MARK CRESSOTTI
WESTFIELD – The Traffic Commission voted Wednesday night to seek modifications to traffic flow on Pochassic Street, bus stops on Elm and Main streets, and parking on the south curb of Court Street.
The commission also tabled a request for a four-way stop sign at the intersection of City View Road and City View Boulevard, request by Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell, to further investigate traffic flow and accidents at that location.
Police Chief John Camerota, who serves as chairman of the Traffic Commission, said board will submit a recommendation to the City Council to change the current traffic pattern in the area of Pochassic Street west of Elm Street, commonly referred to as Drug Store Hill.
That current pattern, established after the bridge over the Pioneer Valley Railroad was constructed, has two lanes of eastbound traffic down the hill and one lane of westbound traffic up the hill.
CARL VINCENT
“The commission voted 4-1 to put it back to the two lanes, one in each direction,” Camerota said yesterday morning. “The westbound lane up the hill will be widened. We will keep the large vehicle prohibition of making right turns from the southbound lane of North Elm Street onto Drug Store Hill.”
City Engineer Mark Cressotti, who is also a Traffic Commission member, has argued that the two lanes down the hill are needed to prevent traffic from backing up Pochassic and Montgomery streets, especially during peak traffic periods, such as when Westfield High School releases students in the afternoon.
Camerota said that the majority of the commission felt that preventing queuing did not trigger a sufficient safety concern to justify maintaining the two downhill lanes which create a safety issue as both lanes attempt to make a right turn, side-by-side, onto North Elm Street.
MARY L. O’CONNELL
The lower section of Pochassic Street, next to Puza’s Butcher Block, is currently one-way and the southbound section of North Elm Street is also one-way, meaning that motorists coming down the hill have only the right turn option.
That one option becomes complicated because of traffic crossing lanes to access Union and Meadow streets, both of which require left turns from the far left lane of North Elm and Elm streets.
Camerota said the commission members discussed the PVTA endorsement of establishing a bus stop on Elm Street in front of the former Newberry’s store site, but may also want to maintain the eastbound bus stop on Main Street in front of the Stop & Shop Supermarket.
Carl Vincent of South Maple Street spoke on that issue at the Jan. 14 City Council session. Vincent, a member of the Planning Board, said that Stop & Shop was unaware of the plan to eliminate both Main Street stops, eastbound and westbound which would require supermarket patron, carrying shopping bags, to walk to the Newberry bus stop.
Camerota said that Stop & Shop contacted the PVTA to request that the stops not be eliminated.
“I think what it will come down to is that the PVTA doesn’t want to give up the Main Street stop in front of Stop & Shop,” Camerota said.
The commission also endorsed eliminating parking on the south side of Court Street between Cortez Street and Day Avenue because of the newly designed traffic flow pattern along that street.
O’Connell had request four-way stop signs at the City View Road, City View Boulevard because of constituent concerns. Both are heavily travelled roads, but City View Boulevard has increasingly become a cut through from College Highway in Southwick to Granville Road and Western Avenue in Westfield.
The concern is that people who are not familiar with that intersection, in particular those travelling north on City View Boulevard, are not aware of westbound traffic on City View due to the fact that there is a steep hill just east of the intersection, so westbound vehicles on City View Road seem to just appear.
Camerota said the commission will investigate sight lines and accident which have occurred in the past to determine if a four-way stop intersection is justified for public safety.
