Study: Turn troubles by new school

LYNN – A new Marshall Middle School’s biggest traffic impact, according to an unfinished study, will be at the corner of Brookline Street and Chatham Street, where drivers will have to wait in traffic to make a turn.Although he called the potential intersection delays “a negative impact,” Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan said the school’s traffic impact will probably not be as significant as, say, East Lynn traffic delays around schools like Ingalls.Donovan said traffic studies for the 1,100-student Marshall School predict up to 10 cars could be backed up at Brookline and Chatham during busy weekday times while drivers wait to turn onto Chatham.”That’s not a big deal – go out to any of our other schools,” Donovan said.Brookline Street resident Yessenia Pimentel disagreed and said Marshall will bring traffic – cars as well as students on foot – to an East Lynn side street that, by Donovan’s own estimate, sees three or four cars an hour.”It’s going to be crazy,” she said.Pimentel is worried on-street parking will leave residents and visitors to homes along Brookline between Chatham and Empire streets without curbside parking.John Conti owns a bridge products business located halfway along Brookline and wonders if he will need to juggle deliveries arriving in large trucks with school bus schedules.”It’s going to be tough, but what can I do?” he asked.Donovan said the traffic study conducted by Boston-based Nitsch Engineering examines options for controlling traffic flow along Brookline, including installing traffic signals at Chatham and Empire streets and making Brookline Street one-way during certain weekday times.”Going one-way is up to the neighbors and the Traffic Commission,” he said.Other options include limiting on-street parking times and posting a flashing sign warning drivers the school speed limit is 20 miles per hour.”These are options the city is going to be looking at,” Donovan said.The new school is scheduled to open in 2016, and Donovan said an estimated 85 percent of the middle school students will walk to Marshall, which will be located five blocks from the existing Marshall School on Porter Street.Police Chief Kevin Coppinger said Brookline Street is relatively wide – an advantage in handling traffic and school-related parking. Although the school will have a Brookline Street parking lot, Gino Puzzo is concerned about people parking in front of his father’s home, and he wonders if an ongoing problem on Brookline will worsen once the school opens.”On weekends, they drag race – they drive fast,” he said.Conti thinks he’s going to need a “no parking – loading zone” sign installed in front of New England Bridge Products to ensure his deliveries arrive smoothly. He is also concerned about neighborhood security once the school opens.”The kids don’t worry me ?it’s people dropping them off and looking around,” he said.