The Traffic Safety Advisory Committee discussed moving forward with improvements to make certain intersections less dangerous at its meeting Monday at Abbot Hall.
According to the committee, the intersections of Pleasant, Smith, and Baldwin Streets, as well as Pleasant, Humphrey, and Lafayette Streets are the two highest injury crash locations in Marblehead.
Committee Chair Gary Hebert presented a number of both short term and long term solutions to reducing the crash risks at the intersection of Pleasant Street, Smith Street, and Baldwin Road. The first option included reverting the right lane going eastbound on Pleasant Street back to a right-turn-only lane.
“All traffic going east on Pleasant Street would have to continue in the left lane as it used to do a long time ago,” Hebert said. “I won’t gloss it over and say it’s going to be more crowd efficient if we do this, it won’t be because traffic likes to move in two lanes at certain points in time. However, from a safety perspective, it would be something to consider.”
Hebert added that it would shorten the crossing on Pleasant Street connecting Smith Street and Baldwin Road.
A longer term suggestion involves creating two left turn lanes opposing each other, a shared right lane in each direction, and a roughly 5-foot bike lane on the side of the road.
“An advantage that it would have is that it would push the traffic away from a turn going into a turn on Baldwin Road,” Hebert said. “When you’re turning right now, you’re turning against the curb so you have to swing out a little further. You get a bike lane there, you would actually be able to swing closer.”
Committee member Rick Smyers called the current eastbound lane structure on Pleasant Street “crazy.”
“Two lines of cars line up and race each other down Pleasant Street going right at the crosswalk,” he said. “They’re looking at each other rather than looking ahead and that’s why we have all those crashes two or three blocks down the road. If we made it just one lane through there I’m sure it would reduce crashes.”
Police Chief Dennis King, who sits on the TSAC, talked about the potential issue of queuing, or backing up traffic. He stated that making these changes “potentially could have the que factor, and it could have the frustration factor.”
However, King said that “on its face,” the changes seem like they would make the intersection a lot safer, combined with additional changes like clearly marking the approach when coming from Smith Street onto Pleasant Street.
“I think that it’s a good point to say we are sacrificing, sometimes, some que times, some traffic, in the interest of safety,” King said. “There is a balance you have to create.”
Earlier in the discussion, Hebert said that the MBTA has plans for a slight relocation of its inbound and outbound bus stops at the intersection, which could make it easier for traffic movement when buses are making stops.