The City's Traffic Operations Committee (TOC) met in May to follow up on the Community Drive and High Street traffic concerns. Speed limits are posted as 25 mph. Speed data collected for Community Drive between Shaw Street and Dolphin Street during this past April showed the average speed of 27 mph, with 85% of vehicles traveling 33 mph or less. Speed data on High Street, between Hardy Avenue and Brodeur Street for April also showed an average speed of 27 mph, with 85% of vehicles traveling at 35 mph or less. This indicates there is a small population of drivers traveling at speeds that are 10 mph over the limit. Concord Police continued directed patrols on these roads and concluded that generally vehicles were obeying the speed limits. They also installed the radar trailer that operated from April 28 to May 15.
TOC discussed conducting a campaign with Merrimack Valley School District (MVSD) students to discuss safe driving. TOC agreed that they support continued enforcement efforts to reduce the speed in the area, but did not support stop signs to regulate speed, as that is not recognized as a proper use of the signs. They also did not support installing bump outs due to the narrowness of the roadways. Restricting High Street or Community Drive to local traffic only would require further study and input from MVSD.
Neighbors who observe unsafe driving behaviors are encouraged to provide both the license plate number and a description of the vehicle to Police, who will follow up based on that information.
