LYNN — The City Council unanimously approved a motion to recommend to the mayor $220,000 worth of improvements to the crosswalks and road safety on Pleasant Street on Tuesday night.
The issue of pedestrian safety at Pleasant Street was brought to the City Council by its President Darren Cyr at the meeting on Sep. 28, when Police Chief Christopher P. Reddy was invited to discuss traffic-calming solutions.
Since then, police have conducted a speed-radar survey in the area and Reddy came back to the City Hall to report on its findings and give the department’s recommendations.
Reddy said that the Lynn Police traffic unit spent time observing traffic in unmarked cars, as well as doing enforcement in marked police vehicles. The unit surveyed traffic in both directions.
“They did not identify a significant issue with medium- or high-risk speeding,” Reddy said.
Medium-risk speeding is 10 to 20 mph over the speed limit and high-risk speeding is more than 20 mph. Most cars were not speeding more than 10 mph over the speed limit on Pleasant Street. However, officers noticed distracted driving and visibility issues because of vehicles parking close to crosswalks.
“We think it is a bigger problem than speed,” Reddy said, explaining that the drivers can’t see pedestrians crossing or seniors that live in the area using wheelchairs or similar mobile equipment.
The police chief proposed adding five feet of “no parking” space on each side from the crosswalks so that motorists could better see pedestrians.
Reddy also suggested working on creating awareness and changes to the drivers’ behavior.
Andrew Hall, commissioner of the Department of Public Works, spoke to the physical and environmental changes that the city would need to make to implement these recommendations and the cost of them.
Hall said that crosswalks on Pleasant Street were not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). His estimate of the cost to make crosswalks compliant and add signs, barriers and Rapid Flashing Beacon lights amounted to $220,000.
Ward 7 Councilor John “Jay” Walsh suggested funding this project with the money the city had received from a marijuana dispensary in that area. Assistant City Solicitor James Lamanna said that it would be appropriate to ask the mayor to release those funds under the state law.
City Councilor at Large Brian LaPierre also reminded everyone to look into using part of the commission the city is getting from Uber and Lyft rides.
The subcommittee and subsequently the City Council voted unanimously to approve the motion to recommend to the mayor to appropriate $220,000 for this project.
