By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — In the week since the town has closed a section of Chestnut Street to all but local traffic traveling to and from the DPW Garage, Moynihan Lumber, Maguire Field and several homes, town officials have been paying close attention to traffic flow throughout the area.
In particular, the temporary traffic signals installed at the intersection of Park and Central Street on Route 62 were fully activated last Thursday, July 6, and so far have been observed by officials to be doing their intended job — helping mitigate the extra traffic flow through that intersection due to the number of vehicles that must avoid turning down Chestnut Street en route to Haverhill Street or other points on the east side of town.
The section of Chestnut Street between Haverhill Street and the Lynnfield town line is not affected by the road closure. Additionally, the small section of Chestnut Street between Haverhill Street and its intersection with New Street and then all the way down to the start of Central Street, prior to Ipswich River Park, is also not affected by the roadway closure.
The lights at Central and Park streets were fully activated on the same day that more permanent barricades were installed to discourage through-traffic from traveling down the stretch of Chestnut Street between Park Street (at Rte. 62) and Central Street, near Ipswich River Park. MassDOT has ordered the town to close this section of roadway to most vehicular traffic due to the failure of the old culverts underneath Chestnut Street through which the Ipswich River flows.
In June, Town Meeting approved $300,000 to enable the town to hire an engineering firm to design a bridge that will replace the failed culverts. The proposal to be developed will then be brought before the voters at a future Town Meeting seeking the funds for the capital project that is estimated to cost in the range of $3.5 million in current dollars. The temporary traffic lights, extra barricades and signage around the town center will all remain in place until these culverts are replaced.
“A lot of time and attention has been spent on Chestnut Street and the Park and Central Street intersection,” Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto told the Transcript Monday. “The Police Department and DPW are monitoring conditions, the flow of traffic, and there are already some areas where we see we can modify some signage to better direct people, so those signs are being ordered.”
Gilleberto continued: “The biggest issue that we’ve seen is people operate on their own definition of ‘local traffic.’” When some motorists see that the road is open to accommodate this local traffic — including the customers and delivery drivers heading to Moynihan’s; the residents who live on this stretch of Chestnut Street and those who visit them; DPW and RMLD employees and those who have business to attend to at the DPW Garage; and those who want to use Maguire Field — they follow suit despite the signage indicating they should not travel down the street unless they are going to those specific addresses.
“They see that the road is open and they think they can drive through, so we are just going to have to clarify on the signs that the road is closed,” Gilleberto said.
He added that some motorists have been turning around in private driveways once they realize their mistake or they’ve turned around in the parking lot at Maguire Field or Moyniahan’s and the driveway to the DPW — all of which the town wants to prevent happening.
He explained that the Police Department has been working to provide updated information to the mobile app companies that provide driving directions. “Some of them are updated, others are only partially updated. That will probably take some time to find its way through to the end user, but we are trying to work on it and we do have contacts with those major providers,” Gilleberto said. Once those apps are updated it should help to lessen the chances that those motorists unfamiliar with the area or the local conditions would travel down this part of Chestnut Street, he believes.
As a reminder, the KidSpot playground at Maguire Field is currently closed. The old playground equipment has been torn down and a completely new playground will eventually be built for toddlers and preschoolers.
“There is more of an uptick in traffic around town (Monday) but the lights are working well,” at Park and Central streets, Gilleberto said. He added that the lights have not been synced with any of the other traffic lights between Ryer’s and Kitty’s. “But it has not been an issue either. It seems to be operating somewhat independently and still operating okay,” he said.
It is their intention to remain proactive in addressing any issues that come up related to the roadway closure and townspeople are welcome to reach out to town officials with any concerns that arise.