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AUGUST 29, 2019
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
Bye-bye, speed bump By Jason Starr Observer staff
A speed bump designed to slow traffic on North Williston Road will be removed next week, just over a month after it was installed. Feedback from residents and commuters was overwhelmingly negative, said Town Manager Rick McGuire, and the bump is being blamed for a three-car crash that happened Aug. 14. But as the selectboard was voting — 4-0 last Tuesday with chairman Terry Macaig absent — to follow McGuire’s guidance and remove the bump, North Williston Road homeowner Steph Claro reminded the board the reasoning the piece was originally installed. “I know the commuters are going to hate it, but it’s slowing them down,” she said. “It’s amazing. Me and my kids crossed the road, and for the first time, we didn’t feel like we were risking our lives. “It’s changed my life.”
At just 3 inches in height, the bump is referred to by traffic engineers as a “speed table.” It was planned to be one of four installed along the road this year as the final elements in a suite of traffic calming measures resulting from a 2017 Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission study. Elements already installed include stop signs at Mountain View Road, a speed feedback sign and centerline rumble strips. After the selectboard approved the package last year, town administrators altered the location of the first speed bump installation to near Fay Lane and decided to go with a removable structure instead of a more permanent paved bump. McGuire said the town planned to remove the bump in October to avoid damage from snow plows. With the board’s decision Tuesday, the bump will not be replaced, and the remaining planned speed bumps will not be installed, McGuire said.
WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
Observer photo by Al Frey
Crews install a ‘speed table’ last month on North Williston Road. Due to negative feedback from residents and drivers, town officials plan to remove the element next week.
“Almost immediately upon installation of this speed table, we started getting complaints,” McGuire said. Because the bump is made of black material, it appears more imposing than it actually is. “Some cars are almost coming to a complete stop and then going over it,” McGuire said, describing the Aug. 14 crash as a pileup caused by a driver who stopped before
the bump and was rear-ended by inattentive drivers. The bump has also led to aggressive acceleration after cars go over it, and has exposed unsecured truck loads and trailers. “I am frustrated at the situation,” board member Jeff Fehrs said. “We (have) no good answers, and the one answer we thought might work is suddenly sounding like maybe it won’t.”
The bump was installed in front of the home of Steve Mease, who has reported increased traffic noise and lobbied the board to remove it. Last Tuesday, he thanked the board for its decision to remove it quickly. “We will not be installing anymore temporary or permanent speed tables (on North Williston Road),” McGuire confirmed, see BUMP page 2
Interstate chaos
First responders imperiled while clearing crashes Observer staff report
Observer courtesy photo
Williston firefighters extract a driver from a minivan in the second of two serious collisions on Interstate 89 in Richmond on Friday morning.
It was a hectic and tragic morning last Friday on Interstate 89. Two crashes and a near miss in succession left one person dead, three injured and three vehicles totaled. They also endangered the lives of responding personnel from the Williston and Richmond fire departments, Vermont State Police and other emergency response agencies. Both crashes involved vehicles careening from the southbound side of the interstate, over the median and
into the northbound side near mile marker 78 in Richmond. The second crash occurred as rescue crews were cleaning up debris from the first. Chaos began around 7 a.m. when, according to Vermont State Police, a Sheffield man driving a Dodge Ram truck drifted from the southbound lane over the median and into the northbound lane, striking a Ford F-350 truck head-on. The driver of the Dodge Ram was identified as Bruce Devenger. He was transported to the UVM Medical Center with serious injuries and died at the hospital, state police reported. The passenger of the Dodge and driver see INTERSTATE page 2
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