Thursday, July 8, 1999 Older Editions

Traffic trauma

By Rebecca Lipchitz

While the amount of traffic passing through Andover today would have been unthinkable to some 50 years ago, but expected by others, according to Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski, it is simply the byproduct of a good economy.

"It's the price we pay for progress, for everyone wanting their own car, for general development all over town," Stapczynski says.

Andover zoning is designed to keep industrial traffic out of Andover neighborhoods and on major roadways. But the amount of development, even though it is right where it was directed to be, has taxed the residents of one neighborhood to the point of legal action.

Ballardvale residents, tired of traffic zooming through or stacking up in front of their homes, filed an appeal in Superior Court June 16 against the Planning Board and Genetics Institute, seeking to overturn the board's approval of a Genetics expansion, charging that it would add to existing traffic problems that are already intolerable.

The Lowell Junction Road industrial area includes businesses such as Genetics and Gillette. While the area is adjacent to the historic Ballardvale residential neighborhood, Route 125 was meant to be the main carrier of traffic in and out of the industrial area from Wilmington to Andover.

Instead, narrow roads like River Street and Ballardvale Street have ended up serving as a way for commuters from the Lowell Junction Road industrial area to enter and exit I-93 in Wilmington, and at Dascomb Road in Andover.

Residents of Ballardvale say their neighborhood was not designed to accommodate traffic from the industrial area.

Douglas White, who moved to Ballardvale in February, says he knew he was moving into a neighborhood next to an industrial area, but he didn't know his street, River Street, was part of a major route used by industrial area commuters to Route 125 and 1-93. He is one of 27 Ballardvale residents who filed the appeal against Genetics and the Planning Board. He is also an appointee of the task force to work with the town on that issue.

When residents and business leaders met last week as a task force to discuss solutions to the Ballardvale traffic problem, they began by asking what Ballardvale should be like as a neighborhood, says Andover's Director of Planning Steve Colyer.

Colyer says the industrial area was zoned exactly where it should have been, with access to major roads to keep traffic out of neighborhoods. But since the pace of progress on state and interstate roads hasn't kept up with local progress, the roads meant to carry industrial traffic away from town are backed up, which motivates drivers in a hurry to use side streets as short cuts.

It could be worse

Stapczynski says he gets calls from every neighborhood about traffic problems.

"I don't think our zoning is an issue," Stapczynski says. "People are in a big hurry to get to work, to get home, to get to the store," he says.

State Senator Sue Tucker, D-Andover, who lives off Route 125, says she was a member of the Andover Industrial Development Commission in the 1970s.

"The goal is to reach a balance between residential, commercial and industrial. We are the envy of many, many communities," Tucker says.

Colyer says Andover is the envy of many also because the zoning has kept industry out of the town center and close to state roads.

Tucker agrees that the problem with growth management in Andover isn't zoning, and she isn't taking sides in the current dispute. She says she makes a point to provide local planners and zoning officials with tools to do their job, rather than "be a phantom member of the board."

"Andover is very much tied to that socio-economic-political issue called sprawl. The question now is, are the scales tipping? When is enough, enough?" she says.

The master plan

When I-93 was designed 50 years ago, local officials and representatives lobbied heavily for an interchange at Lowell Junction Road, because the area was zoned for industry, Colyer says.

But at the time, the industry had not yet arrived. Now that the need is obvious, a proposal to put a ramp connecting Ballardvale Street in Wilmington directly to Route 125 is finally close to reality.

However, "what people don't realize is that there is no instant fix in major transportation systems. The gestation period is years," Colyer says, resting his hand on a stack of environmental reports related to the Route 125 project. The stack is more than a foot thick.

Tucker says she fought for 12 years to have a traffic light installed at Route 125 and Gould Road before handing the project over to state Rep. Barry Finegold, who managed to see it completed.

Because installing a traffic light on Route 125 would cause traffic to back up when exiting from I-93, the impact of the traffic light had to be investigated by the Federal Highway Administration.

Tucker says the assessment of the impact on I-93 caused a delay on the Gould Road traffic light project, as it has for the Route 125 project in Wilmington.

Also, dealing with federal and state governments for road improvement projects not only involves layers of bureaucracy, but a large degree of competition from other towns, Colyer says.

So was it an exercise in futility for the town to create a Master Plan in 1992 to address planning in all areas of town, including transportation?

Colyer acknowledges the plan involves a lot of "crystal balling." But he says it serves as a valuable base tool in outlining the hierarchy of the street system and points out what needs improvements.

In pushing projects through state and federal government hoops, Colyer says, "the hardest thing to do is make sure the need matches up with the system in place. The industry need is on a faster track than the federal government," Colyer says.

Improvements that exist today, like traffic lights in Shawsheen Square and the bridge widening on River Road to allow traffic to better enter and exit I-93, wouldn't be there without a lot of kicking and screaming, and a master plan to help make the case.

Unforming habits

But any improvements in traffic flow, like the improvements expected when the widening of the River Road bridge is complete, are not only the result of construction. Next to keeping fires lit under transportation officials, the second biggest challenge in traffic management is changing how people drive.

Even when access to Route 125 is improved with a new ramp, getting drivers out of Ballardvale onto the new route still may take time, Colyer says.

Local traffic management organizations, led by industry representatives, try to encourage commuters to stay on major roads and out of neighborhoods, to car pool and to take public transportation. In some cases, companies adopt flexible shifts so workers are not all leaving at the same time.

Skip Hartwell, head of security at Genetics Institute in Cambridge and Andover, also serves on the local Traffic Management Organization of Lowell Junction Road businesses.

To keep local traffic down, Genetics offers a guaranteed ride home to anyone who car pools, in case their ride in can't take them home. They offer a shuttle bus between their Cambridge and Andover campuses. They subsidize the cafeteria to cut down on traffic into Andover, and added a gym so employees could work out after work and not add to afternoon commuter traffic.

Their most popular program Hartwell says, is their 100-percent reimbursement program for T-passes.

"It's either that, or pay for their parking space," Hartwell says.

Genetics recently added a "Home Run" program, which allows employees to place grocery orders and have them delivered to their car at work.

But Hartwell says the whole solution includes making sure the state is committed to making the proposed improvements on Route 125.

One reason the River Road bridge expansion project finally began was because of the encouragement of the River Road Traffic Management Association.

The TMA is a formally incorporated, non-profit organization with more political clout than an informal TMO, Colyer says.

Bill Sousa, facilities manager at Hewlett Packard, is treasurer of the TMA, now officially two years old. Unofficially, they've been a group since the late '80s, he says.

Sousa says the TMA's job was to lobby for infrastructure to support industry -- from water, sewer and utilities to roadway improvements. The delays in the River Road project were similar to those of the Route 125 project, he says.

"We were very close to getting the (state) administration to approve it. The political tide changed and it didn't happen," he says.

The current administration has been more supportive, he says.

Wilmington Director of Planning Lynn Duncan says she never considered the Route 125 project controversial politically. "Just controversial in its pace," she says.

Is there an answer?

The solution to traffic problems, planners say, is a combination of factors, not the least of which is getting the state and federal governments to follow through on projects.

But Ballardvale residents have had their fill of waiting, and appealed the decision on Genetics to say it's time to seize local control of their neighborhood.

Appellant and task force member Jean Verzola says the goal is not to stop Genetics from expanding.

"It doesn't matter that it's Genetics. We need to eliminate the increase in traffic," she says.

But the goal of the residents and town officials Task Force is to make Ballardvale the neighborhood it was meant to be, planners say. For the moment, residents insist that should be a neighborhood without industrial area commuters.

White says he moved to Andover after living in large and small cities from Chicago to Malden, and he chose Andover because a voter can raise his hand and be counted. The village of Ballardvale, including a pizza place and post office within walking distance, is still there because people raise their voices in support of it, White says.

"If you don't want that, move to the city. Here we have an active voice and people listen to us. It's nice to know. Ballardvale is a pretty tight-knit community. If nothing else proves it, this appeal does," he says.

Tucker aims to address the big picture by keeping up the fight for road improvments, by supporting community land banks to help towns purchase and protect open space, and by encouraging development in urban areas and filling empty Lawrence mill buildings rather than building in suburban open space.

While residents appointed to the local task force aim to have the town erect signs that prohibit traffic on certain streets at certain times, even the town's Master Plan for traffic accepts the town's limitations."Many (roads) will never be brought up to optimal traffic engineering standards because of conflicts between the requirements of these standards and limited rights-of-way; significant natural, cultural, or historic features; and existing buildings or other private property features. These features are highly valued by the residents as the remaining traces of the former rural character in the Town. They also enhance the existing quality of life of the community," the report says.

While Colyer is a founding member of the task force, and suggested signage as a possible solution, he also sees the need to compromise.

"Every time you drive down your street, you become a traffic problem in someone else's neighborhood," Colyer says.

"There is an end in sight. You just have to be patient," he says, just as he is waiting at the end of Argilla Road for traffic to let him in. "That's just part of life," he says.