There is still a bottleneck. The cars parked to the right, block the traffic trying to access the bridge lane. Eliminating the parking, would solve this issue. There is ample parking, for customers, behind the business, on Boulder Drive.

Due to cars parked in front of the restaurant, cars still cannot access the right lane, @ the Main & Day Street light, to cross over the bridge. Thus causing traffic back up on Main & Blossom. Apparently, this issue was not considered when planning the new traffic pattern.

Hello,

The DPW is working on a reconfiguration of the eastbound approach to this intersection and the parking spaces to allow more traffic to turn right over the bridge. We have adjusted the light timing and will continue to make tweaks as needed.

The other option is to take a right off of Blossom Street, and then a left onto Putnam Street and use the Putnam Street Bridge to access Water Street or Laurel Street. I know this is not ideal, but we have limited options with the two-way traffic pattern.

Thanks,
Nick

See previous comment.

Elimination of the parking in front of the restaurant, would free up that lane to access the bridge. Having traffic turning right, at Blossom, to use Putnam, would only cause more congestion, & a back up.

This issue was recategorized from Other City Request to Traffic, Signals, Signs and Striping.

City of Fitchburg, MA assigned this issue to Gary Withington

Nick Erickson assigned this issue to Nick Erickson

The current plan is to shift the parking spaces down towards the former Cushing Street, then reconfigure the lanes on the eastbound approach to the intersection to allow room for right-turns over the bridge. This will help but not solve the problem since there is limited queuing space, and once the queue of vehicles going straight through the intersection builds up past Blossom Street, it will still be difficult to turn left from Blossom onto Main. Of course we will optimize the signal timing for the reconfiguration, but we can only extend the "green" time for that approach so much--we have to consider the queues that build up on the other approaches as well (Main Street westbound, Water Street north/westbound from the bridge, etc.).

If the intersection continues to be problematic after the above plan is implemented, the next step is to conduct an intersection analysis and evaluate whether the intersection meets the warrants for a signal. Although it is my opinion that this should have been done during the initial design, I believe the project was grant-funded and needed to fit a certain budget. Unfortunately, DPW had limited involvement in the design process and it is unclear what analysis was done at this intersection.

This ticket has been closed for housekeeping management since the ticket is dated. If the issue/defect still exist, please open a new ticket so we can further investigate the issue and make the necessary repairs as needed. Thank you for your consideration and understanding.