proposal and would like to see it done. The traffic snarls at Route 6 and Faunce Corner Road and the accidents are going to get worse and soon. Traffic is already to the point where the backups occur almost daily with normal traffic and are horrendous from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The net result is that it makes the area less attractive to business because travelers are going to avoid having to deal with it and go elsewhere.
It is not that I do not want a library in North Dartmouth, I do. But given the choice between gridlock and the present library, I would choose the new road. There was a proposal a few years ago to build a new library building on Cross Road on land adjacent to Potter School. The town owns the land. I would like to see that done along with the road realignment. I see the building as a multi-use facility with a library, senior center, and perhaps a police substation. There is plenty of room on the site. Why not have a playground there as well?
If you would like to put your two cents worth in at the public hearing, please attend the Select Board meeting on June 7th.
See you there.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Faunce Corner - Route 6 congestion
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17 comments:
Tucker Road is not the problem, it just needs a couple of changes and the traffic will take care of it self.
First thing, do not allow any traffic traveling North on Tucker Road to make a left turn at State Road, or cross over to Champion Terrace. All traffic must turn right, or East bound only. Reconnect the islands at State Road and Hathaway Road. This shall eliminate all traffic turns onto Hathaway Road from State Road. All Hathaway traffic must make a right turn on State Road West bound only. After a week or two, motorist will begin using other roads to travel to work, school or what ever. After a couple of weeks of traffic back up along the East bound lanes of State Road, people will start looking for other street to use.
Stop spending money that this town can not afford. Money can not solve all are problems but it can cause a lot of problems. Traffic will adjust and the flow will continue. Don't touch the North Dartmouth library. You want to construct a road where?? I traveled along Tucker Road and noticed the back up of motorist. We have the same traffic concerns along Slocum Road, Dartmouth Street, and Bliss Corner, UMD has many students traveling along the same roads and traffic back up at the UMD entrance.
What in the world do you think the motorist traveling North on Tucker Road are going to do when we spend money we don't have, to connect Tucker Road and Hathaway Road together at the intersection with State Road. The same problem with occur. Those who want to make a left turn will make it at this intersection of Hathaway Road and State Road. Unless you have a long turn light the traffic will continue to back up on the new Tucker Road section. Are we all stupid or were we born this way?? I much rather be stopped in traffic then have the lights go out. I don't want to see any more cutting of the school budgets. Lets all get along and stop looking for places to spend money just because a few people must wait in traffic.
Obviously you have not read the report that SRPEDD produced. Go and read it at the link provided in the post. "Unmanageable gridlock" is the phrase used to describe where we are headed.
This is not going away. These intersections will get worse and the already high accident rates will increase. Eventually consumers will get tired of the traffic and go elsewhere to shop. Home buyers will become aware of the unmanageable traffic and look elsewhere to live. This is not a few people stopped in traffic. It is a major infrastructure shortcoming.
Dartmouth Street and Bliss Corner are being addressed this summer with new patterns and lights.
Nobody has cut the school budget. The schools get hundreds of thousands of dollars above required school spending.
Lets all get along and stop looking for places to spend money just because a few people must wait in traffic.
Apparently you missed the part about those 2 intersections being SAFETY hazards!! People are injured in that area every month, how much longer will we ignore public safety in the name of pinching pennies?
Those roads are right in the middle of OUR school traffic pattern. Buses, cars with children and business people are all driving in that area. Will it take someone to die for you to get off your wallet.
In fact, since you weren't elected how about you either run for office or let those who are elected do THEIR job.
Once again, this town is full of brats.
Anybody catch the police press release in the chronicle? If a teenager has a party that the parents don't know about and one of the kid's friends tries to run from the police, the unknowing parents will be persecuted as criminals to the fullest extent of the law. Seems we have ourselves a new sherriff in town and he's a certifiable proheebitionist.
BillyBob's tunin' up old Betsy as I type cause I suspect that the new sherriff'll have all the package stores closed down in short order. Betsy's a 150 gallon Tennessee copper work of art. Golden shiny on top, a little blue at the mash line and dark near the bottom by the fire. The uppity folks call that "patina". And the thumper keg sounds just like a coal train runnin' through the holler.
Once Billy's done with Betsy, we'll be tweakin' up Gramp's old hot rod and gettin ready for the good ole days of proheebition. You know, the days when the lawyers made all their money defendin the workin' folks for doin some sippin after a hard days labor. I think the goin rate these days is about $8grand.
You know the ole sayin, when life gives workin folk somethin as sour as lemons, workin folk make sour mash corn whiskey. YeeHawww. Step on the gas Vernon, it's the lawww.
It is about time parents are held responsible for the actions of their children.
What Chief Lee is recommending is well withing the laws of the Commonwealth.
Seems the new Chief's honeymoon is over, but remember YOU wanted an outside Chief, someone with new ideas, and (this is my favorite one) an outside chief will crack down on the "lazy cops"!!!!
Maybe next time the leaders of this town will take into consideration that people who spend 30 years working their way up to the "chief" position and know this town and the residents would probably be a better choice.
Unmanageable gridlock and getting worse. This almost sounds as bad as the BP spouting oil into the Gulf of Mexico and no end in sight. Now BP oil has a problem and the people effected along with wildlife, fisherman, sandy beaches, fish, turtles, marsh ares and don't forget the Louisianan coast too Florida. This is a major problem, not the gridlock at Tucker and State Road.
Dartmouth can not, I repeat, can not afford to spend money on gridlock by constructing a new section of Tucker Road through private property to connect with Hathaway Road. Listen please, this ain't happening. The town will spend millions of dollars to complete all the requirements and business relocation obligations, along with the land taking alone. What is accomplished by moving the gridlock from one location to another. How will the traffic problem get solved when all this traffic is at the intersection with Hathaway Road, State Road and some traffic is heading West, some are heading North and others are heading East. Don't forget all the traffic coming off Hathaway Road and East bound on State Road. What happens to all the traffic heading for the Hawthorn Medical Center?What happens when the fire alarm goes off and big fire trucks want to move out of the buildings? This grid-lock occurs for not more than twenty minutes each day and afternoon.
Holding parents accountable for their children is nothing new. Many communities already press charges on the parents when the children are out of control. I guess it means parents should know where the children are at all times and who they hang out with. Wow,what an idea!
Getting back to route 6 traffic. Studies have been going on for years with many different locations researched. It used to be that gridlock only happened during holidays, not so anymore! Try any given day! Part of it is due to Faunce Corner Rd. business park, but part of it is just Dartmouth growing pains.Something needs to be done. As far as the North Dartmouth library is concerned; maybe it's time to think about a new library in the north of town, or is everything going to be located in South Dartmouth!
8:31
Now that is something to think about, relocated everyone into South Dartmouth. Just business in the North end of town. You have my vote.
Dreamers are nothing more than fools, so dream along with me.Two fools are driving North along Tucker Road when they notice the expected back up.
“Too many people driving at the same time of day on the same road heading North at the same time.” said one fool to the other fool.
“You'd think these fools would know that Tucker Road is back up at this time of day.” “Yup, your right on,” said the other fool.
“I hear the selectmen are talking about building a new library in the North end of town,” said one fool. “Great,”said the other fool, just what we need another place to attract more traffic.” “Yup, they are talking about building another Tucker Road,” said the other fool. “Why would they want to build another Tucker Road when we have this one all backed up in traffic,” said the other fool? “I don't know, but it has something to do with grid lock or something.” “Maybe it's some kind of football thing, you know like gridiron.” “Yup, just what we need, then they will see gridlock.”
“Hay fool, have you given any thought about running for selectman?” “What, you think I'm some type of fool?”
Laughter is the best medicine.
Yes, you are are fool! If the North Dartmouth library is no longer open, I suppose you think all the people from North Dartmouth should just drive to South Dartmouth every time they want to use a library? It's already bad enough that the high school is almost as far south as they could make it. Dartmouth is one of the largest towns in MA. How about having town services central from now on? I've heard the story about the days when north was all farms, but those days are over.
ND was sold out years ago for those few individuals who had connections to our town leaders for a very hefty profit. At the same time the revenues generated for the town were put into the improvement of SD. What do we have to show for it? A huge mess called the Dartmouth Mall which this town pays dearly for with infrastructure and police services. All amenities are in SD. And here we go again with the Lincoln Park project. We all know who had her hands in this one. Horan McLean's eyes were on the revenues this project would supposedly bring in while helping her developer buddies. She never bothered to consider the harm this project would do to the town. She only saw the imaginary dollar signs. ND folks need to wake up and start making their voices heard.
To 8:07
The town selectmen should appoint a committee to look into how our precincts are determined and make recommendations for improvement. I would apply for a position on this committee.
The town selectmen should appoint a committee to look into how our precincts are determined.
These precincts are determined by the Secretary Of State in the Commonwealth Of Massachusetts. This is why it is important to fill out your census report, State & Federal. The Town officials have no bearing on precincts, or the U.S Senate & Congressman assigned to you district, they are determined by higher powers.
Dartmouth is one of the largest towns in MA. How about having town services central from now on?
Apparently you have no idea how big Dartmouth is. The middle of Dartmouth is located in South Dartmouth, that is where the services are THE MIDDLE, they just happen to have a 02748 zip code.
Take a look at the map of Dartmouth and tell me what you see!! Town Hall, the Quinn school, Potter school, Middle school are all North of center. The PD is in the middle of town as are the library and Demello School.
I hate people who claim SD has everything. The middle is the middle no matter if you put north or south in front of it.
The first poster made some excellent suggestions. Only allowing a right turn onto route 6 west from Hathaway is a must, NOW. And yes, that divider needs to be connected. Have you noticed as you drive down route 6 west, there are no U-turns allowed at any intersections for many many miles? And many of those intesections are not dangerous or congested. But then the complex Tucker/Hathaway Rd/Route 6 intersection is set up like the wild-wild west. Make some sensible and very corrections now and see what happens before spending mega bucks. And while we are at it, could we please clarify if two lanes of traffic are intended for the bottom of Hathaway Road at route 6? Many impatient drives create another lane on the left side, to avoid the line of traffic. Some ofm those folks want to go east on route 6, which should not be allowed. Others go right on route 6 west, intending to take a left onto Tucker. But when two drivers lined up at the bottom of Hathaway want to do exactly the same thing and access the same route 6 lane, accidents happen--not to mention occasional road rage.
Have you noticed as you drive down route 6 west, there are no U-turns allowed at any intersections for many many miles?
That is not true. U-turns can be made at all the cutouts. U-turn is available at Slocum Rd intersection, Tucker Rd intersection, Old Westport RD intersection. Reed Rd intersection.
In fact the only places U-turns are not allowed is where Left turns are not permitted. IE in front of the mall and at the jughandle.
Where are there miles of road where no uturns are allowed? This I have to hear.
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