A seven-year effort by a group of Tisbury residents to get a crosswalk installed at the intersection of State Road and Causeway Road has stalled. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has said the specific area does not meet its requirements for a crosswalk. But the town is not giving up on the effort.
In a letter dated May 29, Tisbury department of public works (DPW) director Glenn Mauk told MassDOT of the town’s interest in creating the crosswalk due to pedestrian safety concerns. MassDOT responded on June 23 that it could not honor his request, also citing safety concerns.
“The Town has previously requested a crosswalk at this location,” MassDOT said. “At that time personnel from the District Traffic Operations Unit conducted a field review to determine if minimum sight distance requirements were met. The conditions at the intersection do not provide the minimum sight distance required for the installation of a crosswalk.”
At Mr. Mauk’s suggestion, Tisbury selectmen agreed to follow up on the matter with a public records request to MassDOT, in order to review the documentation on which its crosswalk decision was based. Town administrator Jay Grande sent a letter dated June 17 requesting copies of all written correspondence related to the proposed crosswalk dating back to 2007, including emails, texts, letters, memoranda, and plans.
MassDOT legal counsel Ulysses Jacks acknowledged the town’s request in a letter on June 26. “We will attempt to retrieve the document(s) you have requested…,” he said, adding that MassDOT would notify Mr. Grande of a fee for assembling and reproducing the documents that are located.
The stretch of State Road between Vineyard Haven-Edgartown Road and Main Street, also known as South Main Street, is the Island’s busiest, according to past traffic studies conducted by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and MassDOT, especially in the summer as more vehicles travel to and from the Steamship Authority. Foot traffic to Veterans Park, located off Causeway Road, increases seasonally as well, as sports and other recreational activities ramp up.
The crosswalk initiative began as a neighborhood petition in 2007 signed by 30 people, including not only Vineyard Haven residents who lived nearby but also some Oak Bluffs and Edgartown residents. In addition to a crosswalk at Causeway Road, the petition called for replacement of the existing speed limit sign on State Road and the addition of one near Causeway Road, and the posting of a hidden driveway sign near Delano Road.
Since then, a major sidewalk reconstruction program was undertaken on State Road along the stretch from Main Street to Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in May 2012.
It did not solve all of the neighborhood group’s safety concerns, however, and they have continued to bring up the crosswalk request every spring, when it is time for MassDOT to repaint the stripes on State Road.
At one point several years ago, town officials were told by MassDOT that the department had run out of paint and had none to do crosswalks, Deborah Medders, a State Road resident and Tisbury town moderator, recalled in a recent conversation with The Times.
Given the 20 mph speed limit on State Road and the slight downhill curve the road takes going towards Five Corners, Ms. Medders said she and her neighbors anticipated that MassDOT would deny the crosswalk because of the sight distance issue.
“We understand what DOT is saying, but the need is still there,” she said.
Another area resident, Lorraine Parrish, said she often sees people trying to cross State Road as she looks out her kitchen window, which has a full view of Causeway Road.
“Where else can they cross?” Ms. Parrish said in an email to The Times. “The only choice is to walk down State Road, which doesn’t even have a shoulder to walk on, much less a sidewalk. If there isn’t enough sight distance to put a crosswalk, then doesn’t that make it an even more dangerous spot for people crossing without one?”
The neighborhood group has also been concerned about the use of the one sidewalk on the north side of State Road. Although bicyclists are generally prohibited from riding on sidewalks by state law, many of them do not get off and walk their bikes.
The residents don’t expect a decrease in traffic, Ms. Medders said, but they would like MassDOT to tell the town what can be done to make the street safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.