Plans could improve traffic flow in village

SALISBURY — The Board of Selectmen approved a proposal for a traffic study of Academy Street and the surrounding area, at a special noon meeting on Monday, Aug. 9, at Town Hall.

First Selectman Curtis Rand, who owns property on Academy Street, abstained from voting on the proposal from BETA Group of Rocky Hill. BETA’s proposal reads: “The goal of the proposal is to assess the need to convert Academy Street to one-way traffic and the impacts that such a conversion would have on Library Street.�

BETA will collect traffic data at three locations (Main Street, Academy Street and Library Street), “to record directional traffic for a period of seven days� (including a weekend); obtain accident data from the state Department of Transportation; and conduct a “walking inventory� of the area, with a team consisting of an engineer, a landscape architect and representatives of the town.

Rand said the proposal was solicited at the request of the Planning and Zoning Commission, and that the Scenic Roads Committee had recommended the selectmen hire BETA for the traffic analysis (at $7,600 — $6,850 for the analysis and $750 for the traffic counting) but not for a study and upgrade of Academy Street’s parking and sidewalks (a $19,650 proposal).

Selectmen Jim Dresser and Bob Riva voted to accept the BETA proposal for traffic analysis, with Rand abstaining.