AOT maps route to lower speed limit at GMHS

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC

Representatives of Vermont’s Agency of Transportation came to Chester on Monday to look at Rt. 103 around Green Mountain High School and hear from the public on why the speed limit should be lowered from 40 mph to 30 mph there.

Marcos Miller, Tyler Guazzoni and Mario Dupigny-Giroux listened to the comments of a handful of people, including Select Board members Arne Jonynas and Leigh Dakin, but also explained the process by which the speed limit on a state highway is changed. According to Miller, such decisions are made by the Vermont Traffic Safety Committee, which is made up of the Secretary of Transportation, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles and the Commissioner of Public Safety.

The committee meets several times a year to consider such requests and Miller, Guazzoni and Dupigny-Giroux act as its engineering arm.

Dupigny-Giroux explained that it is not considered a “high crash area” but that studies have shown that people are speeding on that stretch of road – especially as they are leaving town heading south past the school.

Miller noted that any application to the committee should come from the town and that if it’s been many years since those speed limits were established and if conditions have changed in the interim, it may be a good time for the state to take a look at it. He also noted that he and the others present would do the traffic studies required for making the decision to change the speed limit.

Those attending pointed to several changes in the area, including the expanding Drew’s plant with heavier truck traffic and the busy Chester-Andover Family Center as well as the American Legion and the adjacent field it purchased for holding events.

The car wash and self storage units also came after the speed limits. Pointing to Friday nights in ski season, participants also talked about seasonal differences.

At 11 a.m., the meeting moved to the Family Center and the Heritage Deli and Bakery for a site visit before returning to Town Hall to wrap up the meeting.

Miller said he thought it seemed reasonable to ask the committee for a speed limit change. He added that the agency could help with new signage.  He pointed to radar signs as particularly effective, and said they can be put up on a state highway at the town’s expense with a state permit.

Police Chief Rick Cloud noted that the town has applied for such a permit in the past and it was denied. The engineers suggested trying again.  When Todd Parah, Green Mountain High School’s transportation coordinator,  asked about school zone signs that flash when school is in session and also lower the speed limit, Miller said there were a number of more assertive sign strategies that can be pursued.

Miller said they would also try to delay the installation of “School Zone” road stencils scheduled for June until later in the summer to keep them from being worn away prematurely.