The Massachusetts Gam[bl]ing Commission was too busy genuflecting before the Predatory Gambling Industry and too enamored taking luxury trips to protect the PUBLIC INTEREST.
The seemed like people of integrity.....they lost their prospective!
How do you grant a license when a plan is INCOMPLETE?
This is infuriating!
The traffic plan to avoid routing casino traffic through the Routes 1 and 152 intersection is falling apart. It looks like all the casino traffic will be going around the jug handle and through the intersection, after all. This will have a profound effect on residents and businesses around the casino.
Read the story:
http://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/state-questions-traffic-plan-for-plainville-slots-parlor/article_b0a8f0ff-8ab4-51c9-8094-12769ddd3d80.html
(Maybe the paper should have accompanied this story with a photograph of one of the horrific accidents at the intersection.)
I am soliciting any and all ideas about how to deal with this. In particular, I'm trying to decipher what the process is, and how residents of Plainville can respond most effectively.
Mary-Ann
State questions traffic plan for Plainville slots parlor
Posted: Thursday, March 20, 2014
State questions traffic plan for Plainville slots parlor
BY JIM HAND SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
PLAINVILLE - The state has raised questions about a traffic plan for Plainridge Park Casino, opening the possibility that there will be no direct access from Route 1 south.In letters to the developer, the state transportation department has raised issues with creating direct access by crossing an existing median strip to make way for a left turn lane on Route 1 south in front of the facility.
It also questions a proposal to straighten an off ramp from Interstate 495 South and put a traffic light at the end of the ramp.
A meeting with Plainville and state officials as well as engineers from the developer's construction company was held at Plainridge for two hours Wednesday to discuss the situation.
According to participants, those in attendance walked the site and drove from Plainridge to a nearby Lowe's hardware store.
Because there is no current way to cross Route 1, the short trip to Lowe's involved driving north on Route 1 to Interstate 495 north, then down Route 1 south, then turning around at a so-called "jughandle" ramp near Target store to get to Lowe's.
Plainville Town Administrator Joseph Fernandes said he was glad the state transportation officials made the drive to see the need for a way to cross Route 1 to and from Plainridge.
"The state has this policy where its extremely hesitant to allow a cut in a median," Fernandes said.
Plainridge, a harness horse track, has recently been awarded a state license to install 1,250 slot machines. The track's new owner, Penn National Gaming, has started construction of a $225 million facility and renamed the track Plainridge Park Casino.
Penn National inherited the construction and traffic plan from the track's previous owner, Ourway Realty.
Eric Schippers, vice president of public affairs for Penn National, said the company is willing to follow the state's lead on the traffic issue and take the steps the state feels are necessary for a safe flow of vehicles.
The suggestions by the state would mean less extensive changes to the traffic pattern and might allow the slots parlor to open sooner, he said.
The process is just at the discussion phase now, he said, and no decisions have been made.
Sara Lavoie, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, or MassDOT, said the agency is recommending improvements to the intersection of routes 1 and 152 and the jughandle as an alternative to the direct access across the median strip.
Not having direct access would increase traffic at the intersection, but it would still function adequately, she said.
The more extensive changes would require more study, she said.
The meeting Wednesday was part of the state's "safety audit," she said.
"MassDOT's safety management unit will draft proposed recommendations during the next few weeks. Meeting participants will then be asked to comment on the recommendations, prior to their being finalized," she said.
Fernandes said he is not an engineer, but the original left-turn plan seems like the best idea to him.
About 42 percent of all accidents at the intersection of Routes 1 and 152 are caused by people taking an illegal left turn from Route 1 south onto Route 152 to head toward Attleboro, he said.
Direct access across the median would allow motorists to avoid the intersection.
The alternative, he said, would mean more cars headed into the intersection and probably taking illegal left turns and U turns, Fernandes said.
http://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/state-questions-traffic-plan-for-plainville-slots-parlor/article_b0a8f0ff-8ab4-51c9-8094-12769ddd3d80.html
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment