Edgartown Lowers Speed Limit on Clevelandtown Road

Edgartown selectmen sped through their meeting Monday, but slowed down Clevelandtown Road, lowering the speed limit on the paved byway from 30 to 25 miles per hour after neighbors expressed concerns about its use.

Edgartown selectmen sped through their meeting Monday, but slowed down Clevelandtown Road, lowering the speed limit on the paved byway from 30 to 25 miles per hour after neighbors expressed concerns about its use.

The road, a paved, two-lane connection running between Katama and Meshacket Road and the Road to the Plains, has seen increased development in recent years, according to longtime resident George Pimentel, who spoke at the selectmen’s meeting Monday.

Mr. Pimentel requested that selectmen lower the speed limit in response to safety concerns from residents.

“Clevelandtown Road has become even more highly congested than it has in prior years, with increased development and increased traffic. And it’s a dangerous situation for family, friends, and for walking our beloved pups,” Mr. Pimentel said. “It’s becoming very unnerving.”

The road has been used increasingly as a cut-through to downtown from the Edgartown West-Tisbury Road. A narrow sidewalk runs along its western edge.

At the meeting Monday, selectman Arthur Smadbeck confirmed that the town had voted at prior town meetings to adopt a state regulation allowing the board to lower speed limits from 30 to 25 miles per hour.

Police chief Bruce McNamee said while cars do go fast down the road, the department had been patrolling Clevelandtown for the past two weeks and had not noticed any egregious speeding violations. But he added that the department would have no issue with the change.

“It certainly does appear that the cars are going by quick,” Chief McNamee said. “The officers haven’t observed any violations that warranted a traffic stop just yet, but we have been paying attention to the neighborhood and I understand Mr. Pimentel’s concerns.”

Selectmen voted unanimously to lower the speed limit on the road, although selectman Michael Donaroma cautioned against making speed limit reductions a regular occurrence.

Mr. Pimentel then requested that because Meetinghouse Way, another connector road in the Katama area, was paved last year, the town could request that construction and work vehicles use that road rather than Clevelandtown Road. Selectmen were much less amenable to that request.

“That’s beyond the scope of what the selectmen can do,” Mr. Smadbeck said.

In other business, selectmen approved a two-month closure for the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown. The hotel will be closed from Jan. 4 until March 3, according to town administrator James Hagerty. Although the town normally grants only one month closures, longer closures have been allowed due to the pandemic.

“It’s longer than we normally do, but we’ve been granting these extended closures because of these Covid issues,” Mr. Smadbeck said.

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/12/2021 - 12:08

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Bob Edgartown

As someone who travels that road every day the paving of Meetinghouse Way has greatly reduce the use of Cleveland town Road. I understand there are plans to increase the sidewalk along Cleveland town Meshacket Road but ran into some problems with right away’s. I would suggest the selectmen push for construction of the walkway that can be done which will help somewhat while we wait to figure out the rest, some is better than none.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/12/2021 - 18:36

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Meetinghouse Road Resident Edgartown

As a homeowner on Meetinghouse Way, I would like to suggest the town direct all workers and their vehicles to use Clevelandtown Road because it DOES have a sidewalk. This would greatly mitigate the increase in speeding vehicles on Meetinghouse I’ve witnessed since the town paved it. My young kids don’t enjoy the luxury and relative safety of a sidewalk that is available to Mr. Pimentel.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 01/13/2021 - 14:19

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

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Bob Edgartown

It was the neighbors of Meetinghouse Way that pushed to have the road paved. It is not something the town was looking to do. We all knew the traffic and speed would increase and that was the trade off to pave the dirt road. The residents of Meetinghouse Way can not now complain about what they wanted. Meetinghouse Way did get a nice travel lane on either side for bikes and walkers something that is not on the old dump road.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/12/2021 - 18:41

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Meetinghouse Way Meeetinghouse

Mr. Pimentel’s “NIMBY” complaint is duly noted. Perhaps he could spend some time on the road he suggests diverting traffic to. Clevelandtown is not special. Meetinghouse has seen an enormous increase in both traffic and speed. Maybe the town could address the roads most impacted first, going forward?

Sherlock Edgartown

How sad that you can’t see the hypocrisy of your own words. According to you, Mr. Pimentel’s suggestion to reroute traffic to Meetinghouse Way is a “NIMBY” complaint. Also according to you, “Clevelandtown is not special”. Can you remind us what road you live on again?

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