“The preservation of the road, its bordering hedgerows and walls, its overhanging limbs, its vistas of rolling countryside, is a matter of dollars and cents. Visitors come to the Vineyard for just such enjoyments as this noble old road offers....What it represents is what we need to keep and cherish, and when we are troubled we may well drive up and down the Middle Road and clear our thoughts to the proper order of the natural world.”
Members of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission heard last week about a comprehensive new effort to lessen the number of cars on Island roads and make sure that those roads maintain their rural character.
In order to solve the Island’s traffic troubles and preserve its country feel, the MVC must embrace a plan and aggressively seek federal funds for two goals, they were told: establishing a system for reducing the number of cars on Island roads and rewriting government standards for road construction, at least as they apply to the Island.
A final draft of a county initiative to move beyond summer gridlock calls on Island officials to replace talk with action and develop a regional, coordinated plan to target growth and traffic problems on the Island.
Susan Wasserman, a planning consultant and the facilitator of the in-depth study of the Island’s transportation problems, presented the results of Transportation 2000: Moving Beyond Gridlock to the county commissioners this Wednesday along with project assistant Juleann VanBelle. A final draft of the report goes to the printer today.
Woods Hole never witnessed a morning quite like July 1, 1995.
Sunrise in the port town revealed a thick trail of overstuffed sedans, wagons, trucks and jeeps snaking its way from standby line at the packed Steamship Authority terminal to the Woods Hole Road and beyond. The standby line itself topped 400 cars; more than 1,000 passengers awaited ferries to begin a four-day holiday weekend.
The town, in partnership with the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center, will create a larger underground basin to allow better water flow out to the sea. Work could start later this year.
The Oak Bluffs project is meant to upgrade the regularly-congested area near where the Patriot and Island Queen ferries dock by building a roundabout, reconfiguring parking spots and establishing larger pedestrian walkways.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has prohibited passing on state-controlled, bidirectional two-lane roads with speed limits under 45 mph, prompting confusion from drivers and town officials alike.
According to the data from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, Edgartown-West Tisbury Road near the Martha’s Vineyard Airport saw the most cars in any single hour last year.
