I wonder if the state officials and proponents of the proposed roundabout at the Coolidge Bridge have considered the following.
Start with cars intending to cross the bridge into Hadley. At present, they approach from three (call them) streets – and their entry is controlled perfectly well by traffic lights. Cars coming off the Interstate Route 91 ramp can make the right turn at any time as long as there is no other traffic, as can those on Damon Road who want to make a right turn onto Route 9 to head for downtown or the I-91 southbound entry ramp.
In effect, this process is the equivalent of a roundabout.
If all three streets were allowed to feed into a roundabout it would not expedite traffic because the bridge (and Route 9 in Hadley) only accommodate two lanes of cars.
Now consider traffic coming from Hadley-Amherst – which I believe is the congestion issue that is most troublesome.
It is safe to assume that far-and-away most of those cars are being driven by locals, regulars, who know the bridge set-up very well.
Especially at the times of day when the congestion is worst – it is so precisely because of commuters, students, etc. The bridge has only two lanes as does the long approach from Route 9.
All of us coming from that direction know that as we approach Damon Road, a third lane opens up to the right, and we can make a right-hand turn when there is no traffic to take precedence, so we slide over into that lane.
Not so incidentally, Damon Road can only handle so many cars at a time, so any “speeding up” by a roundabout will stall on Damon Road.
Back to the congestion during commuting hours.. Those intending to stay on Route 9 to go on into the center of town know which lane to get into as they come across the bridge, as do those intending to enter I-91 down the road.
Lights now control this flow and no amount of “speeding up” of traffic by a roundabout can overcome the fact that Route 9 narrows to one lane.
Likewise, the lane that feeds into I-91 can only be one lane and those cars must share that entry area with cars coming from the other direction.
So it seems to me that by eliminating the present system of lights and allowing cars coming from four directions (off the bridge, Damon Road, Route 9, and the I-91 exit ramp), to enter a roundabout, the result will be congestion in the roundabout itself, possibly chaos or disputes as cars try to cut in, and at least total frustration. For example, a car coming from Damon Road and wanting to go on the bridge now gets its fair turn with the lights. With the roundabout, this driver would have to compete with cars coming from Northampton, cars coming off two exits from the ramp, and cars coming off the bridge’s three lanes!
All this after spending millions of dollars that surely could be better spent, if not on schools, then on repairing bridges and roads.
John Bowman
Northampton