Ann Marie Beauchemin: Traffic problems in Meredith are just increasing

To The Daily Sun,

I have been reading up on the town of Meredith lately. It appears the Meredith News is the only way to find out what’s going on. We’ve got two condo developments approved, work being done at the old laundry mat, hoping they might start improving that part of town. The town is drawing up plans to go solar for municipal buildings and looking for an area I’ll call solar fields. I’m going to throw a wrench into the towns solar movement at Prescott Park. What we need is a “school road” that extends from the elementary school to Route 3. This road would be gated for use during the opening and closing of school only, with police and fire to have access in case of emergencies. Yup, I can’t even imagine the expense but it can no longer be ignored. If I approach the town I’m guessing they would refer me to the school for input and if I approach the school, they’d send me to the town and both will pray it will go away. If we are approving all kinds of new housing in the area with the potential of additional students, we need to come up with a plan. This road could be used for pedestrians and bicycles also as it’s a heck of a lot safer than Route 25 for students. I could go on about how the Department of Transportation can’t figure out how to keep the hill passable during a snowstorm. I don’t recall it being a problem in the '70s when rear wheel drive was the only passenger car available. Yes folks, we have traffic. It’s a beautiful town and they’re coming to stay. It’s not going to decrease, let’s face the facts. Having two police officers directing traffic twice a day forever is ludicrous. We blew our chance for a bypass and I get both sides of opinion on that, I know their used to be old logging roads that lead down from the school to Route 3 via the park, Circle Drive or Boynton Road so it’s not out of the question. You approve housing with stipulations that the developers upgrade the town roads for increased traffic, well guess what, it’s your turn now. It’s not just residents this traffic mess affects, it’s anyone trying to get somewhere via Route 25. Let's not forget how traffic was at a standstill from the school to McDonald’s on the first day of school this year. It’s a little better now, it’s only at the town docks. This really needs to be looked into thoroughly by both the school and town. I’m hoping someone with some expertise in this field will jump on this bandwagon and push this on. I’ll help with whatever I can. I have no degrees, just a local with common sense and a little sarcasm. Also, thank you Mike, can’t even imagine disturbing the beauty of Waukewan Highlands Park.

Ann Marie Beauchemin

Meredith