WESTFIELD – A city councilor is seeking to change the name of a street in his ward because technology is creating a problem for residents of a neighborhood off Pontoosic Road.
Ward 5 Councilor Richard E. Onofrey Jr., requested the City Council to change the name of Summit Drive, located at the top of the Knollwood Drive neighborhood between Cedar Lane and Northridge Drive, a neighborhood on the steep slope of Provin Mountain.
“The problem is that the name of that street is similar to Summit Lock (Road located off Southampton Road),” Onofrey said.
“What’s happening is that as truckers come off the turnpike to go to C&S (Wholesale Grocery,) they enter ‘Summit” into their GPS and get directed to Summit Drive instead of Summit Lock Road,” Onofrey said.
“You can imagine a 40-foot trailer coming up that hill into a residential neighborhood,” he said. “When they get to the top, they’re getting stuck and have to turn around. They’re going over lawns. It’s driving the residents up there crazy.”
Onofrey’s motion was referred to the council’s Legislative & Ordinance Committee, the Public Health Safety and Traffic Committee, and to the city’s Traffic Commission, for further consideration.
Police Captain Michael McCabe said that the department’s Traffic & Safety Bureau has had one complaint about truck rigs going through that neighborhood.
“That would be very, very ugly trying to get a rig up there, But I know of only one complaint,” McCabe said. “However, I don’t know if those complaints are going to Chief (John) Camerota, who would be a natural channel to the Traffic Commission.”
Camerota is the chairman of the Traffic Commission, which also includes City Engineer Mark Cressotti and Public Works Superintendent Jim Mulvenna, resident representative Keven Harraghy and business representative Thomas P. Liptak.
The City Council refers traffic-related issues to the Traffic Commission for its review and recommendation. That board, with three department heads, also has the ability to tap into other municipal resources for additional information, as part of its assessment process.
