JAY – Residents on streets around Spruce Mountain High School expressed concerns about traffic moving at high speeds along a private throughway that connects to the school campus at Monday’s Board of Selectpersons meeting.
The public hearing was held in relation to requests to survey and install speed limit signs on Barker Street, Ludden Drive and School Bus Road. Those streets are all interconnected: Ludden Drive comes off of Main Street and forks into Barker, with both streets connecting to School Bus Road. That is a private drive, owned by the school, which connects Hyde Road and Tiger Drive, the access road for the campus.
The hearing was held pursuant to a new town policy on speed limits, in which residents can trigger selectperson consideration for a Maine Department of Transportation speed survey by submitting a petition containing signatures representing least 50 percent of property owners on the road. The MDOT conducts a survey before setting a speed limit. The town then pays for and installs speed limit signs.
The issue, residents at the meeting said, was traffic heading to or from the school at high rates of speed, utilizing the throughway that connects the campus to the nearby streets. The issue had become even more problematic as the state’s road project along Main Street drove additional traffic onto School Bus Road and the connecting streets.
Those roads are not currently posted for speed. The MDOT defaults for roads without specific limits would be 45 miles per hour, unless the section of road has enough curb cuts along at least a quarter-mile length to qualify as “business/residential.” That sets the limit at 25 mph.
The issue with that area, Police Chief Richard Caton IV said, was that only Ludden Drive was longer than a quarter-mile. Tickets written for exceeding the default residential limit could potentially be contested in court.
Complicating the question is the fact that the throughway to the school is a private road designed for school buses, not student and staff private vehicles.
Selectpersons discussed a number of ways to address the issue, ranging from installing speed bumps to closing off one end of the throughway with a gate. The school has talked with students about not using the bus-only route in the past, Town Manager Shiloh Lafreniere noted, but those discussions had not resulted in traffic reductions.
The board decided the first step was to speak with the school board about the issue, prior to taking any other step. Simply installing speed limit signs, Highway Foreman John Johnson said, would not necessarily make drivers slow down.
“Signage is not a replacement for common sense,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t change the dynamic.”
The board voted unanimously to table the issue until a couple selectpersons could meet with school board directors and local-area residents.
I do not think the road should be closed. It is access to the school area from Hyde road without having to go onto route 4-main street. I myself have used it when attending meetings at the high school. Have a police officer sit there when school gets out and give out a few warnings and then the little darlings might slow down.
That’s the point Nell, it’s a private road and you shouldn’t be using it. Put a cop there and they should write a ticket (no warnings) for anyone using that road that isn’t driving a bus or working at the garage.
It is being used more now that construction is being done on Main street. As soon as that is done the traffic will return to normal on that short cut . I use it a lot to get to the elementary school to pick up my grandson after school .The traffic has also increased a lot on Hyde road . That too will decrease after construction is done .That road is owned by the town ,can a town owned road be closed to the public ? Our tax dollars pay for plowing , and maintenance on it .
Come on down to Lavoie Street and watch how many cars do over the speed limit or run the stop sign by my house . You would be in awe that more accidents haven’t been on this street . I have asked for another stop sign be installed on Lavoie but my requests have fallen on deaf ears .
So lets gate the road!! and while your at it, lower our taxes which pay for Dam thing….
“As soon as the construction is done”…..hehehe, that’s a good one
If that’s a public school, how can that be a private drive?
If it’s a private road, then why isn’t it posted as such?
I agree that the construction increased the use of the road, as that’s how I’ve been getting my kiddo to school.
“Little darlings” could be the big boys and girls too.
~K~
I think closing the road would be a bad idea. Having school buses have to make two left hand turns across route 4 rather than going off Hyde road will put kids at more risk every day. Post the signs and put out a police speed limit enforcement detail several times when school lets out. A few tickets to speeding students will spread by word of mouth and hopefully people will slow down.
I know the regular (but random) police speed limit details they run out on 133 has slowed traffic at Bean’s Corner. Maybe that strategy would work on the school bus road but don’t shut that access off for the safety of the students and staff who use the road.
instead of speed bumps put in speed dips and i bet they will slow down then .