WESTFIELD—In spite of the city’s traffic commission’s efforts and the community’s complaints, Paper Mill Road will continue to have tractor trailer and heavy-duty truck traffic continue.
The Westfield Traffic Commission met yesterday and discussed Paper Mill Road’s continuing truck issue, as well as speed limit changes on Honey Pot Road, among other topics.
Westfield Police Chief John Camerota
The Paper Mill Road discussion is an ongoing one, which was brought to the traffic commission in the summer of 2016. Residents have been requesting that a truck exclusion be marked for the road, which at one end has a gravel pit that trucks frequently visit. However, previously a traffic study was done from June 28, 2016 to July 5, 2016, that showed that the traffic volume was not high enough to meet the state’s standard for an exclusion.
Due to the study’s findings, according to Westfield Traffic Commission chairperson and Westfield Police Chief John Camerota, the city is currently unable to exclude trucks from Paper Mill Road, and due to business being conducted on the road by trucks at the gravel pit, those vehicles cannot be excluded regardless of what is put in place.
So, Camerota said that he is seeking different routes for solving the problem.
“There’s many obstacles here, it’s not an easy problem, we’re working on it,” he said. “We are documenting the companies that should not be using Paper Mill Road and reaching out to those companies and are trying to discuss alternate routes.”
According to Ward 6 City Councilor Bill Onyski, Paper Mill Road is used as a shortcut to get through to Route 20. One suggestion that Camerota made was to see about gathering funding for a possible raising of the train tracks at the intersection of East Mountain and Springfield roads, which would allow for trucks to travel on East Mountain Rd and not need Paper Mill Rd as a shortcut to get to areas where commercial business occurs along Springfield Road.
However, Camerota admitted that this solution could be costly and would have to be OKed by the state. Camerota said that the commission will continue to look into the concern and try to find a solution and will have an update at their next meeting on June 21.
Also discussed at the meeting were the multiple turns on Honey Pot Road, which residents George Martin and Andrea Jeffers, as well as Ward 4 City Councilor Mary O’Connell reported to the commission as dangerous, with drivers allegedly driving over the speed limit around them.
The commission initially made a suggestion to city council to lower the speed limit on the road to 25 MPH, but Martin, Jeffers and O’Connell felt that adding additional speed limits of 20 MPH around the curves would be an even better solution.
The commission for now is going to suggest that city council pass the 25 MPH speed limit, and will set up a traffic study at the curves to determine if a 20 MPH zone in those areas would also help.
