The West Tisbury select board met on Wednesday to discuss a proposal to renovate the North Tisbury bridge, which is located on State Road near North Road. The Complete Streets committee, a subcommittee of the West Tisbury planning board, has been working with a team of engineers to design a wider, safer bridge.
“The No. 1 area of concern is the North Tisbury Bridge,” planning board administrator Jane Rossi told the board, citing the planning board’s prioritization plan. The widening of the bridge “would provide breathing room for vehicles, and pedestrians crossing as well.”
The bridge currently spans 24 feet. Dan Doyle, special projects planner for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, noted that because of the current condition of the road, it’s much closer to 20 feet wide, giving each vehicle lane only about 10 feet across. The proposal aims to widen both vehicle lanes to 12 feet, and add a five-foot-wide bike lane, with up to two feet of space between the bike lane and the guardrail.
The goal is not to increase traffic, but to ensure safe mobility for bicyclists, pedestrians, strollers, etc., in addition to the vehicles. Currently, said Rossi, “the cars are passing each other so closely, people are losing mirrors. We all kind of flinch when it’s time to go over the bridge.”
The planning board will meet with engineers next week to move forward with the bridge design.
In other business, the select board discussed the continuation of an annual fundraising event sponsored by the Big Brother Big Sisters organization called Blooming Bids for Kids at the Field Gallery in West Tisbury. In order to accommodate the fundraiser in the future, without any red tape, select board chair Skipper Manter suggested a change in zoning bylaws, which currently prohibit retail sales at the site.
While I agree that widening the bridge might make it safer, the downside is it will encourage some folks to move faster across the span. Right now, most drivers slow down as they approach the bridge. I’m not sure widening will produce more safety. Just a thought.
So should we make it narrower?
It’s way past time for this time bomb of a hazard to finally be dealt with, and it sounds as if this time something will actually happen. For that we can be thankful. Well over ten years ago DOT had a design, a cost estimate, and a schedule for widening the North Tisbury ‘bridge (it’s actually a big culvert not a bridge). A change in leadership at the regional DOT office resulted in that plan evaporating, no trace, except for those of us who had been briefed (I was Selectman at the time). Couldn’t get an explanation for its disappearance. I spent several years trying to get DOT interested again, and had made some progress by the time I left the Selectboard. That was five years ago.
All of us who cross the bridge regularly have had repeated harrowing close calls with construction trucks, buses, or cars not quite in their lane. Personally, I won’t cross the bridge if I see oncoming traffic. It’s a miracle there hasn’t been a tragedy. I hope this very needed improvement now moves faster than the glacial speed it has so far.
I’m all for widening the bridge, but the existing bridge has some rural “character.” — Not much, but some. Will we get to see the design , or will they just plunk down an ugly piece of cement ?