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Date: 10/27/2021
NORTHAMPTON – During an Oct. 19 meeting, the Northampton Transportation and Parking Commission met to discuss roadway safety concerns in the vicinity of Northampton High School (NHS).
The goal of the meeting was to discuss, with the public included, different ways in which congested traffic and ongoing speeding on a daily basis could be mitigated.
“The activity outside our campus at 9 [a.m.] and then again at 3:30 [p.m.], it’s very busy,” said Kara Sheridan, an associate principle for NHS. “Folks are coming in at 35 miles per hour and they don’t have much patience for waiting for our kids to cross the street, or for waiting for each other to pull in and out of our driveways.”
According to Donna LaScaleia, the chair of the commission and Director of Public Works, the speed limit for the bordering Elm Street and Route 9 is 35 miles-per-hour, which is a regulatory speed limit that cannot be changed at the city level because Massachusetts Department of Technology is the organization that sets the limit. If the city wanted to change the limit, they would have to go through a lengthy process with the state.
The land also features crosswalks at the west and south legs of the intersection, and there is a rectangular flashing beacon at the southern crossing, as well as painted bike lanes on both sides of Route 9.
According to LaScaleia, the area near NHS is not eligible for a school zone which, much like the speed limits, is a regulatory decision. The only way NHS could change that is if they serve one or more grades between grades one through eight, which the high school does not. If they could change it to a school zone, then the speed limit could be lowered.
Police Chief Jody Kasper found in her studies that a vehicle leaving Route 9 missed a vehicle coming down the hill from Cooley Dickinson Healthcare, and a vehicle that was on Route 9 that wanted to turn left facing the high school was struck by a vehicle coming down the hill from Route 9.
“There’s some consistency in vehicles not seeing or pulling in front of vehicles coming down that hill,” said Kasper. “It’s a small number of collisions overall, but there’s an interesting consistency between those accidents.”
The Northampton Police Department also conducted a speed test in August by measuring a little under 34,000 vehicles. Overall, the department did not detect a speeding issue in the high school, as the average speed for these vehicles was 28 miles-per-hour.
Kasper also mentioned the fatal cyclist accident that recently occurred at the intersection of Elm Street and Woodlawn, which was another reason why the commission and the public wanted to discuss the road concerns in the area. She said that over a five-year traffic study of that area, the Police Department found that there were six accidents that occurred in that period, including the cyclist accident.
The chief noted that this was a low number of collisions overall, with three of the vehicles involved in these accidents striking parked cars. With the exception of the cyclist accident, five of them did not include any injuries.
Several Northampton residents joined the meeting to speak on the road concerns near the high school. One resident noted that drivers do not stop at the flashing crosswalks to allow people to pass and suggested that even more people have been hit on the crosswalks over the past decade, but just have not been reported to the police. A couple of residents-including someone who is an employee at the Massachusetts Biking Coalition-suggested that a protected bike lane be installed at the intersection of Elm and Woodlawn would greatly help cyclists and drivers when turns and crossings are occurring while also narrowing the roadway to reduce speed. Others recommended raising the crosswalks as a possible solution to safety concerns.
“I think raised crosswalks are a larger conversation and a longer-term project, because that’s something where when we install something like a raised crosswalk, we have utility considerations that have to be looked at,” said LaScaleia.
“There’s certainly a perception of a lack of safety around the high school,” said City Councilor Karen Foster, adding that the parent teacher organization [PTO] conducted a survey with over 550 participants that will be released to the public over the next couple of weeks. Foster continued by saying that other incidents, like people not stopping at crosswalks because they are on their phone, do not usually get reported. Foster, survey respondents and a couple of people during public speak also noted the five or six visitor parking spaces on Elm Street that block the view of drivers from the crosswalk.
City Councilor Jim Nash exemplified the sheer volume of cars that go in and out of the school during pickup and drop-off times and the general ebbs and flows of the day as cause for concerns.
Kasper said that there will be an increased police presence around that area, but this will not occur every day. The Police Department also plans on putting up a speed display sign in the area to help slow the drivers down as they head into Elm Street. LaScaleia listed the flashing speed display, as well as dealing with those parking spaces on Elm Street, as possible short-term solutions. Altering the topography will be a long-term project.
Tammy Lieber, the transportation supervisor at NHS, added that a second crossing guard will be at the high school, along with a future third to help mitigate traffic problems.
The next step for the commission is to review the PTO survey with the police department and take those considerations into account. They will also be working with the superintendent to see what can be done within the next 30 to 90 days. This topic will be put on the agenda again next month.
“I believe improving roadway safety at the high school is of urgent concern,” said Superintendent John Provost in a comment during the meeting.