After much critique of the non-happening on Adams St., a report of something Newton has done right: a new four-way stop at Winchester Rd. and Rachel Rd./Goddard St.
It’s always been a bit of adventure crossing Winchester or merging into traffic on Winchester. Because of a curve and change in elevation, the sight lines are tough. And, the volumes crossing Winchester are significant.
To address the problem, the city has added stop signs on Winchester north and south to go with the existing stop signs on Goddard and Rachel. The new stop signs solve a real problem, without doing any violence to the appropriate use of stop signs. (Newton has a history of throwing up a stop sign instead of dealing with the underlying issue, at the expense of respect for legitimate stop signs.)
It really is much easier now to either cross over or merge onto Winchester.
Have you been through the intersection since the new stop signs were put up? Agree with my assessment?
I suppose if i lived on Rachel, a very residential road, I would not appreciate the additional cut-through traffic that the improved intersection would invite.
There’s also a new 4-way stop added at the corners of Jewett Street and Pearl Street in Newton Corner. As someone who travels this route daily, I think it’s a wonderful, brilliant addition to that neighborhood.
I think a lot more intersections in Newton should have this arrangement. Sean, I’d be interested to hear your perspective on this. In the case when both streets are residential side streets, is there any reason why it shouldn’t be a 4-way stop?
I lived on Pearl Street for 51 years, and it became a raceway for commuters to bypass Washington Street and Newton Corner (exit 17), by taking Jackson Road, and Pearl to Galen street, coming over the hill by Jewett at speed. I had a difficult time backing out of my driveway at anytime of day, but especially during rush hour. When the Mass Pike extension was constructed it destroyed the neighborhood that was Newton Corner, and relegated it to a traffic interchange, and the accompanying traffic issues. The statement that a four way stop at Jewett and Pearl is a brilliant addition to the neighborhood is laughable considering it’s a result of urban planning at it’s worst, and the loss of one of Newton’s villlages. “Honor the Corner”
Let me start with Mark’s comment. Managing traffic flow, like managing water flow, is tricky. Rachel Rd. is a good example of just how tricky it can be. Lots of recent or pending work has an impact on Rachel Rd.: the light at Winchester/Nahanton, the soon-to-be resignalization of Nahanton/Wells Ave./the JCC driveway, the pending reconstruction of Brookline/Dedham/Nahanton/Carlson, even the new 128 ramps on Kendrick St. How do you solve the problems those projects are intending to solve and do no harm to Rachel Rd.?
The JCC is a great case study. The entrances on Winchester have never been opened, as a condition of the JCC’s long ago special permit. As I understand it, the folks on Rachel Rd. felt that having entrances on Winchester made Rachel Rd. more attractive as a cut-through, which means that lots of JCC traffic that wouldn’t have had to, now has to pass through two difficult intersections, Winchester/Nahanton and Nahanton/Wells Ave./JCC, which backs up traffic on Nahanton, which may make Rachel Rd. more attractive as a cut-through.
Ultimately, the best policy is probably to acknowledge that you can’t prevent cut-through traffic volume, the best hope is to manage speeds. Rachel Rd. needs elements that will reduce its design speed to the posted 25 limit.
That said, the concern about cut-through traffic has to yield to safety considerations. The stop signs flat make the intersection at Winchester so much more manageable.
The new stop signs do not just acknowledge the cut through, but reinforce it. Don’t you think the stop signs will add volume to Rachel Road? True, this is the logical follow-on from the Winchester/Nahanton signal. A more creative solution like a roundabout might have mitigated this somewhat.
Another problem with this policy is that putting up stop signs to address the safety issue at the intersection is cheap and easy; changing design speeds to control flow and safety along this route in our car-centric world (aka traffic calming) requires something of a political miracle. That leaves Rachel Road as a virtual on-ramp to 128.
Adam,
I have no idea what problem the stop-signers were trying to solve with the new stop signs. It may very well be that they were trying to slow traffic along Winchester.
But, there was a very real problem at the intersection managing the crossing over and merging onto Winchester with roughly equal volumes along the two axis, compounded by a weird curve and grade change that made visibility an issue. This, as I understand it, exactly the kind of thing that a stop sign is supposed to fix.
Yes, there are larger issues. There are always larger issues. But, this is a very good solution to a particular problem.