How Will Warwick Place Impact Traffic?

Every week we set out to answer a question submitted by one of our readers as part of our column.

Late last week we received an email from a local resident who was curious about how the town will manage the traffic generated by the new Warwick Place development on Pleasant Street.

They asked: "How are they going to handle the traffic caused by the new Warwick Place building on Pleasant Street? I heard they will be installing a new traffic light, when can we expect that to be done?"

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If you've driven down Pleasant Street recently you've probably noticed that , Marblehead's new 38,000-square-foot office and retail building,  is rapidly taking shape.

In preparation for the building, the Board of Selectmen have unanimously approved a request from the Warwick Realty Trust to install a full-service traffic light at the intersection of Pleasant and School streets aimed at dealing with increased traffic at an already notoriously dangerous intersection.

Appearing before the board at Wednesday night was local attorney Paul Lynch, who said two recently-conducted traffic studies revealed that the intersection had a higher-than-average accident rate than most "unsignalized intersections."

"Even though there's a light there it is still classified as unsignalized because the pedestrian cross button has to be manually pressed," Lynch said. "It's not on an automatic changeover."

Lynch said field observations also showed that most of the pedestrians who venture out into Pleasant Street don't even bother pressing the cross button and that most motorists approaching the intersection "just assume the light is always going to be green."

"The result is a long queue on School Street and those drivers end up having to pick and choose a time when they can sneak out onto Pleasant," Lynch said.

The Warwick Realty Trust's plan to pacify the intersection, Lynch said, will be to pay for the installation of a full-service rotating traffic signal for both pedestrians and vehicles.

"The new light will enhance the capacity level for the intersection and offset any delays created by the new development because we are going to have more traffic coming out onto School Street once they make Anderson Street a one-way," Lynch said.

When will the new light be installed? Lynch said town residents can expect to see it "sooner, rather than later."

"It will go out to a professional engineer who will come up with the kind of light, the sequence, the location and everything else and we will come back and explain what is happening," Lynch said. "This will be one less thing on our plate once we get it done."

Prior to passing the motion, board member James Nye requested that the light provide pedestrians with a numerical countdown indicating how long they have to cross the street.

"They have those in Salem Center that give you a countdown," Nye said. "I think it would be really helpful for local pedestrians to know how much time they have."

If you have a question for us, not matter how strange it may seem, let us know and we'll try to find the answers.