By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — In October, the Traffic Advisory Committee (TAC) recommended adding signage on Main Street in the Junction aimed at keeping parking available for business customers and improving traffic flow in the area.
But after discussing the TAC recommendations this week, the Town Council decided to implement only some of their traffic experts’ advice.
TAC chairman/Town Engineer William Renault appeared before the Town Council to present the recommended signage.
Renault explained that the DPW Engineering Division had recently received a request from the owner of the business at 642 Main St. (Moe’s Barber Shop) asking for a parking restriction in front of his building.
There are only four on-street parking spaces on the block that includes the barber shop and Wakefield Roast Beef and Seafood at 650 Main St., Renault noted. The problem, he explained, is that someone has been parking his vehicle in one of those spaces practically all day, every day, reducing the parking available for customers of those businesses by 25 percent.
To remedy that situation, Renault said, the TAC recommended signs restricting parking to one hour along that block during business hours (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
In addition, to improve traffic flow during morning rush hour, the TAC recommended “No Parking 6 a.m, to 9 a.m.” signs on the northbound side of Main Street between Nahant Street and Franklin Street. The southbound side of Main Street along the same stretch is also home to several businesses. The TAC recommended “No Parking 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.” signs on the southbound side as well as “One-Hour Parking” 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. signs.”
The TAC believed that the recommended “No Parking” signs would improve traffic flow by keeping both lanes open in each direction during the morning rush, Renault explained. The one-hour restriction during business hours would improve parking availability for the businesses, he maintained, by preventing all-day parking.
But some Town Councilors had a different view, expressing concern over the number of signs proposed. Councilors John Carney and Stacey Constas thought the plan involved “a lot of signs.”
Town Councilor Jonathan Chines proposed posting only the “No Parking” signs for the morning hours to see if that corrected the problem of all-day parking before installing the “One-Hour Parking” signs.
After some further discussion, the Town Council rejected the TAC recommendation for “One-Hour Parking” signs during business hours and voted to implement Chines suggestion to install only the morning “No Parking” signs.