<p>The following letter was sent to the Edgartown selectmen and planning board.</p>
The following letter was sent to the Edgartown selectmen and planning board.
As we are now through with the celebrations that the fourth of July, the rising popularity of our town as a destination becomes apparent.
I am writing as a town resident and a business owner in the Upper Main street Triangle area. I have to live with the almost impossible traffic situation at the intersections of the Oak Bluffs Road and the Vineyard Haven Road. I have to travel through this almost stagnant congestion two or three times a day. It is apparent that all hope of any type of solution, or even attempting to try a few things that might help relieve it have been abandoned or simply put off the table. Something must be tried.
Years back some thoughts were put forward by the boards but they never were tried. Trying to route traffic up and past the Stop & Shop with no left turn was one. Plotting a left turn lane was another, but we were told that it would take 10 years to get approval from the state, this was not implemented either as it would take too long. That was about 10 years ago.
As I drive this on a daily basis, I think I have a feel for a partial solution. I also believe that we all acknowledge that cars getting into and out of the Stop & Shop that are the root of the slow down.
It is my thought that at least 30 to 40 per cent of the problem is from traffic coming in on Pinehurst Road. They come in, hold up traffic and immediately make a left turn into the Stop & Shop. Once we are past that point, traffic moves freely. Eliminating these cars coming in from Pinehurst and diverting them to go around the park from the West Tisbury Road would put them on the right side of the Stop & Shop entrance. No hold up then, except for the few that would go out Pinehurst.
I am most concerned that all hope of trying anything to help alleviate this problem has been abandoned or hands thrown up in desperation that it is just too overwhelming to try anything — that there is no solution. There are solutions that might help but it will take some political power to try them. I beg you to put this on a front burner and try this again. Try anything! Alternate routes, even a new attempt to open Pennywise Path to the West Tisbury Road? One way out only on Pinehurst Road is an easy one. Try something. It may not cure all the problem, but even if it helps only a bit it would be worth the effort.
Leo P. Convery
Edgartown
Comments
Make Pinehurst one way from
MarieMake Pinehurst one way from Main Street to the Stop sign? That would probably help.
And don't allow people to
MarieAnd don't allow people to make a right out of Stop and Shop and then a quick left into Pinehurst. Add a "No Left Turn" sign. Keep it flowing.
Good points! The Stop and
William edgGood points! The Stop and Shop is looking to expand. As part of the deal there should be at least a three car turning lane going to the Eastern most entrance and no left turns at all on the Western entrance/exit. It is time for our town leaders to lead an effort to releive this problem. There are plenty of ideas, some, might even work.
Leo, thanks for the letter
Steve Ewing EdgartownLeo, thanks for the letter concerning the traffic situation on Upper Main. This is one of the reasons we wanted a growth cap back in the 80s.Maybe we could have planned a bit more proactively if we had slowed things down back then. More of the building could have been done by local contractors too.I think at this point tweaking the traffic might make us feel better but it's really trying to jam a square peg, read cars, into a round hole, read Martha's Vineyard.There's too many of the former and too little of the latter.Much of the Pinehurst traffic is taking a "shortcut" around the lower part of Main.Go to Vineyard Haven and sit in Beach or State Road traffic. That can be pretty frustrating too.Just as the solution to nitrogen problems in the ponds is two fold; limiting the amounts going in and flushing out what is there, dealing with the traffic problem means limiting the number of cars and moving the "small box stores" to more appropriate locations where their effect can be better absorbed.
My family has lived on Main and Upper Main for over 50 years. One time it took me two days to back out of my parent's driveway.Good thing I packed a lunch.
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