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Traffic Commission Unsure What Else Can Be Done For Deming Park Traffic
By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
04:41PM / Friday, April 28, 2017
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The Traffic Commission handled a number of petitions Thursday night.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Traffic Commission was unable to come up with a plan to ease traffic congestion around Deming Park on game days.
 
The park with both Little League and Babe Ruth playing fields is packed during the baseball season, with cars overflowing from the parking lot and lining the sides of Newell Street and Meadow Lane. Ward 3 Councilor Nicholas Caccamo put forth two petitions aimed to ease that burden — one to eliminate parking on Boise, Newell, and Meadow in the immediate area surrounding the parking lot and two to make it so no left turns can be made exiting the lot.
 
"The site lights both southwest and easterly are pretty hindered by the curvature of Newell Street," Caccamo said.
 
Boise is basically the driveway to the park. It's a short little road that serves as the entrance. The city could put no-parking signs there, but it couldn't be enforced because it is an unaccepted road. 
 
The Traffic Commission discussed putting signs up anyway in hopes to deter people. Commissioner of Public Services David Turocy said he wouldn't oppose putting up signed even if it isn't enforceable. But ultimately the commission did not support it.
 
As for parking on Newell and Meadow, Caccamo asked for 190 feet on Newell (to your right when exiting the park) and 130 feet on Meadow (to the left when exiting the park).
 
Chairman Guy Pannesco opposed the plan because he felt it left little parking elsewhere. He said the games are held only for a few months during the summer and only take a few hours. 
 
"I don't support any of it without having somewhere else for people to park during game day," Pannesco said.
 
The commission had previously agreed to no parking on sections of Ontario and Superior Street on the other side of the park.
 
Caccamo responded that there is parking in the Sacred Heart lot. Commissioner John Mullen felt 130 feet on Meadow is too excessive while Caccamo said it is the most important because the curve in the road results in a lack of visibility. The no-parking was ultimately defeated.
 
The commission also considered right-turn-only signs at the end of Boise, which Turocy said can be done because it would be placed on city property directing vehicles turning onto city roads. But the commission was split 2-2 so it failed. Those against it were concerned that after taking a right, it was a long way to get back the other direction. Others felt drivers would be taking left anyway. 
 
The commission also denied a request from Ward 2 City Councilor Kevin Morandi to place a stop sign at the intersection of Curtis and Fourth Street — the bend in the road near the former 7 Winter Grill. It is a three-way intersection and Morandi hoped for a stop sign for the safety of the residents on and around Spring Street. 
 
That same petition had been put before the commission many times in the past and, most recently, the commission had determined that it would actually hinder traffic more than help. Mullen said there has only been one minor accident in recent years at that intersection and it wasn't caused by the geometry of the road.
 
The commission did support a petition to make the east side of Brown Street, right around the corner, from Curtis to Tyler Street no parking. Pannesco said there is one sign already up near the car wash but that's it. There is no record of a traffic order for no parking there, though, so one would have to be written and new signs added further down the road. 
 
"Every time I am on Brown Street it drives me nuts," Commissioner Mark Brennan said. 
 
The commission approved a new stop sign at the both intersections of Memorial Drive and Mohawk Street, as petitioned by Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Simonelli. However, the history on that, too, is confusing. Resident William Sturgeon said he remembers stop signs being there in the past but they must have been knocked down and never replaced.
 
Nonetheless, resident Christopher Pennington, who lives on Mohawk, is glad to have a sign there. He said he worries about his children playing in his yard because cars often slide onto his property because of the intersection. Mullen said when he drove down to see the intersection, he was surprised there wasn't a sign. Memorial is a U-shaped road so the commission approved signs for each connection with Mohawk.
 
No parking on the south side of Orchard Street between North and First was also approved — another petition from Morandi. Ward 5 Councilor and Traffic Commissioner Christopher Connell said he was worried about parking for the nearby businesses but it seems a vacant lot that was once eyed to be a Pittsfield Co-op branch on the next street over is now serving that purpose. Dozens of cars have been parking there.
 
"I think it is going to be somewhat temporary public parking lot," Connell said. 
 
Pannesco said that section of Orchard Street is highly traveled and parked cars make it very narrow and difficult to see. 
 
Finally, on Thursday, the commission heard from former City Councilor Joseph Ryan on the history of the four-way stops on Jason Street. That intersection has been questioned by residents multiple times because of the layout. Connell has a petition to look at all three- and four-way intersections with hopes to change some of them to typical two-way intersections. Ryan, however, spoke highly of how well the four-way works on Jason Street. 
 
Jason Street was an original stagecoach road from Pittsfield to Albany, N.Y., Ryan said. The railroad was put in at the same level as the road and horses were being hit by trains. A tunnel was built along with an S curve to prevent collisions. 
 
"It went on to be a meandering country road," Ryan said. 
 
In the 1970s, when Taconic High School was built and Valentine Road was highly traveled, it became a shortcut. But there has been high-speed traffic and many people unfamiliar with the road. Ryan said his home was hit twice by cars and he remembers coming home one day to find a car upside down in his yard. 
 
City officials sat there one afternoon and found cars traveling in excess of 15 miles per hour. The city tried placing small blocks up to direct traffic around the bends but in no time those were all knocked down. In the two years prior to the signs, Ryan said there were 13 accidents. 
 
 "Once the stop signs went in there, the accidents went way, way down," Ryan said. "Those stop signs have been a godsend to the neighborhood, a godsend for traffic ... We don't want any changes to be made on Jason Street. It's worked. It is the only thing that has really worked and it has continued to work."
 
He said now he sees a lot of cars from out of state because GPS systems direct cars over that road. 
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