Bump-outs, Signs, and Splitter-Islands - Oh My!

It seems whenever I talk to someone in Chatham about the upcoming changes the DOTi intends for our Circle, I am met with surprise, revulsion, and sometimes disbelief. Just last week, in fact, I was told that the changes were to be very small, as far as the party had been told (allegedly from a CACi member). In fact, the changes to our historic Circle are nothing short of the tearing out of the simple nature of our village.

Here's a short list to consider:

• Right of Way change. Currently the Circle yields to oncoming traffic. This is unique to Chatham, as far as we know, and the DOTi doesn't like it. They are going to override our own traditional method with their tradition of oncoming traffic yielding to vehicles in the Circle.
• Introduction of "Bump Outs" to guide oncoming traffic into the Circle.
• Introduction of "Splitter Islands", also meant to guide traffic around the Circle, and to provide "refuge" for those crossing the street.
• Moving the Circle, and widening it, to reduce the amount of space available to navigate around it.
• Signs - and lots of them. Placement of signs in the Splitter islands, and possibly in the Circle (a la Latham Circle / Valatie "Roundabout")
• Calling the Circle a "Roundabout" rather than a "Circle" or "Rotary". This seems like a silly complaint, but sometimes title dictates function. Roundabouts are probably carefully defined in the DOTi playbook. I doubt that "Circles" are.
• Lots and lots of paint, and possibly some road surface adjustment to "warn" you when you are "out of line".

These changes would significantly affect the character of our village. Worse yet, they provide little or no improvement to the safety or driveability of the Circle. In fact, they may amount to a net increase in safety. As it exists now, the Circle has many "escape routes" from poor drivers, due to it's openness. These poor or inexperienced drivers won't go away. They will just become even more confused by the sensory overload they will receive upon entering the "Roundabout".

Some people don't like the strange Right of Way that our town has employed for decades. It's understandable, since many are from out of town, and were never told about it! Years ago we actually had "Yield" signs in the Circle. Unfortunately, an errant snow plow removed them. But here is an interesting fact: even without the signs, the Circle has an excellent safety record, with no serious accidents or injuries reported. In fact, very few bumper scrapes or fender dents over the years have occurred. This is somewhat shocking. Did our leaders of old have some clue about the benefits of being polite to oncoming cars? Here is an excerpt from the January 15, 2004 CACi/DOTi meeting minutes:

Mayor Paul Boehme: This is an historic area and it's your job to make this work and not loose (sic) parking. This Circle works for the Village.

Joe Foglietta, DOTi: The concerns from the Public Workshop are the operation of this intersection and public safety.

Mayor Paul Boehme: This Circle works.

Diane Klinger: The pedestrian concerns are not necessarily at this intersection.

A short while later in the meeting...

Mayor Paul Boehme: Are the "green" areas (median islands {aforementioned "splitter islands, as DOTi now calls them}) raised?

Joe Foglietta, DOTi: Yes, it's a mountable curb.

Mayor Paul Boehme: That will cause a problem with snow removal.

Francis Iaconetti, CACi: That's a detail. (indicating that it could be changed, and shouldn't affect the soundness of the plan)

So, we can see that as much as two years ago, our current leadership (Mayor Boehme), fought to save our Circle. But how long can one man, even the mayor, stand against the mighty bureaucratic engineers of our incredibly efficient state government? Well, it turns out that Mayor Boehme is made of strong stuff, and has successfully turned aside many ridiculous "proposals" (sometimes phrased as requirements) of the DOTi, including the elimination of parking along Hudson Avenue.

These are things to think upon. While your thinking, maybe you should seriously consider writing a letter to our Mayor Boehme, and let him know how much you appreciate his defense of our community and its history. You might want to mention that you would appreciate his continued defense of our historic Circle and the benefits it provides. He deserves it.