Marblehead man proposes Pleasant Street traffic plan

MARBLEHEAD – A year ago the town proposed a $1.64 million plan to resolve various traffic problems on Pleasant Street, only to have the plan defeated by the voters in a 10-question debt exclusion override in June.Now a local bicycle rider has a proposal to slow some of the traffic on Pleasant Street and other main streets in town, at a fraction of the cost.Pleasant Street became the focus of a traffic study when 15-year-old Marblehead High student Allie Castner died after being hit by a car there in August 2009.Gary Hebert, a Marblehead resident and engineering consultant at Fay, Spofford and Thorndike, said the half-mile stretch of Pleasant Street from Bessom Street to Village Street had 20 percent more accidents than comparable streets in other communities from 2005-2010.The average daily volume on that section of Pleasant Street is about 15,000 vehicles.Carl King, a lawyer and volunteer with the Board of Health program “I Walk, I Rock,” told selectmen recently that painting bicycle lanes on each side of Pleasant Street can slow traffic down and reduce the accident rate.Selectmen voted to have Town Administrator Tony Sasso look into the idea.King compared the proposal to the bicycle lanes Boston has painted on streets running from the Public Gardens to the Fenway.”The Pleasant Street traffic plan narrowed the street,” King said. “We can do that by painting a few lines, for very short dollars.”King said he was “more than happy” to work with Hebert on the idea.”After we see how it works, we can try it on Atlantic Avenue,” he said.