The lower section of Gilcrest Road was under discussion during the Monday night, July 15, Town Council meeting, and after a lengthy dialog on whether or not to install stop signs on the road, it was determined that the best solution would be to lower the speed limit.
Area residents along the lower section of Gilcrest Road have attended numerous Traffic Safety Committee meetings as well as Planning Board meetings raising concerns with the amount of traffic on that road, as well as the speed cars are traveling through that area.
There have also been a number of recent accidents on that road, as well as plans presented for additional apartment complexes.
Planning Board members, Jake Butler and Tony DeFrancesco, attended the meeting to put forth the idea of installing a four-way stop sign on Gilcrest, at the intersection of Tokanel Drive and Charleston Avenue.
DeFrancesco started by saying that the Planning Board has had dozens of residents voicing their concerns about traffic issues in that area during recent public hearing on projects being proposed on Gilcrest.
He said residents have expressed that most of the issues come from cut-through traffic and the town cannot stop that, they can only try to control it.
DeFrancesco said, “The situation is bad. Those folks cannot get out of those two roads to take a left, to go north.”
He said the ultimate goal of the stop sign, no matter where it is placed, is to slow traffic down.
Director of Public Works, Dave Wholley, was asked how difficult it would be to install the stop signs at the intersection, to which he said it would not, they would just need time to notify the public.
Police Chief, Kim Bernard, was also asked to speak on the matter. He reiterated that people use the road as a cut-through; he felt that something is better than nothing, but he feared there would be accidents there during winter. He didn’t feel that enforcement would be an issue.
John Trottier, Londonderry’s Director of Engineering and Environmental Services, stated that he thought it was a bad idea to put a stop sign there, saying the road has a six percent grade and during the winter, the town will be replacing the guard rail fairly frequently.
Trottier felt that using a stop sign to deter people from using the road, they’ll just speed up to make up for lost time.
Town Council Chair, Chad Franz, suggested putting the stop sign up and if it doesn’t work out, the town could just remove it.
Member, Shawn Farber, put forth the idea of doing a deeper look into on the overall traffic problems in town. He wanted to help solve the problem in the area, but wanted to do it in a more systematic way.
Town Manager, Mike Malaguti, agreed that an overall study into traffic issues is needed, but that would take funding. He added that he felt a revolving fund might need to be established, saying that traffic studies are expensive.
Wholley clarified his position on the subject of putting the stop sign in, saying he wanted to be clear about his answer to the council earlier. He added that although it wouldn’t be difficult to install the signs, “Do I agree with this being a four-way stop? No, I do not.” Adding, a much more in-depth study should be done on the intersection.
Wholley also felt that installing the signs just to see if it works would set the town up for legal issues in the future. He said, “You can’t use the motoring public as a guinea pig, you better have a better answer to a lawyer if a serious accident happens there.”
He felt the council should be more cautious about what direction they take on the intersection.
In the end, the Town Council decided that the best way to slow drivers down would be to lower the speed limit to 30 miles per hour on Gilcrest Road.
Malguti added that an inventory of the speed limits of all roads in town should be updated to reflect speed limit changes made over the past several years.