COLRAIN — After a Monday morning funeral service for her husband, Gloria D. Leustek came to a Colrain meeting, urging townspeople to fight for changes on Greenfield Road to prevent more accidents such as the one that claimed her husband’s life.
Robert Leustek of Winchester, N.H., 46, died on Aug. 15 when the dump truck he was driving went off the road and into a vacant brick building at 3 Main Road. It had been the second truck crash in two months in roughly the same section of the road.
Mr. Leustek, a Winchester selectman, was employed by Wiggin Hydroseed Landscaping in Northfield and, in the winter, he made deliveries for Bob’s Fuel in Winchester, N.H. He also farmed and kept bees at Procupine Acres LLC with his wife.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation by State Police.
The Selectboard had called an emergency meeting to discuss road safety concerns, because there have been several accidents near the Jacksonville-Main-Greenfield roads intersection involving the loss of brakes on the long downhill slope of Greenfield Road.
The meeting was in progress when Mrs. Leustek arrived. “I’m the widow of the man that died,” she said, standing at the back of the meeting room. “You can’t imagine how much grief I’m feeling. As soon as I heard of the other accidents on this road, I knew I had to come to this meeting. … Something needs to be done. You can’t bring my husband back from the dead. But something needs to be done — whatever you need to do, temporarily, to save lives,” she said. “This is not acceptable.”
Selectboard Chairman Mark Thibodeau read a letter from the state Department of Transportation, suggesting the next step should be gathering data about the roadway through a Road Safety Audit.
But with school starting in two weeks — and with school buses using the one-lane Jacksonville Road bridge during construction work – most of the 18 residents present wanted immediate action.
Sue Booth Daniels suggested heavy truck traffic be rerouted farther west on Route 2, where they could pick up Route 112 North in Shelburne, rather than traveling down Colrain-Shelburne Road into the town center.
“All this construction ups the ante,” said Daniels, referring to the Jacksonville Road bridge project near the elementary school, and the Highway Garage construction on Jacksonville Road.
Michael Slowinski pointed out that, with the intersection of Colrain-Shelburne Road widened at Route 2, even more trucks are likely to take that route. “We need to remind MassDOT that a truck ramp was talked about 30 years ago, when they made that (road) design. What is the tipping point to get a truck escape ramp? They promised to monitor (traffic), he continued. “We’ve had five accidents since the road was reconstructed, but this last one is a game-changer. DOT plans can go on for two or three years,” Slowinski added. “The time for denial has stopped. It’s time for action.”
Daniels asked if the town could prohibit truck traffic during the hours when school buses are coming to or coming from the Colrain Central School.
Town Coordinator Kevin Fox explained that, for the town to adopt a “heavy truck exclusion,” it would have to provide an alternative route for trucks.
Residents were told to write letters to their legislators, Sen. Stan Rosenberg and state Rep. Paul Mark, to voice their safety concerns about the road.
There was also talk of property owners along the way putting up signs warning motorists to slow down. One resident said the signs near the top of the mountain should be “freshened up,” and a bigger sign should be put at the top of the mountain, to avoid some of the brake issues.
Highway Superintendent Scott Sullivan warned of “sign litter.”
“If there are too many signs,” he said, “people stop looking at them.”
Before Monday’s meeting, Town Coordinator Kevin Fox wrote to Mark Moore, project development engineer of MassDOT, to ask if it has any immediate plans in response to the accident, and to ask if the safety issues could be factored into the town’s Transportation Improvement Project design for future reconstruction of the intersection.
Moore replied that the intersection will likely be redesignated as a “high crash location” for Franklin County and will be eligible for Highway Safety Improvement Program funding.
Moore said the design was originally approved in 2013 as a result of a pedestrian study and was primarily proposed for better pedestrian, bicycle and handicap-accessible use. “Given the recent crashes at this intersection, I presume safety is going to be an even bigger concern,” he said.
If the project becomes eligible for safety grants, a Road Safety Audit will be required. Moore proposed that MassDOT and the town meet with representatives from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments and a Weston and Sampson engineer.
Moore said MassDOT can help with signs and other technical assistance; he also suggested writing to the district highway director for assistance outside the scope of work for the intersection project.
“Please assure the Selectmen that MassDOT takes these crashes very seriously, and we want to work with the town to produce the safest project possible,” he wrote.
On July 7, a 10-wheel dump truck loaded with gravel, heading downhill to the Highway Garage construction site, lost its brakes and struck a utility pole near 6 Jacksonville Road. The gravel was spilled in the roadway, which was closed for a few hours, and the driver was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.