All Signs Point To Long Night Of Traffic Talk In Winchester

WINCHESTER - In many ways, it was Winchester vs. Waze at Monday night's Select Board meeting.

In two public hearings that packed the Select Board Meeting Room at Town Hall, residents voiced frustration at non-stop traffic, drivers who ignore speed limits, and apps like Waze that turn quiet Winchester streets into cut-through nightmares.

The first hearing dealt with South Border Road and a cut-through to Myrtle Terrace and the Winthrop Street Extension. Seeking to avoid the light at Highland and South Border Road, drivers turned to apps like Waze and Google Maps to find a short cut. You can't blame them. Parents want to get to the Lincoln and McCall Schools as fast as possible. Others don't want to miss their train into Boston because of the back-up on South Border Road.

But the result is that the short right-of-way off South Border became a major cut-through with drivers terrorizing residents and their families, especially in the morning. Working with Town Engineer Beth Rudolph, the proposal was for a "Do Not Enter 7 a.m. to 9 a.m." sign at the intersection of South Border and the short stretch that leads to either Myrtle or Winthrop. But residents like Ken Tully protested the sign, saying they were being punished for living on South Border Road. Saying, "we'll never get out of our driveways," Tully added that the town already had limited services for residents of South Border and that he and his neighbors needed to be able to take that left and use the cut-through.

The result was a compromise. The board voted 5-0 in support of a sign that reads, "Do Not Enter 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., Resident Access Only." The board will have two calls to make Tuesday. One to the police department to talk about enforcement, the other to apps like Waze to inform them of the new restrictions.

The second hearing was on adding stop signs on St. Thomas More Drive to slow down drivers using that road as a cut-through from Route 3. This one was more complicated because the roads aren't owned by the town, but rather the developer Speedwagon. Because the roads are private, Winchester is limited in what it can do. Residents pleaded for stop signs at the corner of Socrates and St. Thomas More as well as the corner of Aristotle and St. Thomas More. But Select Board chair Lance Grenzeback told residents he wanted to consult with traffic engineers before throwing up signs. He also stressed that stop signs are not a solution for speed control.

The resulting decision was two-fold. Rudolph would ask traffic engineers to give the town a quick idea of how many stop signs were needed and where best to put them. That information would be available in September. Secondly is a big picture look at the area, along with a discussion on how much the town can spend to look at the growing issue. Everyone in the room agreed speed on St. Thomas More was an issue. How best to deal with that will be left to the experts.

Photo by Bob Holmes