Traffic Management
From the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, Vol.7, No. 2, May 2006
By Jane Sherwin
Among Belmont’s various traffic hot spots, the triangle at the former Waverley fire station offers its own complications. The wide triangular space between the station, the Congregational church, and Waverley Street once had a purpose: to enable fire trucks to turn quickly in any direction. Until recently, it was exciting to see trucks bursting from the wide doors, sirens wailing and traffic halted. The fire station was a favorite destination for Butler School field trips, as well.
Now that the fire station is becoming a residence, however, the triangle is only a liability. The chief problem is the ill-defined pattern for left hand turns from Trapelo Road onto Waverley. While a triangle has been painted onto the road, it is difficult to see, and drivers are almost irresistibly tempted to float across Trapelo’s left hand lane at the most convenient break in traffic. This is a significant danger to oncoming cars and cyclists.
The situation is not helped by the sun shining directly into drivers’ eyes, and cars coming down White Street and trying to make their way across Trapelo to Waverley. Ed Sassler, coach for the Harvard cycling team and a Wheelworks employee, has counted at least twenty collisions at the intersection over the years he has been observing it. In early March, a cyclist was hit and sent to the hospital, and the next day a near miss of the same kind occurred. Sergeant James MacIsaac, Belmont’s traffic officer, says that interim solutions, like painting lines or putting out barrels, do not solve the problem. Furthermore, he says, a design for one intersection has to fit into a bigger traffic plan.
Happily, Belmont’s Traffic Advisory Committee has included recommendations for the intersection as part of the Trapelo Road corridor project. Mary Jo Frisoli, chair of the committee, describes the design concept as “more defined, safer for both pedestrians and traffic, and with less pavement.” In the proposed design, Waverley Street will gain a normal size width and a T shape at the intersection, with the remainder being green space converted from pavement on the church side. The design could include a right or left hand turning lane. Also in the design, drivers coming from White Street will be directed to turn right on Trapelo, and then left onto Waverley.
Frisoli emphasizes that the design is only a proposal, not written in stone, and that the committee values community input. The committee has developed designs for all intersections on the corridor. Once state “transportation improvement project” funding is available, all intersection designs will receive a comprehensive review. Glen Clancy, the town engineer, hopes that, if funding comes through, construction on the Trapelo corridor, including the Waverley intersection, should begin in 2009. In the meantime, when you negotiate that tricky triangle watch for cycling teams and sun-blinded drivers.
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