九色视频

In a workshop, Town Engineer Rick Van Emburgh updated the Town Council on an ongoing study into street safety conducted by the engineering firm Wallace Montgomery.

The study, known as Complete Streets, aims to create a manual for Easton outlining which types of roads and streets prioritize certain modes of transportation, such as walking, biking and driving. The study itself will not make road safety improvements, though officials see it as a guide to initiating those upgrades.

Those leading the study are in the process of meeting with local businesses and safety stakeholders to gather feedback on how best to define and classify different streets. Larry Marcus, an associate for Wallace Montgomery, said some classifications include residential, collector, commercial urban and commercial industrial streets.

Roads are further defined by land use: downtown, residential, commercial and industrial, Marcus said. The categories roads fall into will determine the study鈥檚 recommendation on which sidewalk, bike lane or vehicular improvements should be taken.

Van Emburgh added that the manual will make it easier for the town to require certain road safety steps be taken when residential or commercial developers apply for site plan approval. Moving forward, the town will be less likely to give developers breaks or reliefs from ensuring private roads are up to town standards, he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a very practical document that I can think of a lot of different ways it will be used,鈥� Van Emburgh said of the Complete Streets study. Guidelines will be drafted and applied to a map of town roads in November.

During the nearly hourlong workshop, many specific pressure points in town were raised, including Port Street and North Washington Street.

Council President Don Abbatiello said telephone poles in the middle of sidewalks on Port Street make it difficult for people to walk safely. Council members Maureen Curry and the Rev. Elmer Davis echoed the concern about the street.

鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna (be) awfully difficult to make Port Street pedestrian friendly unless we make some serious improvements,鈥� Curry said.

On North Washington Street, sidewalks are expected to be added. Van Emburgh said the town has funds in its budget already for survey and design work for North Washington Street from Easton Hardware (near the Creamery Lane intersection) to Gay鈥檚 Seafood (close to the stoplight at the Easton Parkway, or Route 322).

The Complete Streets guidance will help determine the specific bike, pedestrian and vehicular safety measures taken for the North Washington Street project.

Pedestrian and bike safety has been an ongoing discussion among town leaders, residents and local advocates. Earlier this month, worries about safety on Route 50 鈥� a state-operated highway 鈥� were raised after a man on a bike was struck and killed.

Ward 3 Councilmember David Montgomery shared concerns that the town would sacrifice the efficient flow of vehicular traffic in order to prioritize walking and biking. He said many of the older residents in his ward 鈥� including the west side of Easton Parkway 鈥� aren鈥檛 鈥渋nterested in bicycling to downtown.鈥�

鈥淎utomobile transportation is pretty much what everybody uses in order to get into the center of town,鈥� Montgomery said. 鈥淪o I鈥檓 very concerned about our sacrificing the flow of single-occupancy vehicles, sacrificing it to other things, that for my ward, don鈥檛 do any good at all by way of mobility.鈥�

Heather Grant, executive director of Talbot Thrive, a local nonprofit that advocates for pedestrian and bike safety, refuted Montgomery鈥檚 stance. In a statement, she said residents who 鈥渄on鈥檛 want to drive everywhere鈥� deserve 鈥渆qual access to safe infrastructure.鈥�

鈥淪ome council members who mention the difficulties in traveling by car during school drop off and pick up should consider that if we make our streets safer for kids to walk and bike to school, we can reduce vehicle congestion,鈥� Grant wrote.