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Photo Kaimi Rose Lum
The Seashore is proposing to use this stretch of road for both east- and west-bound traffic. |
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Park plans to narrow Route 6
By Kaimi Rose Lum
BANNER STAFF
PROVINCETOWN Ñ Less highway and more habitat for wild things and/or bicyclists is the goal of a Route 6 makeover planned by the National Seashore. The project will be brought before the Provincetown Conservation Commission on Tuesday.
According to Ben Pearson, chief of maintenance for the National Seashore, the work will have a significant impact on how traffic flows in and out of Herring Cove and the West End of Provincetown. It will reduce Route 6 from four lanes to two lanes, starting at the Seashore boundary line east of the Shank Painter Road intersection.
This will be accomplished by removing the two westbound lanes of Route 6 and limiting all traffic to the two lanes that currently make up eastbound Route 6. One of those remaining lanes will be designated for eastbound traffic and one for westbound. There will no longer be a median, Pearson said.
A traffic light will be installed across the new two-lane highway at the Route 6 intersection with Moors Road and Province Lands Road. Cars leaving Herring Cove and turning onto Route 6 from Province Lands Road will be greeted with a stop sign at the Route 6 intersection.
Also, Pearson said, a new exit from the south parking lot at Herring Cove will be created, so that traffic leaving that parking lot can turn directly onto the new Route 6-Moors Road.
Pearson said safety concerns were the motivation behind the project. The traffic light that used to exist at the Route 6-Province Lands Road intersection Òwas always having problems,Ó and there is a hump in the middle of the intersection that vehicles are always Òhigh-centeringÓ on.
The project will cost between $700,000 and $800,000 and will begin in the fall, if the necessary approvals are obtained.
What will be done with the westbound lanes of Route 6 once they are closed to thru traffic has yet to be nailed down. ÒWeÕre not going to remove the pavement at this time. WeÕre going to leave it in. We want to wait until we can take a more comprehensive look up there,Ó said Pearson, adding that perhaps the road could be converted to a bike trail at some point.
The planning for the road work has been going on for several years and is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and the Federal Highway Administration.
ÒAnything we can do to eliminate facilities, so we can have less maintenance and disturb less natural habitatÓ is desirable, Pearson said.
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Mar 20th, 2008