By Dot Bergin
Drivers along The Great Road are asking “What’s with the rumble strip at the left turn into Bedford Marketplace?”
The grooved pavement (rumble strip) at the ‘main’ entrance to the shopping center has caused drivers some confusion; several have said they feel they are now in error when making a left turn into the shopping plaza opposite the Bedford Funeral Home. The Citizen has learned from Town Engineer Adrienne St. John that the site contractor, James T Lynch Construction Co., began installing “minor traffic improvements related to the development of the plaza” in May, well before the matching improvements to the Marketplace roadways are complete.
Click to view a PDF of the relevant Bedford Marketplace Traffic Plans (and don’t forget to use the Adobe + to enlarge them to readable size)
A left turn lane has now been added at the existing traffic control signals, a few feet farther east along the Great Road but vehicles are still able to enter from an unsignalized left turn lane west of the signals, i.e., at the grooved rumble strip.
An informal survey indicates that most drivers are still using the rumble strip turn, rather than proceeding to the traffic signal and waiting for the left turn arrow to turn green. This Citizen reporter recently reversed long-standing habit, and proceeded to the traffic light with the left turn signal. Not surprisingly, it is a rather long wait for the left arrow to appear, and the turn is, at the moment, awkward. One could speculate that most drivers will continue to use the rumble strip until construction is completed on the new driveways. And when that will happen is anyone’s guess.
Exiting the plaza, all left turns will still be made at the traffic signals. Right turns entering or exiting the site can be made at the signals, or at either of the planned new driveways.
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Pathetic design. Accident waiting to happen and traffic gridlock.