Top 5 Reasons there should be a Parking Lane on South Side of Pond Street

1 - Traffic Calming - According to the engineer from Fay, Spofford & Thorndike hired by the town to assess traffic conditions on Pond Street, narrowing the traffic lanes is one of the most effective means of calming traffic.

2 - More (apparent) Parking - While parking is permitted on Pond Street (all four wheels in the road), it is not apparent to visitors who often park on the sidewalk or grassy strips (see post People Don't Know Where to Park). A parking lane would make it clear where people should park.

3 - Safer for Walkers on Sidewalk - With a row of cars (or an empty parking lane) as a buffer between traffic and pedestrians, walkers will be safer.

4 - Less Driver Confusion - When a car is parked on Pond Street, traffic cannot figure out if it should stop or cross the center line to go around the parked car. With oncoming traffic sometimes moving over to let cars pass and sometimes not, people don't know what to do. Some stop leading to rage and horns from those behind them. Some try to squeeze by leading to rage and horns from oncoming traffic.

5 - Less Road Rage - I allude to this in #4. It is clear that people are losing their cool as some will hold their horn down the entire time they are driving by a parked car -- even when no one is coming the other way. This is troublesome for those with babies sleeping and cannot be good for people with such rage and lack of control over their emotions to be on the road...

I hereby call on the board of selectmen to adopt the recommendations of the engineer and approve the parking lane. You can see from the photo that there is plenty of room. I am happy to get signatures if it would help.

New School Zone Speed Signs Arrive Near Lynch School

The good news is that school zone 20MPH signs with flashing yellow lights and radar speed display went up in the last day or so. This alone is worth applauding. [Applause]

The bad news is that people are still driving fast -- well over 20 MPH during the school zone hours. Here are my recommendations:

• While the yellow flashing lights are only on during the school zone hours, we should leave the radar speed display operating 24hrs. The speed you are traveling should flash if you are traveling more than 20 MPH during the school zone hours (when the yellow lights are flashing). It should do the same when drivers are traveling over 30MPH during non school hours.
• We should have frequent police ticket writing campaigns -- we could pay for the officer with the ticket revenue. We need a lot of tickets to be issued in the beginning to send a message and then random ticketing over time (once people know that the police often enforce the school zone).
• Let's add a camera to the sign, disintermediate the ticket writing officer, and have the tickets mailed directly to violators.

Need a Parking Lane -- People Don't Know Where to Park

Prior to the sidewalk construction project, I confirmed with the town manager and the board of selectment that parking would continue to be permitted along Pond Street after the new curbs were installed. In fact, I have learned in subsequent conversations with Winchester Police officers that all four wheeles should be on the asphalt -- not up on the sidewalk or our lawn.

Unfortunately, most people seem unwilling to park on the street and instead choose to drive over the curb and park on the sidewalk or on the grassy strips -- despite the reflective posts on each end, this car parked right on my strip where I am trying to re-grow the grass.
It seemd that a simple solution to the ambiguity about where to park that will not only keep our sidewalks and grassy strips clear of cars but will also help calm traffic on Pond Street, would be to add a parking lane on the south side wherever the road is wide enough. It is certiainly wide enough in the streatch in front of our house (see my prior post on adding a parking lane). It would also cut down on people honking at our guests who park as they should on the street.

Here are a few other examples of how confused people are about parking...

When did Pond Street get reclassified as a Double Yellow Road?

Glad to see the lines on Pond Street were repainted, BUT, when/why was the road reclassified as a double yellow line road? If you look at photos from earlier this year (below) you will see that Pond has been a single yellow line road (as recently as April 20th). And, you'll notice that when you cross into Woburn, it becomes single yellow again.

The double yellow line gives drivers the impression that Pond is a higher volume/higher speed road than it is. I have also heard that home appraisers value homes on roads with double yellow lines less than with single yellow so (if true) there are real economic damages as well as the safety issues. I imagine that that the line reclassification was a mistake rather than a conscious decision to make the road feel like more of a highway (Note that no notice of this change was given to Pond Street residents).

I also should note that the new lines are a little premature considering that the Board of Selectmen are considering "re-striping" to add a bike (or parking) lane as part of traffic calming measures.

I don't want to be too critical, but would prefer to see the paint go to the missing crosswalk across Chesterford at Pond Street and hold off on making new "line policy" particularly when that policy (line locations) is under consideration for change.

Solar Crosswalk Sign

Check out this solar powered crosswalk sign (located near Progress Software in Bedford). It has little LED lights around the sign that flash continuously to catch a driver's attention. Cost effective as it does not have to be connected to municipal power.

Time to get out the paint...

UPDATE 4/15/10: Existing crosswalk locations have been recently repainted but locations that were missing crosswalks (ie Chesterford at Pond Street) still do not have painted crosswalks.

When the sidewalks were re-done on Pond Street, really nice ADA crosswalk ramps were added, but many of the crosswalks were never painted (photo above is Chesterford Street with only a stop line, no painted crosswalk).

The new crosswalk accross Pond Street to the Horn Pond recreation area is faded and needs re-painting. Other towns use a textured paint that is raised and reflective (see Woburn's crosswalk just down the road). Seems like this would stand up to the wear and tear of snow and ice. A raised crosswalk would too, of course.

Innovative Speed Bump

I saw this innovative speed bump technology outside MGH and thought that something like this might be good for the Chesterford crosswalk accross Pond Street. While probably more expensive than asphalt, it looks like it would be easy to install. The crosswalk is faded already...

Big 18-Wheeler Truck Turns Onto Pond Street

I was getting gas at the Hess station when I saw this 18-wheeler turn onto Pond Street. While the street is a "no heavy truck" road, it is only marked at the Lake Street end in Woburn.

I also recently noticed that the "yeild to pedestrians" sign in the middle of the crosswalk at Chesterford looks like it has been run over.

I suspect that either a truck like this ran over it (as he likely could not have made it around the sign) or one of the really fast cars/trucks took it out. Bottom line is that more needs to be done to calm traffic and enforce existing laws. In this case, a raised crosswalk with center median would do the trick.

Re-striping Pond Street

One of the traffic calming measures for Pond Street discussed by the Winchester Board of Selectmen was re-striping the road to narrow the lanes and possibly add a bike lane along the northern side of the road. Given the number of parked cars that get hit each year (ours included), the Selectmen should consider re-striping and adding a parking lane on the south side of the street.

This photo shows that there is plenty of room for cars to pass in each direction while cars are parked along the south side of the street. Having a parking lane will help calm traffic, make parking safer, and provide a buffer between traffic and pedestrians on the sidewalk.

Still Driving TOO FAST on Pond Street

This time a Woburn ambulance and car collided head-on near a curve on Pond Street (67-73 Pond Street). The posted speed limit is 30MPH and during during winter snowstorms it is incumbent upon drivers to travel at a safe speed for the current conditions. It is not just drivers, but pedestrians who are at risk (note the car on the new sidewalk). Given the snowy/slippery conditions, this resident contends that traffic should not have been traveling more than 15-20MPH. Someone will need to consult the accident report to get the details on this collision.



Immediately after the accident was cleared, traffic returned to driving as speeds that are likely in excess of the speed limit and are certainly in excess of what is safe in the snow (though thankfully the DPW was out in force plowing and sanding after the accident).

One neighbor recently recounted a close call when shoveling with his son. Moments after sending his child in to warm up, a car slid off the road into the exact place where his son had been moments before. Many of us have had our cars hit or mirrors taken off when parked on the street. It is clear that traffic is traveling too fast and therefore jeopardizing the safety of pedestrians as well as other cars on the road.

It is interesting to note that a speed study was conducted on Pond Street in September 2009. Despite the fact that the study was skewed towards lower recorded speeds (the police put up a speed-recording trailer and pre-construction utility marking was taking place during the study), the results show that drivers routinely ignore the posted speed limits. Speeds recorded ranged from a low of 27MPH to a high of 39MPH (would likely have been higher without the police radar trailer). This tells us that the slowest car travels at just under the maximum speed permitted and the fastest recorded was almost 10MPH over the maximum speed limit. In fact, during this study period, the average driver traveled at about 34MPH indicating that the majority of drivers are traveling in excess of 34MPH even with the police speed trailer.

The Board of Selectmen acknowledged the traffic speed and volume issues on Pond Street and committed to the residents that they would be addressed. Keep checking back for updates and developments.

Raise your kids here, but watch for traffic!

Generations of children have grown up skating on Winter Pond in the winter and fishing and boating in the summer. Winchester is a family-friendly town and many people move here to raise their kids. With waterways like the Mystic Lakes, Wedge Pond, Winter Pond and more, as well as recreational preserves like the 2,000+ acre Middlesex Fells and the 500+ acre Horn Pond, the area is teaming with children and adults on foot and on bikes.

Yet, drive to Cambridge or Belmont and you'll notice a difference in how pedestrians and vehicular traffic come together. These towns have taken a comprehensive approach to pedestrian safety and it shows. This contributes to the desirability of these communities and therefore the property values.

Winchester needs to take a hard look at its current practices and policies (is there a Winchester Pedestrian Safety Guide/Handbook/Committee?) We need to study Cambridge, Belmont, and other "best practice" communities, develop a town-wide plan for pedestrian safety, and implement it here -- before it is too late.

Selected excerpts from City of Cambridge Pedestrian Plan

Of the over 37,000 U.S. fatalities caused by motor vehicles each year, about 14% are pedestrians, and in major urban areas the share approaches 50%*. Pedestrian injuries are correspondingly high. Small errors by either pedestrians or motorists can have large adverse consequences. The causes of these crashes** are many, but the crashes could greatly reduced without impairing the mobility of either motorists or pedestrians.

The heavier the traffic and the higher the speed, the less favorable the environment for pedestrians. Road design has much to do with determining vehicle speed and the feasibility of pedestrian crossings. Lane width, over-all street width, street curvature, turning radii, sight lines, sight distances, adjacent land use activities, and traffic volumes, especially entering and intersecting traffic, all contribute to establishing the “design” speed for a given street or highway. Speed limits have little effect if they are inconsistent with the design speed of the street, and strenuous enforcement is required if speed limits are to have any effect under such conditions.*** It is more effective to control speed through roadway design.

Up to about 25 miles per hour, vehicles can stop relatively easily for pedestrians, and explicit or formal control measures are less necessary; from 25 to 35 MPH, however, the danger to pedestrians increases rapidly with speed. The probability of fatality increases from 3.5% at 15 MPH to 85% at 40 MPH.**** Stopping distances also increase geometrically with speed.

Footnotes:
* National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1998.
** Because they believe that in the context of motor vehicles the word “accident” to some people implies a chance event that can’t be prevented rather than an unfortunate event that was unintentional and due to carelessness, unawareness, breaking the law, or other causes, federal authorities now use the word “crash.”
*** “Drivers consistently drive at speeds which they perceive as reasonable,
comfortable, convenient, and safe under the existing conditions, regardless
of posted speed limits.” Homburger et al., Residential Street
Design and Traffic Control, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall (1989),
p.39.
**** This information is from R. Limpert, “Motor Vehicle Accident Reconstruction and Cause Analysis,” 4th ed., Charlottesville, VA: Michie Company (1994), as reported in Burrington and Thiebach, Take Back Your Streets, 2nd ed., Boston, MA: Conservation Law Foundation (1995).

The Sept 23, 2009 memo from Fay, Spofford & Thorndike, the organization retained by the City of Winchester to review traffic conditions on Pond Street, noted that there is 260 feet of sight distance westbound of the new crosswalk at the Woburn Parkway/Horn Pond access. They note that a car traveling 30MPH needs 200 feet to stop and one traveling 35MPH needs 250 feet. They also note that the average car is traveling 34MPH (range was 27-39MPH) on Pond Street. Logic would dictate that the majority of cars are traveling at rates that are at or beyond their ability to stop for a pedestrian in the crosswalk (assuming no distractions from kids, texting, etc). Traffic calming measures, therefore, become critical to ensure safety of pedestrians.

If you are interested in helping or have any information relating to this, please contact me. I will keep you in the loop and try to aggregate information on this site. (That said, this is not my day job so please be patient.)