Roundabout

2011

December 15, 2011

Roundabout Appeal Talks Begin behind Closed Doors

Roundabout
West Tisbury select board

Attorney fees for the lawsuit against the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s roundabout decision will not come out of the town’s annual operating budget, West Tisbury selectmen said this week.

“I think it’s better not to try to budget . . . extraordinary legal events,” selectman Cynthia Mitchell said at the board’s meeting, held on Tuesday this week. “It ought to be raised separately not as part of the budget. And in that way you get the opportunity to ask the voters how do you feel about such a lawsuit.”

December 8, 2011

Roundabout Appeal Begins in Court

Roundabout

West Tisbury and Edgartown this week took the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to court seeking to block the roundabout project that has become a lightning rod over periodic traffic congestion at the center of the Island.

In their lawsuit filed in Dukes County superior court on Wednesday, the two towns seek to invalidate the commission’s Oct. 6 decision – which was affirmed on Nov. 3 — and force a more thorough review of the proposed project planned for the blinker intersection of Edgartown-Vineyard Haven and Barnes Roads.

October 20, 2011

MVC Member Presses: Reconsider Roundabout

Peter Brannen
Martha's Vineyard Commission
Roundabout

A longtime member of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission moved last night to reconsider the vote on the roundabout.

“This is going to be our last opportunity to reconsider this decision,” said Leonard Jason Jr. “We have a chance, in my mind, to put the bullet back in the gun.” The comments came at the regular commission meeting last evening.

The commission voted narrowly two weeks ago to approve the controversial traffic improvement for the blinker intersection in Oak Bluffs. The vote was 7-6. Mr. Jason was a vocal opponent.

August 18, 2011
aerial

Roundabout Way to Love Vineyard

Craig Witaker
Roundabout

If you see one bark beetle and you are an entomolo gist, you know immediately you’ve got big problems. Those beetles can eat an entire forest.

I’ve long thought that we are making a mess of Island roads — a widening here, a widening there and the Island rural character slowly dribbles away. I’ve looked diligently to see whether these changes were just products of inattention or a real contagion bent on making Martha’s Vineyard look more like everywhere else.

April 21, 2011

Round Again on the Roundabout

Peter Brannen
Massachusetts Highway Department
Roundabout

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.

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