Lebanon
The City Council voted on Wednesday to lower the speed limit on Crafts to 25 mph from 30 mph in response to neighborhood complaints of unsafe driving and commuters using the street as a way around Route 10 traffic.
Both Beyerle and Chandler streets, which connect Crafts with Route 10, will also be posted at 25 mph, according to City Manager Paula Maville.
“I know we’re just three small streets but we have 33 children on our three small streets,” Crafts Avenue resident Kristin Swan told the council, according to an audio recording of last week’s meeting.
She said neighbors are “thrilled” city officials considered lowering the limit, but also asked councilors to remain open to further action if problems persist.
“There are still people with Vermont plates, most frequently, who are cutting through at all times of day at a high rate of speed,” Swan said.
Residents on Crafts Avenue have asked the city to make changes for years. In 2014, neighbors requested a speed table to slow traffic. Gary Smith, then the city police chief, conducted a traffic study and concluded the street didn’t meet the city’s criteria for a table.
In May, neighbors came before the council and once again requested speed tables to be installed. Although Police Chief Richard Mello was skeptical that a new study would come to a different conclusion, he offered to perform one and come back with recommendations.
That study, conducted in early June, reported an average of 147 cars using Crafts Avenue daily, less than the 162 average in 2014. It also found that 95 percent of that traffic traveled at 30 mph or less.
“In analyzing the raw data from the study, traffic is heaviest in the 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and the 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. hours on weekdays,” Mello wrote in a letter to City Council. “Despite those being busy times, traffic counts were routinely in the teens during those times.”
Traffic statistics still don’t meet the criteria for a speed table, though Mello recommended the city take two steps: lower the speed limit and prohibit Bridge Street traffic from turning onto Crafts Avenue during peak commuting hours.
“I think it would be in line with the vast majority of the traffic that we do see going down Crafts Avenue and I think it would be safer for everyone,” Mello said of the speed limit reduction on Wednesday.
The City Council unanimously passed the speed limit reduction on Wednesday, and Mello said it could be enforced once new street signs are erected.
Councilors were receptive to the idea of limiting turning onto the street, but decided to hold off on the matter until holding a public hearing.
Under Mello’s recommendations, turning left from Bridge Street onto Crafts Avenue would be prohibited from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
City Councilor Timothy McNamara also said he would support reducing turning from North Main Street right onto Beyerle and Chandler streets during the afternoon commute.
Neighbors have also asked the city to consider striping the street in such a way that encourages slower driving.
Sara Greenstein, who lives at the intersection of Craft and Beyerle streets, said she’s seen people speed through the neighborhood for years.
“I would like to see the lower speed limit and consider the different striping (options),” she said at the meeting. “We are going to be impacted with new houses on the cul-de-sac (and) new houses coming off Route 10 as well.”
The proposed mixed-use River Park development is expected to add nine new homes on an extension at the north end of Crafts Avenue.
Retail, office and life science buildings are planned on a 38-acre parcel.
While the construction is in its earliest phase, Councilor Suzanne Prentiss said the development likely would cause the City Council to consider future traffic calming efforts.
“I think that we don’t fully understand yet what the impact’s going to be with a very large development coming into the area,” she said on Wednesday. “This could be OK or we may see more activity and we may have to come back and revisit this.”
Mello agreed and said another traffic study could be necessary, since the development will likely change the area’s traffic flow.
“(The development) could very well be pushing traffic data into the realm of different options for calming to include speed tables at that point,” he said in the audio recording.
Mello said new striping for Crafts Avenue wasn’t recommended because it was still under consideration.
He said the city should be open to looking at new lane configurations, but not without further study.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.