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Finance Committee hears petition for stop signs at Surfside Road intersection
Summary
Residents and the transportation director told the Finance Committee that the Surfside Road–Myakarma/Surfside Drive intersection has a history of crashes and congestion; staff recommended piloting an all-way stop while engineers study longer-term fixes including a mini-roundabout or signal.
Residents and town staff told the Nantucket Finance Committee on Feb. 3 that the intersection near Surfside Road and Myakarma/Surfside Drive has safety and congestion problems and warrants further study and a temporary pilot.
At the meeting, resident Walter Plarity described a multiyear effort, starting with a traffic-study work group, to address conflicts at the intersection and said a developer-set-aside of $20,000 was intended to fund improvements. He urged the committee to support short-term measures, including placing two stop signs to better control turning movements near a crosswalk, NANTUCKET ADA bus stops and a dog park.
Mike Burns, the town transportation director, said the town’s traffic-safety action plan and crash data place the intersection on a high-injury network. Burns said MassDOT is reviewing the intersection under a grant that recommended converting it to all-way stop control; he added that engineering analysis also identified a mini-roundabout as a likely longer-term improvement and that, in simulation, an actuated signal would perform best but may be legally and politically difficult to implement.
Burns said staff plan to discuss the MassDOT report with engineers and the DPW director at a traffic-safety staff meeting on Feb. 19 and would likely recommend piloting an all-way stop to the Select Board, with a pilot proposed for April to test congestion and safety before the summer season. He said the pilot could be reversed if it caused unacceptable delay.
Town counsel, John Georgio, clarified that a citizens’ warrant article is an authorization to expend funds, not an automatic mandate to spend; if a pilot or staff process resolves the issue, the article could be withdrawn or the committee could recommend ‘no action’ with an explanatory comment to Town Meeting.
The committee agreed to defer any formal motion on the warrant article until after the staff review and possible Select Board recommendation.
