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Committee compiles short‑term downtown safety fixes: convert angle parking, add beacons and test 'pop‑up' calming
Summary
Members prioritized near-term safety measures for the downtown rotary and approaches—proposals include converting angled parking to parallel or removing it, adding rapid‑flashing beacons and advance lane markings, piloting pop‑up traffic‑calming treatments, and creating ADA parking closer to key businesses.
Committee members spent substantial time reviewing recommendations from past audits and the planning consultant’s draft for the downtown plan, and identified a set of short‑term, low‑cost measures to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.
Key ideas the committee endorsed for follow‑up to the planning board and select board included: converting or removing angled parking in the rotary approaches (to reduce blind reverse maneuvers and discourage ad‑hoc extra lanes), adding advance lane‑utilization pavement markings and signage 100 feet before rotary approaches, installing rapid‑flashing beacons at crosswalks, introducing a set of temporary "pop‑up" demonstration treatments (planters, cones or hay‑bale islands) to trial reduced crossing distances and lane consolidation, and placing additional ADA‑accessible parking near the rotary to improve access for people with limited mobility.
"If the parking is converted to parallel and we pilot temporary islands, we can see how people respond before a big capital project," one member said. Several members also recommended shorter crosswalks, pedestrian refuge islands near the pizza shop crossing, and adding sharrows or pavement bike markings on major approaches so bicyclists are legally and visibly part of the traffic flow.
The committee agreed to prepare a prioritized list of these short‑term items for a formal submittal to the planning board (next planning meeting dates mentioned) and to consider a two‑phase approach—striping and marking changes first, then physical changes if demonstrations show benefit.
