HUMBUG
BY DANIEL W. DRAKE ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Last week we thought we had survived the winter. This week, we are not so sure. The northeast wind is howling. The wind chill is not very far above the freezing mark, and sweaters and comforters that were on the verge of being put away have become essentials again.

The Nantucket didn't run on Monday and it seems likely she will not venture from her berth again today - certainly not for the first trip. The big trucks are stacking up on the Steamboat Wharf and the Steamship Authority Web site reports a few standbys on both sides. A friend coming over today will have to fly.

It is just another nor'easter blowing through. So what else is new?

Well, there is something new at the corner of North Water Street, Easton Street, Cliff Road and Chester Street. Do you know where that is? It is the corner by the Point Breeze Hotel. The new Point Breeze that is said to resemble one of its predecessors but which looks absolutely nothing like anything that has stood on that site for the past 65 years. The new Point Breeze that has siding painted prison green. The new Point Breeze that, at least thus far, compares poorly in appearance and scale to the new construction across the street.

If, early one day last week, you were trying to run the gauntlet of construction activity on Easton Street, you might have been startled to see a man with a jack hammer carving a neat triangle in the pavement at the end of North Water Street leading into the aforementioned intersection. At the same time, coincidentally or not, a truck was unloading granite curbing for the Point Breeze site, so the corner was a mess. A driver couldn't pay close attention to what the man with the jack hammer was doing because he risked missing the police officer's signal that it was all right to proceed along Easton Street directly into the teeth, as it were, of an oncoming truck.

By the end of the day, the triangle had been dug out and defined with - surprise - - granite curbing. By then it was apparent that the triangle, perhaps 10 feet from side to side, was a sort of traffic flow control device. Vehicles from North Water Street turning right on to Easton Street would be expected to pass to the right of the triangle and those continuing on to Cliff Road or turning left on Chester Street would pass to the triangle's left. How neat and tidy.

Then one got to wondering how this came to pass. Why was it done? Who paid for it? How did a traffic device get installed without a public hearing? Why it was never mentioned in connection with the recently completed downtown traffic study? Didn't its construction perhaps violate the town bylaw prohibiting the creation of turning lanes unless approved by an affirmative vote of Town Meeting?

Then, lightning struck. The triangle had to have been the work of the Planning Board, the only town body with the authority to impose paving and unnecessarily wide rights of way on unsuspecting neighborhoods

A telephone call to officialdom confirmed that the Planning Board was indeed the body that had mandated the creation of the triangle as part of the Order of Conditions issued when the Point Breeze project was approved by the Board. Officialdom stated that the intersection needed some definition. In response to the question of the relevance of the town bylaw, officialdom said, in essence, the intersection was a mess and needed cleaning up.

A review of the bylaw indicates that the Planning Board's requirement that the triangle be put in place is within its purview within the Town Overlay District, which clearly includes this intersection. For whatever reason, there is an exception to the prohibition against turning lanes in the Town Overlay District. In fact the exception applies to anything in that district except the widening of roads and the installation of traffic signals. So, it would seem that as long as flashing arrows aren't put in place to direct motorists to one side of the triangle or the other, the direction to the Point Breeze to construct it seems perfectly legal.

On one level, one has to concede that officialdom has a point. The intersection without the triangle is a bit of a mess. Because of the width of North Water Street's mouth and the tendency of drivers to stay to the right even though it is a one way street, motorists stopping at the Easton Street stop sign might only spot a car with the right of way through the intersection, sneaking up in their peripheral vision. If they have no peripheral vision on the left side, which seems often the case, or choose to ignore it, then there is the potential for trouble.

Arguably, therefore the new triangle (in America they call them traffic "islands," a name not suitable for Nantucket) is a good idea. But it isn't, because it takes all the fun out to the intersection. It also isn't a good idea, because it will have to be covered with signs to direct the motorist properly and to try to insure that some misguided soul doesn't rip the undercarriage from his vehicle on that beautiful granite curbing.

We don't know yet what will fill the triangle. Will it be macadam or will it be plants or trees? A small fountain might be nice. Or maybe the monolith that was proposed and rejected for the Sparks Avenue/Hooper Farm Road roundabout. Maybe there should have been a contest to decide.

Speaking of which, we scarcely remember when that roundabout didn't exist, even when exiting the post office. Will the triangle on North Water Street sink into our psyches the same way? No doubt, it will. In the meantime, though, the use of the triangle to create traffic lanes does seem to violate the bylaw's spirit of preserving

the "…historic character of its road system…" There may be other reasons to dislike the bylaw, but in this instance, it hardly seems that the "messy" situation at this intersection validates the decision to utilize a modern traffic control technique.

And what does the triangle have to do with the return of cold weather and the cancellation of the ferry? Nothing, really, except that they

are all a bit unsettling. I

The "Lighthouse Keeper" reflects the views of the author and does not necessarily represent the editorial position of The Nantucket Independent. Comments are welcome and may be sent to drake@nantucketindependent.com.