The Massachusetts Highway department has submitted two conceptual plans for the redesign of the intersection of State and Old County Roads to the town of West Tisbury, a problem intersection that has been the site of numerous accidents. The state plan calls for widening both roads, removing the triangular island and changing the angle of the intersection to more closely resemble a T shape.
West Tisbury selectmen this week gave a lukewarm reception to a pair of conceptual plans from the Massachusetts Highway Department for the redesign of the intersection of State and Old County Roads, a problem intersection that has been the site of numerous accidents over the years.
Both plans call for widening both roads, adding new pavement and removing the triangular island in the middle. Both also call for the angle of the intersection to be changed from the current Y-shape to a more traditional T-shape.
With the rut just around the corner and hot-and-bothered deer at their most reckless, the Massachusetts Highway Department has told the town of West Tisbury it is done disposing of dead deer on state roads.
“Last Friday Mass Highway was called because a dead deer was on a state road and generally they go out and pick it up but they informed us they’re not going to do it anymore,” said town administrator Jen Rand. “The reason being they say there’s no place to put it.”
Plans to build a roundabout at the blinker intersection in Oak Bluffs are back on the front burner, and on Wednesday this week representatives from the Massachusetts Highway Department and the engineering and construction firm Greenman Pedersen Inc. made their case, saying it will save lives, improve traffic and even cut down on emissions. Just don’t call it a rotary, they said.
Edgartown selectmen this week directed town highway superintendant Stuart Fuller to shave down a berm on Curtis Lane that has proved problematic for drivers. The Massachusetts highway department and the department of transportation have already approved the work. The berm was installed to prevent water runoff onto Curtis Lane, but at Monday’s selectmen’s meeting Curtis Lane resident Sylvia Thomas said that she was afraid of hitting the undercarriage of her car every time she passed over it.
