East Village project team talks about traffic control

by Mary Grow

The East Village Project Team, the group working to better manage traffic through East Vassalboro Village, met Dec. 9 to talk about the three-month traffic-calming experiment that ended Nov. 1, how to evaluate it and what else might be done.

The village extends along Route 32 from the China Lake outlet dam, with a boat landing that is heavily used despite limited parking, northward through a mostly-residential district. At its center is the four-way intersection with Bog Road, which runs west past the public library, and South Stanley Hill Road, which runs east around a sharp curve and past the Friends Meeting House.

The team is a response to residents’ complaints about fast traffic that raises safety issues for pedestrians and makes getting out of a driveway a challenge. Speed limits vary from 35 miles an hour on Bog Road to 20 miles an hour around the South Stanley Hill Road curve.

For three months, tall stanchions were set up on all the roads. Most were in sets of three, with a white one on each white line along the side of the road and a yellow one on the center line.

Brian Lajoie, from Vassalboro’s public works department, said a yellow stanchion was hit by a vehicle almost every day, generating many complaints from the drivers who hit them. He used up all spare yellow stanchions during the trial period.

White stanchions were hit less often. Only two needed to be replaced.

Team chairman Holly Weidner said she had talked with many people about their reactions to the stanchions. Almost all said they slowed down the first time they saw them, but not after they got used to them.

Team members have two ways to get data they hope will help them find out whether the stanchions noticeably slowed traffic. One is from small speed warning signs the state Department of Transportation (MDOT) has placed on speed limit signs on Route 32.

These signs notify motorists of their speed and record the speed. Team members have not yet requested data from MDOT. They discussed whether this year’s extensive road construction on Route 32, mostly farther north, had affected traffic patterns enough to make data not typical.

The second evaluation is to come from a survey of town residents and others who drive through East Vassalboro. Weidner shared a draft that asks questions of drivers – did you slow down? – and of residents – did you notice traffic was slower? Others offered suggestions; Weidner plans to prepare a final version.

In addition to fast traffic, parking, especially at the boat landing, is a concern that was briefly addressed by team members. Lajoie said during China Lake bass tournaments, fishers now park at the public works garage on Bog Road and are shuttled to the landing, a system that seems to be working well.

Crosswalks were mentioned as another way to slow traffic. Crosswalks require sidewalks; in 2016, Vassalboro voters refused to contribute $58,600 toward a proposed East Vassalboro sidewalk project. Weidner was open to renewed discussion at a future meeting.

The next East Village Project Team meeting will be scheduled after information from MDOT signs has been received and considered.