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Select Board approves bike-path crossing signage and minor parking changes after BPAC, traffic-safety review
Summary
After months of BPAC discussion, the Select Board authorized a compromise set of bike-path crossing signs and markings and approved targeted parking and no-parking adjustments at Tacoma Way and Center Street to improve sight lines and vehicle movements.
The Select Board on June 25 authorized a set of bicycle-pedestrian crossing signs and markings recommended by the Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) and town traffic-safety staff, and approved three related traffic-control actions: a no-parking restriction on part of Tacoma Way, restriping to remove a single parking space at Center and Lilly streets, and intersection-caution signage along several path crossings.
Traffic safety staff explained the design objective: reduce unnecessary sign clutter for path users while preserving stop signs at major intersections and driveways where sight lines and vehicle speeds create safety risks. The staff presentation noted state law (Mass. Gen. Law 80, Section 11) treats bicyclists who dismount at marked crosswalks in the same way as pedestrians, and the local bylaw extends similar protections to path users; the town's approach was to keep stop signs at major crossings and use intersection-caution signage and improved crosswalk markings elsewhere.
Recommended actions approved by the board included stop signs at high-risk crossings (for example where the path transitions to shared roadway at Sconset and at Dukes Road in Madaket), intersection-caution signage and crosswalk markings at lesser crossings along Pulpus Road, Madaket Road, Hammock Pond Road and Milestone Road, a no-parking restriction on part of Tacoma Way to deter overnight parking, and a 20-foot extension of the no-parking yellow line at Center Street to improve right-turn movement at Lilly Street.
Board members praised the collaborative approach between BPAC and traffic staff and supported the incremental, evidence-based changes. "This is something that BPAC worked on for years and trying to get done; they'd already had it all written down," one Select Board member said during the meeting. The Select Board voted to implement the recommended signage and the three targeted parking changes; votes on the separate traffic items were unanimous during the meeting.
