SOUTH DEERFIELD — The state Department of Transportation intends this spring to update pavement markings near the entrance ramp to the Cumberland Farms at the corner of Elm Street and Routes 5 and 10, citing public complaints.
Patrick Marvin, of MassDOT’s communications office, said the department is coordinating with Deerfield officials to address the issue. He said the markings will be updated as weather permits.
The ramp with entry and exit lanes was finished around Thanksgiving. It allows northbound drivers on Greenfield Road to turn right into the Cumberland Farms at 31 Elm St. and for people leaving the convenience store/gas station parking lot to pull onto Greenfield Road. But some people, including Town Administrator Wendy Foxymn, have said the ramp is problematic. Foxmyn said the area for the entry and exit lanes take up a great deal of space in the right lane, forcing northbound drivers wanting to take a right onto Elm Street to wait until they are closer to the intersection to pull into the necessary lane. Turning left from the southbound lane onto the ramp is prohibited. There is another entrance, on Elm Street.
Foxmyn said she reached out to MassDOT to ask that someone visit the site to determine if it is possible to improve its functionality.
Building Commissioner Richard Calisewski said he does not believe there is a problem, however. Although he said it would be nice for the entrance and exit lanes to be a bit wider, and he wants to see more signage pertaining to the ramp, and previously described the ramp as “adequate.”
This prompted John Griffin, a commuter from Greenfield, to send The Recorder newspaper an email stating he was shocked to read what Calisewski said.
“The way it is designed is unsafe and does not work for traffic. Any reasonable observer of traffic patterns at this location would come to the same conclusion,” he wrote.
Griffin said the white painted lines do not safely guide traffic, and the existence of entry and exit lanes so close to the intersection creates a conflict between northbound traffic turning right onto Elm Street and traffic exiting the Cumberland Farms in order to continue north on Greenfield Road past Elm Street.
“I support Ms. Foxmyn in her concern and I urge the town to close the exit from Cumberland Farms onto Greenfield Road immediately, until a better solution can be identified/engineered,” he wrote. “This location is an accident waiting to happen.”
A few months ago, Calisewski granted Cumberland Farms a temporary certificate of occupancy, contingent upon the entrance’s development. He said he issued the temporary certificate only after assessing a traffic study, getting input from Police Chief John Paciorek Jr. and Highway Superintendent Kevin Scarborough and seeing no issues during a tanker delivery demonstration by Cumberland Farms. He issued the permanent certificate of occupancy when the ramp was completed.