Charlemont Selectboard reviews FRCOG data on problematic speeding areas

Charlemont Town Administrator Sarah Reynolds shares traffic data collected by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments with the Selectboard Tuesday evening.

Charlemont Town Administrator Sarah Reynolds shares traffic data collected by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments with the Selectboard Tuesday evening. STAFF PHOTO/ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

Staff Writer

Published: 01-15-2025 10:45 AM

CHARLEMONT — In an effort to inform speed enforcement practices and potentially petition the state for speed limit changes, Town Administrator Sarah Reynolds shared speeding data collected by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments with the Selectboard Tuesday evening.

FRCOG collected the data through traffic counting equipment stationed on various roads throughout the area in 2022, 2023 and 2024. The results showed a range of traffic trends from Avery Brook Road, where roughly 73% of the vehicles counted were speeding at an average top speed of 43 mph, to Heath Stage Terrace, where the average top speed was 30 mph, 5 mph under the limit.

“Heath Stage Terrace, I get all the time and so do the police, that everybody is speeding down that road,” Reynolds said. However, “the average top speed on count was 30 [mph]. There was nobody doing 35, which is the speed limit for the road, and the average speed was 17 [mph].”

Reynolds said the two traffic recording devices on North River Road — one near the Transfer Station and the other near Sunburn Beach — recorded “eye-opening” and “concerning” results, with an average speed near the Transfer Station of 36 mph, an average top speed of 64 mph and 55% of counted drivers speeding.

On the Sunburn Beach portion of North River Road near the intersection with Johnson Road, the average top speed was 69 mph, with 29% of counted vehicles speeding. Reynolds said despite her concerns about how fast motorists are traveling, few crashes have been reported in the high-speed areas.

Still, Reynolds said she has shared FRCOG’s crash data with Police Chief Jason Pelletier so the town can better enforce traffic laws on roads such as South River Road, where 82% of vehicles were reported speeding at an average top speed of 76 mph and an average speed of 41 mph.

The data, she said, will be used to apply for state funds for transportation infrastructure and to petition the state Department of Transportation to decrease speed limits.

“We don’t have, actually, a lot of collisions, which is kind of amazing, but I’ve shared this folder with Jay Pelletier,” Reynold said. “We were talking about doing lines on the roads and trying to look at our speed limit signs. … If we could do enough of a count, we could convince MassDOT to change the speeds on some of these roads.”

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Although Zoar Road showed minimal speeding, Reynolds said its traffic volume was “impressive” with 4,829 vehicles counted over the course of eight days.

Selectboard Chair Valentine Reed — noting that South River Road is part of his commute to his son’s preschool — suggested that the town petition MassDOT to drop the speed limit in the village center from 30 to 25 mph.

Reed also suggested the town present the data to MassDOT to pitch the installation of rumble strips on Route 2, similar to those outside the center of Athol.

“We want to prioritize safety,” Reed said. “We might want to petition the state to allow for rumble strips on Route 2. They exist, and if we can consistently show this data, I think we should petition them again for it once we have a better collection of this data.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.