Warren residents are sick and tired of people speeding, not just in their village, but on their backroads, their paved roads, their dirt roads. Residents, and those on the Warren Select Board in particular, are mad that they’re having to spend so much time and money trying to find solutions to people simply disregarding the posted speed limits.
“I don't think there's anybody on this board who thinks that there really isn't speeding going on, excessive speeding going on Lincoln Gap Road, board vice chair Camilla Behn said at a November 12 meeting to discuss speeding mitigation efforts on that road.
“I think there is excessive speeding going on on every single roadway in this community and certainly in the town of Warren. We've been inconsistent with it. We haven't been aggressive. We don't want to be that town. But I am so infuriated that we have to waste so much time, so much energy and now money on this one. Nobody would have to be here if everybody was just a little bit more conscious, respectful,” she continued.
FOURTEEN SIGNS
Warren had a plan to install 14 signs on Lincoln Gap, urging people to slow down going both up and down the hill. Existing signs that clock people’s travel speeds exist and while some people slow down for the signs, they speed right back up afterwards. Town road truck drivers, mail trucks, residents, and tourists are routinely disregarding the speed limits and those who walk along the road and live along the road have been asking for a solution for years.
Warren Select Board chair Devin Klein Corrigan apologized, stating that the town had dropped the ball on those 14 signs, but also asking if that was the right solution.
“So far, the mitigation efforts have been in good intent and well received and appreciated, but with zero change in the speeding situation. And I think that the signs work for 80% of the drivers who care, but do not solve the problem of the 20% who don't care. And so, looking at the extreme efficacy of the speed decks in the village, especially at the rec path crosswalk, that that is really the solution that we are looking for,” said Lincoln Gap resident Sam Krotinger.
Warren recently installed and had to uninstall a series of speed bumps and speed tables that were not installed per engineering specifications and caused what one person at the November 12 meeting referred to as ‘speed-bump-gate.”
RIGHT SOLUTION?
Laura Arnesen, who lives further up Lincoln Gap on a side road, questioned whether speed bumps are the right solution. She suggested more data was needed in terms of speeding during the months Lincoln is open.
“But I feel like people speed everywhere, and are we going to have speed bumps all over Warren? And is that a good use of taxpayer money and harder for the road crew? There's only one way to get to my house, and I would be going on those speed bumps, you know, four, six times a day,” Arnesen said.
Not long ago, Warren engaged a consultant to assist with speed and traffic calming in the village and other areas of the town. Several things came out of that work including village measures and the Lincoln Gap recommendation for more signage.
Lincoln Gap Road resident and town planning commissioner Mike Bridgewater pointed to one outcome in the village that came from that work and was effective.
“I appreciate all the comments that are being made. It’s a huge problem throughout many resort towns. Are there ideal solutions? Probably not. But I can give you a perspective from the lower part of the road and something that we've talked about and observed over the last seven years when we first came to the select board with this conundrum that we have and I think that just the recent evidence of what happened in town here and the dialog here two weeks ago,” he said referring to the speed bump and speed tables.
“I might also mention that when we had the issue in downtown, we put in the cobblestones and over a year the average speed went from 37 miles and hour to 14 miles an hour, just by having those physical impediments there,” Bridgewater added.
FRUSTRATING
Klein Corrigan pointed out how frustrating it is that the town’s ability to control its own speed limits is impacted by VTrans. In addition to all its other speed management work, the town has also tried to work with VTrans on the Main Street and Route 100 intersection, particularly since the town garage is going to be moving to Vaughn Brown Road which is adjacent to that intersection. The town’s efforts to engage VTrans in lowering the speed limit before and after the Main Street, West Hill Road and Vaughn Brown Road has been unsuccessful to date.
Those present discussed other possibilities including an increased police presence, which for Warren (and other Valley towns) means hiring Washington County sheriff’s deputies for increased patrols. Town treasurer Dayna Lisaius told those at the meeting that revenues from speeding tickets had increased recently but also said that the town’s ability to add more hours is limited by sheriff deputy availability.
For the town to use its own constable to enforce speed limits creates issues with how those tickets are processed, through which law enforcement agency and who at the town level would manage that operation.
Board member Harvey Blake said he wanted to see more data from the speed bumps and tables when they are reinstalled properly in the spring, something that board member Joel Taplin also wants to see.
There’s also the issue of how town road equipment will navigate the properly-installed bumps and humps as well as the one near the bottom of Brook Road that was properly installed and remains in place.
The board wrapped it up with a plan to have several residents join a town committee on traffic and speed control with the understanding that it’s a townwide problem and that dealing with Lincoln Gap is only one part of the issue.
“If we move forward with a plan to put this kind of mitigation on Lincoln Gap, the next meeting and the next meeting will be about this. There's upper Airport Road, there's Plunkton Road, West Hill Road,” Behn said.
“People are complaining about Airport Road all day,” board member Kalee Whitehouse added.
“It can't be a one road here, then another road here, then another road here, to think about it holistically,” she pointed out.
Warren residents are sick and tired of people speeding, not just in their village, but on their backroads, their paved roads, their dirt roads. Residents, and those on the Warren Select Board in particular, are mad that they’re having to spend so much time and money trying to find solutions to people simply disregarding the posted speed limits.
“I don't think there's anybody on this board who thinks that there really isn't speeding going on, excessive speeding going on Lincoln Gap Road, board vice chair Camilla Behn said at a November 12 meeting to discuss speeding mitigation efforts on that road.
“I think there is excessive speeding going on on every single roadway in this community and certainly in the town of Warren. We've been inconsistent with it. We haven't been aggressive. We don't want to be that town. But I am so infuriated that we have to waste so much time, so much energy and now money on this one. Nobody would have to be here if everybody was just a little bit more conscious, respectful,” she continued.
FOURTEEN SIGNS
Warren had a plan to install 14 signs on Lincoln Gap, urging people to slow down going both up and down the hill. Existing signs that clock people’s travel speeds exist and while some people slow down for the signs, they speed right back up afterwards. Town road truck drivers, mail trucks, residents, and tourists are routinely disregarding the speed limits and those who walk along the road and live along the road have been asking for a solution for years.
Warren Select Board chair Devin Klein Corrigan apologized, stating that the town had dropped the ball on those 14 signs, but also asking if that was the right solution.
“So far, the mitigation efforts have been in good intent and well received and appreciated, but with zero change in the speeding situation. And I think that the signs work for 80% of the drivers who care, but do not solve the problem of the 20% who don't care. And so, looking at the extreme efficacy of the speed decks in the village, especially at the rec path crosswalk, that that is really the solution that we are looking for,” said Lincoln Gap resident Sam Krotinger.
Warren recently installed and had to uninstall a series of speed bumps and speed tables that were not installed per engineering specifications and caused what one person at the November 12 meeting referred to as ‘speed-bump-gate.”
RIGHT SOLUTION?
Laura Arnesen, who lives further up Lincoln Gap on a side road, questioned whether speed bumps are the right solution. She suggested more data was needed in terms of speeding during the months Lincoln is open.
“But I feel like people speed everywhere, and are we going to have speed bumps all over Warren? And is that a good use of taxpayer money and harder for the road crew? There's only one way to get to my house, and I would be going on those speed bumps, you know, four, six times a day,” Arnesen said.
Not long ago, Warren engaged a consultant to assist with speed and traffic calming in the village and other areas of the town. Several things came out of that work including village measures and the Lincoln Gap recommendation for more signage.
Lincoln Gap Road resident and town planning commissioner Mike Bridgewater pointed to one outcome in the village that came from that work and was effective.
“I appreciate all the comments that are being made. It’s a huge problem throughout many resort towns. Are there ideal solutions? Probably not. But I can give you a perspective from the lower part of the road and something that we've talked about and observed over the last seven years when we first came to the select board with this conundrum that we have and I think that just the recent evidence of what happened in town here and the dialog here two weeks ago,” he said referring to the speed bump and speed tables.
“I might also mention that when we had the issue in downtown, we put in the cobblestones and over a year the average speed went from 37 miles and hour to 14 miles an hour, just by having those physical impediments there,” Bridgewater added.
FRUSTRATING
Klein Corrigan pointed out how frustrating it is that the town’s ability to control its own speed limits is impacted by VTrans. In addition to all its other speed management work, the town has also tried to work with VTrans on the Main Street and Route 100 intersection, particularly since the town garage is going to be moving to Vaughn Brown Road which is adjacent to that intersection. The town’s efforts to engage VTrans in lowering the speed limit before and after the Main Street, West Hill Road and Vaughn Brown Road has been unsuccessful to date.
Those present discussed other possibilities including an increased police presence, which for Warren (and other Valley towns) means hiring Washington County sheriff’s deputies for increased patrols. Town treasurer Dayna Lisaius told those at the meeting that revenues from speeding tickets had increased recently but also said that the town’s ability to add more hours is limited by sheriff deputy availability.
For the town to use its own constable to enforce speed limits creates issues with how those tickets are processed, through which law enforcement agency and who at the town level would manage that operation.
Board member Harvey Blake said he wanted to see more data from the speed bumps and tables when they are reinstalled properly in the spring, something that board member Joel Taplin also wants to see.
There’s also the issue of how town road equipment will navigate the properly-installed bumps and humps as well as the one near the bottom of Brook Road that was properly installed and remains in place.
The board wrapped it up with a plan to have several residents join a town committee on traffic and speed control with the understanding that it’s a townwide problem and that dealing with Lincoln Gap is only one part of the issue.
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“If we move forward with a plan to put this kind of mitigation on Lincoln Gap, the next meeting and the next meeting will be about this. There's upper Airport Road, there's Plunkton Road, West Hill Road,” Behn said.
“People are complaining about Airport Road all day,” board member Kalee Whitehouse added.
“It can't be a one road here, then another road here, then another road here, to think about it holistically,” she pointed out.
