To address what officials deemed an “extremely difficult” situation at the intersection of Essex and Vine streets in Saugus, new traffic signage will likely be installed to better define the area, which features numerous on- and off-ramps to nearby Route 1.
At the request of the Board of Selectmen, the members of which said they had received numerous calls regarding the area, Saugus Police Lt. Art Connors delivered a presentation about the intersection, its problems, and what might be done to solve them, though he ultimately offered little in the way of firm solutions. To Connors, Route 1 itself is the biggest problem at Essex and Vine streets.
“The proximity to the state highway is really the problem,” he told the board earlier this month.
Board of Selectmen Chair Debra Panetta said she felt she was taking her life into her own hands when she made a left turn coming off Essex Street.
At that intersection, Connors said, three travel lanes come together, including exits from Route 1 on both sides of Essex Street. Over the last six years, the town’s police department has responded to ten accidents at the intersection. However, Connors noted that numerous other crashes could have never been reported to the Saugus Police Department, and State Police may have responded to others.
Half of those crashes were cars being struck from behind, while the other half occurred when cars attempted to turn left from Vine Street onto Essex or from Essex onto Vine, Connors said.
Connors told board members he initially thought there might be enough space on the roadway to add a dedicated left-turn lane but felt the area was too congested. He also suggested that dramatically changing the area, like moving the traffic island, would require too large an expense.
The one concrete solution proposed by Connors was to increase the frequency of traffic patrols in the area to better enforce the stop signs at the end of the pair of ramps coming off Route 1 onto Essex Street.
“People don’t like to see it, but those aren’t yield signs at the end of those ramps,” Connors said, though he noted that any additional enforcement would be subject to Chief Michael Ricciardelli’s discretion based on personnel availability.
Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Jeff Cicolini suggested signage may resolve some of the issues at the intersection.
“I feel like people come up on that and don’t know where to take the left,” he said. “People pass by it and get nervous and slam their brakes.”
Connors said signage installation, which would ultimately be up to Town Manager Scott Crabtree and the Department of Public Works, would be a “pretty simple fix.”
