Portsmouth school board member calls for safer roads for buses

'Catastrophe waiting to happen,' Allen Shers says

By JIm McGaw
Posted 1/3/18

PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth’s roads have become so treacherous that the town should consider police escorts for school buses or even ban buses from traversing a major section of East …

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Portsmouth school board member calls for safer roads for buses

'Catastrophe waiting to happen,' Allen Shers says

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth’s roads have become so treacherous that the town should consider police escorts for school buses or even ban buses from traversing a major section of East Main Road, says one School Committee member.

While Allen Shers acknowledged his comments were somewhat hyperbolic, the school board member maintained that something needs to be done to improve traffic safety for the sake of students being shuttled back and forth between home and school. At the very least, he said, the state Department of Transportation (RIDOT) should implement more “road diets” in problem areas.

“You could almost say it’s a catastrophe waiting to happen because of the way the roads are built,” Mr. Shers said in an interview Tuesday.

Mr. Shers first raised the issue at a School Committee meeting last month in the wake of two minor bus accidents involving other vehicles on Nov. 20 and 27. The accidents took place at the intersections of Hedly Street and East Main Road, and Turnpike Avenue at Memorial Drive, which is one of three entrances to the high school.

Superintendent of Schools Ana Riley said no students were hurt in either crash, although one school bus driver was injured. Neither bus driver was at fault, she said.

“One (driver) was trying to cut around a school bus and another tried to go around a school bus who had the right of way,” Ms. Riley said at the meeting. “People are getting pretty careless around the school buses.”

‘Substandard’ roads

According to Mr. Shers, one of the biggest problems is that East Main Road and some other local thoroughfares are substandard and not wide enough to safely accommodate larger vehicles. 

He recently saw it for himself while driving north on East Main Road, between Town Hall and Clements’ Marketplace. At the bottom of the hill near the entrance to Atria Aquidneck Place, a local oil delivery truck was passing a school bus that was traveling in the righthand lane, he said.

“The oil truck had to go over the double-yellow line a couple of feet to pass the school bus,” he said. “The lanes were just not wide enough for those vehicles to make it. If a school bus is eight feet wide and you have the mirrors that stick out on the side, there’s just not enough width.”

The road width is not the only problem with East Main Road, he said.

“East Main Road is narrower than West Main Road, plus East Main Road has quite a few areas where there’s a patch on a patch on a patch, so controlling a vehicle in a tight spot where the lanes are not wide enough just exacerbate the situation,” Mr. Shers said.

Suggested solutions

The school board member said it’s past time the state do something about the unsafe conditions of Portsmouth’s roads. Until those repairs are made, he offered a unique stopgap solution.

“My thought was that buses would not be allowed to travel East Main Road from Clements’ (Marketplace) down to the Middletown line until such time the roads are corrected,” he said. “With that draconian approach, there would have to be pickup locations off East Main Road for the people going back, or there could be a police escort for the buses if there was a safety situation on East Main Road.”

Yes, the idea may sound extreme and is “probably not” realistic, he admitted. 

“But sometimes you say things to get some momentum going,” Mr. Shers said. “We need to catch the attention upstate or they’re always going to be focusing on Providence. We’re answerable for children traveling over the roads, so these comments need to be made. I certainly don’t want it to have it on my conscience that I didn’t say something before something horrific happens.”

A more practical approach, he said, would be to implement more “road diets” until major upgrades are made.

Mr. Shers also mentioned other problem areas he said need to be addressed:

• Melville School: A pressure light is needed here so drivers can safely take a lefthand turn out of the school onto West Main Road, he said. At last month’s School Committee meeting, Ms. Riley said other safety precautions are being taken in this area, including a new flashing radar speed sign that is to go into place this month. The district will also be asking the state to paint the word “School” on the road, she said.

• West Main Road at Mill Lane, East Main Road at Bramans Lane, and East Main Road at the Seveney Sports Complex at Glen Farm — These areas also need traffic control lights, he said.

• Hedly Street/East Main Road/Town Hall — “That intersection has been terrible for years.”

• Three entrances to Portsmouth High School — These could use pressure lights also, since buses and “students who are just getting their licenses are going in and out of there,” he said.

• East Main Road at Fairview Lane — Mr. Shers said there are evergreen trees encroaching upon Fairview Lane near St. Barnabas Church. Snow accumulates at this intersection, he said, adding that “when anyone is turning, it’s real tight and you can’t even make it.”

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