Warren residents will have another opportunity next week to weigh in on efforts to slow traffic through the village, as the Select Board prepares to review a new set of traffic-calming recommendations that could include the return of the speed humps removed last fall.
The board is scheduled to meet June 11 with transportation engineering consultant VHB, which has completed a study of a section of Main Street from the park-and-ride lot north to the Route 100 intersection, including the bridge near Trout Hollow Road.
The meeting comes roughly eight months after a traffic-calming project sparked intense public debate when newly installed speed humps and tables on Main Street and Brook Road drew immediate criticism from drivers, business owners and residents who said the structures were too steep and difficult to navigate.
Within days of their installation, town officials acknowledged the devices had been constructed differently than intended. The contractor, Pike Industries, ultimately removed the structures after determining they did not meet project specifications.
BIGGER PROCCESS
Now, town officials are looking at a broader, more comprehensive approach to traffic safety.
"We don't have a specific plan to remake them," select board chair Devin Klein Corrigan said in an interview this week. "We agreed to engage in a bigger process around engineering them and having some professional insight into how and where."
Corrigan said VHB's study examines traffic-calming options along a relatively short but heavily traveled section of roadway entering the village. The consultant is expected to present a range of recommendations, after which the select board will seek public input before deciding which measures to pursue.
"We're very hopeful that we'll have a large turnout of people from the village and beyond in Warren to discuss those potential measures," Corrigan said. "They have studied the area, determined what could be done with a number of recommendations, and then we will likely, in coordination with the public, pick and choose what we think we want to start with."
NARROWING LANES
Among the options expected to be discussed are lane narrowing, pavement striping to better accommodate pedestrians and cyclists, and changes to the Route 100 intersection area.
Corrigan said the study grew out of two related concerns: the town's ongoing effort to make the village safer and more welcoming for pedestrians and bicyclists, and discussions surrounding the proposed relocation of the town garage, which prompted renewed scrutiny of traffic patterns near the village center, specifically the Route 100 and Main Street intersection.
"We continue this traffic calming because we want the village to be friendly to pedestrians and bicycles and just slow travel," Corrigan said. "Cars go too fast."
While no final decision has been made, the possibility of reinstalling at least one speed hump remains on the table.
REBUILD THE HUMPS
According to Corrigan, VHB's preliminary recommendations include rebuilding the speed hump at the southern entrance to the village, though in a properly engineered form.
"In that plan from VHB, they do recommend rebuilding the speed bump that's there properly," she said. "We'll talk with them about what that looks like in their opinion."
Corrigan said the town has also asked the consultant to evaluate the smaller traffic-calming devices that remain in place elsewhere in the village. Despite the controversy surrounding last year's installation, she said some of those measures appear to be achieving their intended goal with the vestiges of last fall’s bump causing people to slow down.
"The humps, the ones by the school trail and the one by the library, seem to be faring well," Corrigan said. "People in conversation are like, those are fine. I know that we all begrudgingly appreciate that they work. Because nobody likes them. But we all like that they're effective."
Corrigan said a traffic-calming feature at the entrance to the village could serve an important psychological purpose by signaling to drivers that they are entering a pedestrian-oriented area.
SLOW DOWN
"I think that the one at the beginning of the village is important because it sort of sends that message — like, hey, slow down," he said.
The June 11 discussion is expected to be informational, with no final decisions anticipated. Town officials hope the meeting will begin a public conversation about which traffic-calming measures can best improve safety while balancing the concerns raised during last year's debate.
