The Internal Traffic Committee met in the Selectman’s Hearing Room, Town Hall at 78 Main Street, Hudson, Massachusetts. At 10:00 the Committee called the meeting to order.
Present: Chief John Blood, Chief Braga, Tony Marques, Jeff Wood and Jennifer Burke
Traffic Issues
River Street
Ellen DiLauro, 124 River Street, reviewed her letter with the Board. She noted that she had visited the Board of Selectmen and they had referred her to the ITC. She is mainly concerned that the speed limit on River Road had been recently raised to 35 mph. She notes that the area is thickly settled as defined by the Registry of Motor Vehicles and therefore should be 30 mph. She asked the Committee to consider asking Mass Highway to rereview the speed limit.
Chief Braga reviewed the process that has already taken place and noted that the stated determines the speed limit not the Town. He stated he would be willing to ask the Board of Selectmen to send a letter of reconsideration.
Ms. DiLauro asked if the Town could set any limit it wants. Mr. Marques told her no and reviewed that if you want a posted speed limit the state will be the one to set it. He noted that the alternative would have been not to post a limit and it would revert back to the thickly settled area limit of 30 mph.
Chief Braga, seconded by Chief Blood, made a motion to recommend to the Board of Selectmen that a letter be written to Mass Highway asking them to reconsider the speed limit on River Street where it was just changed to 35 mph.
Vote: 4-0-0, Unanimous
South Street Parking Lot
Frank Noyes, 22 Kent Drive, Chairman of the ADA Committee, reviewed his letter with the Committee. He noted that there are a few items in the South Street Parking Lot that does not meet the ADA requirements. There are only three spaces that are handicap accessible. The code requires 5. There are no curb cuts to get onto the sidewalk from the parking lot and to get off the sidewalk along South Street in several places.
Mr. Marques indicated that adding spaces should be minimal work and he would support taking that action. He noted that there are several grant applications for the area. One for the whole of South Street reconstruction and one for the upgrade of the parking lot. These items would be covered if the grant gets funded. Ms. Burke noted that the Town would hopefully be applying for the next grant round in February. Mr. Marques indicated that if the grant were unsuccessful he would look into his budget and see if funds could be found to get the work done.
Tony Marques, seconded by Chief Braga, moved to recommend 2 additional handicap accessible spaces be added to the South Street parking lot based on locations being recommended by Mr. Marques.
Vote: 4-0-0, Unanimous
Riverside Park
Chief Braga expressed concern regarding the location at the Riverside Park exit between the stone pillars and Brigham Street. He noted that at several large functions throughout the year people would park cars in this area and the exit will be blocked. Emergency vehicles will have a difficult time exiting the lot when this happens.
Chief Braga, seconded by Jeff Wood, moved to recommend “No Parking this side” signs are added on both sides of the exit from Riverside Park between the stone pillars and Brigham Street.
Vote: 4-0-0, Unanimous
High Street & Cross Street
Chief Braga noted that he is still noticing a problem with people parking too close to the intersection at this location. It is a violation to park within 20 feet of an intersection and he would like signs added.
Mr. Marques agreed to add signs on High Street and Cross Street.
Chief Braga also mentioned that he notices several cars with a portion of the vehicle parking in crosswalks along Manning Street. He would like to look at the situation some more before making a recommendation.
Central Street
Chief Braga noted that along Central Street in front of Cumberland Farms cars are consistently parked on the sidewalk. Parking on the sidewalk is a clear violation but he thinks a sign would discourage parking in that location.
Mr. Marques agreed to add a sign on Central Street in front of Cumberland Farms.
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