15 December, 2014
Angels Garden Center located near the intersection of West Main Street, Dicarlo Road and School Street has undergone numerous renovations in recent months including a new stop light, repaving and various other road fixes but concern has been expressed by a few about the current stop light system and road format. Jeff Doherty owner of Angels Garden Center is one of the concerned members of the community. Jeff stated "The folks who live on the North Side of the intersection who would like to make a left hand turn, who paid for the light a half of million dollars, they are at a disadvantage because they do not get a clear direction and a simple fix would be a 5 second delay in the light." Jeff also mentioned that the Town Manager told the DPW to make the changes and they have not done so yet.
Jeff also expressed concern that the stop lines were to far up on the road. "If somebody wanted to take a left hand turn on School Street coming up West Main, they would not be able to because there would be a car stopped at the red light." Jeff also had an issue with the stop line on West Main Street stating a right turn on school street going northward could be difficult to negotiate for a large truck or trailer if a car is stopped at the line, since the line is too far up. Jeff acknowledged that the light has dramatically decreased the amount of accidents at the intersection stating that before the light, there was at least one accident a month.
Director of Public Works John Westerling agreed with both of Jeff's concerns stating that the correction to the timing of the light is expected to be made and also stated that the contractor painted the stop lines in the wrong spot. "We are in contact with the contractor to relocate those, to move those back easterly to allow folks traveling southerly on School Street to take that left on West Main Street without their being any vehicles impeding that turn."
John stated that "Jeff has been great, he has been our eyes in the field and he lives that every day so he is aware what is going on out there. We talked about those 2 very specific problems and we are going to make changes a long those very same lines."
