Town works toward better flow of traffic

The town is seeking to improve the flow of traffic and improve pedestrian safety in its popular business district without compromising the charm of walking from shop to shop.

Town Board member Jay Wenk said at a board meeting Tuesday that the owners of stores and homes could do their part to ease congestion caused by delivery vehicles.

“Whenever box trucks or tractor trailers, as opposed to standard ... pickup trucks, are to make deliveries ... those stores or homes [should be] required to notify the Woodstock police at least 45 minutes prior to the arrival of that vehicle,” Wenk said.

Wenk also said better management of on-

street parking at the site where buses that pick up and drop off passengers across from the village green — where Tinker Street, Mill Hill Road and Rock City Road come together — would be helpful. If parking spaces along the curb there are in use, buses have to stop in the driving lane, forcing other drivers to wait for a break in oncoming traffic before going around the large vehicle.

“Parking spaces along the sidewalk where eastbound buses park to pick up and discharge passengers [should] be kept clear of all other vehicles within 45 minutes prior to buses arriving,” Wenk suggested.

Town Supervisor Bill McKenna said efforts are being made to move the bus stop to a location where either the road is wider or a parking lot could be used. He also noted, though, that bus passengers and other pedestrians often fail to use established crosswalks.

“No one likes to say the cold hard truth, but pedestrians are a big problem in town,” McKenna said. “Yes, we love them, and I encourage them [to] keep coming, but I think we all have a responsibility to cross smartly.”

At the same time, he said, drivers must obey the state law that gives pedestrians in crosswalks the right of way over vehicles.

To that end, McKenna said, “it is incumbent upon the infrastructure of the town to make sure that all pedestrian crossings ... be painted yearly, and the traffic bars — those solid white lines across the roads at intersections — also be painted yearly, as well as having state signs within those crosswalks indicating that pedestrians have the right of way.”

The immediate change will be bringing back a traffic-control officer to the intersection of Tinker Street, Mill Hill Road and Rock City Road, town officials agreed.

McKenna said the previous use of an officer at the intersection — which, like all of Woodstock, has no traffic light — had mixed results, but “on balance, I thought he did more good than harm.”