Beacon’s Parking and Traffic Safety Committee made the following recommendations during this week’s City Council Workshop meeting, which was presented by Ben Swanson, who serves as the Secretary for the Committee and is the Assistant to the Mayor’s Office. There will be a Public Hearing scheduled to hear from the public before these modifications are voted upon.

Verplanck and North Chestnut

A resident requested that the single parking spot on the East side of North Chestnut be eliminated. Councilperson Paloma Wake asked who brought this parking issue to the attention of the Traffic and Parking Safety Committee. Ben answered: "Someone who said that they use that intersection often in their travels." Ben added that there is a "related issue about the the mechanics [Verplanck Auto], whether or not they're allowed to be parking full up; filling up their little lot there on the corner. That's kind of a separate tangential issue," Ben said.

Both sides of the street are no-parking zones 50 feet from the intersection of Verplanck. The new no-parking spot would extend the East side to be 80 feet from Verplanck, and no cars would be between the house's driveway and Verplanck. The rest of Chestnut would remain having on-street parking.

A Little Beacon Blog asked Verplanck Auto if they were aware of any on-street parking issues, and they said that they were not. They agreed that the reduction of that single parking space would be a good idea, as turning into North Chestnut is difficult.

Verplanck and Willow Street

Beacon’s Fire Chief Thomas Lucchesi requested that the on-street parking on the tiny triangle at Willow Street and Verplanck be eliminated, as firetrucks need to get through. Ben explained that Willow Street is being used as the Fire Department’s “primary access route, rather than going further along Main Street than they have to.” The fire trucks come up from the new station, turn down Willow Street and go back into the surrounding neighborhoods.

Currently, there is a driveway there, and the on-street parking. During Sunday church-time, this area gets particularly crowded. When cars are parked there normally, they can become easy targets to be hit by people cutting right instead of taking the 90 degree right turn onto Verplanck from Willow Street.

Ben stated: “Verplanck and Willow Street at that intersection itself would be a very tight turn for a fire apparatus to make that turn. That access-road is really pretty crucial to their their access.”

Loading Zones of Willow Street by Main Street

Fire Chief Thomas also requested that no parking be along both sides of Willow Street for specified distances. For the West side of the street, the distance would be 65 feet, and from the East side of the street, the distance would be 90 feet.

Councilperson Paloma Wake stressed her concern for loading zones for businesses along Main Street. Turning onto Willow Street when trucks are parked on both sides of the street can be difficult, and during high traffic time between 3-5pm, a car can get stuck between them, therefore needing to alternate the oncoming cars. Trucks also do park further down into the middle of Willow Street to walk their loads down.

Stop Sign at Washington Avenue and Tillot Street

The proposal is to put Stop signs in both directions of travel on Washington Avenue at the intersection of Tillot Street, making the intersection a 4-way stop. Currently, there are Stop signs in both directions on Tillot Street.

Ben explained that there have been several requests for Stop signs along Washington Avenue. A Stop sign was discussed at Grove Street, but ultimately Tillot Street was decided upon. “Tillot Street was eventually the preferred option by the Committee because it is a primary school crossing area there's nearby bus stops. It's kind of where the character of the neighborhoods are changing along Washington Avenue becoming more dense residential, so it's kind of seen as a safety improvement to add the Stop signs to make this a four-way stop,” Ben said.

A Public Hearing will be scheduled so that the public can come in or call in with their opinions before the City Council votes on these changes.

On the morning of the 1st day of school (Tuesday), at around 7:00am, the traffic light at Matteawan and Verplanck broke. This is the intersection for the High School and Middle School drop-off near the track known as Hammond Track, where cars are coming and going to go to work and/or drop off kids at school.

Additionally, kids are on bikes who go through the intersection. Kids also walk. Or coast in groups across the crosswalk. It’s a high-volume intersection for cars, pedestrians and bikers alike.

By Wednesday morning, it wasn’t clear at first for some that the traffic light had stopped working. It was not blinking at that point. Just a solid red for those on Matteawan, and green for those on Verplanck. There is a No Turn On Red sign on Matteawan when turning right onto Verplanck (when the schools are behind you), so the long line of cars on Matteawan who had finished their drop-offs is an expected one. But on the first days of school with this light broken, the line was extra long and not moving. Turning right became more of a risk, as drivers were turning out into cars who had the green.

After some time on Wednesday, later in the morning for Middle School drop-off, a Beacon Police officer had arrived to direct traffic. An officer also assisted in the afternoon for when school let out. Traffic direction from the Beacon Police had been inconsistent but present during drop-off hours, as they may have been called to other emergencies.

So far, the traffic light has been broken from Tuesday - Sunday. In Beacon’s City Code, there is a requirement that a traffic light be at that intersection. It reads: “Traffic control signals shall be installed and operated at the intersection of those streets described in Schedule I below.” The intersection of Matteawan and Verplanck are listed. But the Code does not indicate who is to make what phone call to get the traffic light fixed. When the Dummy Light was hit by a city employee during milling of Main Street before it got paved, the Highway Department restored that light. It is not confirmed if the Highway Department or a different member of the City is responsible for making arrangements to have this traffic light fixed.

The crossing signals at Verplanck and Matteawan are also out, along with the traffic light. They have been out from Monday (9/5/2023) - Sunday (9/10/2023) so far.

After the traffic light was switched to a cautionary blinking red light on the Matteawan side, and a blinking yellow light on the Verplanck side, cars did proceed with less confusion. But some cars still passed through the intersection with uncertainty.

The crosswalk signs are also broken. Pedestrians and bikers have to cross when they see no cars. Being that the track is a destination for the community and students alike, not to mention all of the baseball fields and the turf field behind the high school, people are always crossing this crosswalk on foot, on bike or in car.