The hose ramp spanning Beach Road at Five Corners in Tisbury has been removed, beating the deadline imposed by the town. The ramp, which was in place for about a month and a half, caused at least one bicycle accident and a number of vehicular mishaps, and triggered discord between the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), the town of Tisbury, and Drake Petroleum Co. and its contractors. In April, the ramp damaged a VTA bus. The damage caused the bus to leak coolant over a long stretch of Beach Road.
The select board gave permission to Drake Petroleum Co. for the hose ramp only until May 26, the Wednesday before Memorial Day. Contractors for Drake Petroleum Co. pulled up the ramp ahead of that deadline, and have made significant headway in the fuel tank and pump replacement project at the Beach Road Citgo station located at XtraMart. The ramp’s purpose was to protect pump hoses that moved water from the Citgo station jobsite to Vineyard Haven Harbor.
With the shared-use path project originally planned for Beach Road significantly pared down, MassDOT abandoned plans to rejuvenate Beach Road drainage infrastructure after a stalemate with Tisbury as to who would cover the cost of other infrastructure upgrades the work would necessitate. Nevertheless, MassDOT is still at work on Beach Road, and may still be at work past Memorial Day.
“MassDOT and the utility company are continuing to repair potholes, engage in line painting, clean drainage structures, and install electrical conduits,” MassDOT spokesperson Judith Reardon Riley emailed. “It is typical for MassDOT to work with municipalities on Cape Cod and the Islands to extend work past Memorial Day, and MassDOT submitted a request earlier this week to continue working up to Friday, June 25, ensuring crews are off the road when schools let out for summer and traffic volumes increase for the season.”
At a board meeting Tuesday, the Tisbury select board said they would like permission from MassDOT to sweep the street ahead of Memorial Day weekend. They didn’t balk at the extended work, but made it clear to town administrator Jay Grande they want more details from the state on what types of interruptions there will be on the flow of traffic.
“Businesses are going through a lot down there,” select board chair Jim Rogers said, noting that he wants disruptions to be kept to a minimum. “It’s a short season.”
Miss that bump and how it calmed the 5 corners traffic,. Though I did get the flying bird from one impatient driver heading no where very fast. I wonder if there was an overall reduction in accidents.
Yes I agree.
It was a good dry run for traffic calming.
Let’s try a bump for traffic calming before the curve by Tisbury Market Place, going both east and west.
Hooray for the construction crew beating the deadline!
Get the debris and sand out of the bike paths please! Before the Holiday weekend.
I’ve had two cats killed by speeders at the corner. Safer with the bump or even better a traffic light. Speeders are back. Speed limit is 20mph.
I miss the slowdown caused by the bump. It gave everyone a chance to merge instead of fighting to get in or out of the intersection.
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