Bump-outs brought nothing more than problems

Good idea Mayor Jerry Murphy! Yes, get rid of the road bump-outs on Main Street. They are yet another stupid and illogical idea from our illustrious DOT. The very same people that redesigned/approved the debacle at the Lake Mohawk North Shore exit and entrances to the Newton-Sparta Road. If you have ever tried to exit Lake Mohawk turning left towards Newton, you are seriously taking your life in your hands. Not only do you have to manage to get across the massive array of traffic but additionally have to watch out for the cars turning into Lake Mohawk because they cross in front of you. Common sense would have had two incoming traffic patterns where no incoming traffic crossed in front of exiting traffic. But of course, that’s too creative and logical a thought. Anyway, back to Main Street. I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read our Township Manager David Troast’s response to the idea, “The bump-outs are designed to prevent drivers who may be distracted and close to the curb from inadvertently crashing into a car that is parked along Main Street." Are you kidding? That is about the silliest comment I have ever read. If someone did that, they would obviously have to have been blindfolded or under the influence and for certain would have earned their driver's license on Mars. From my perspective, they are a road hazard, period. Anything that is uncommon to an area is a road hazard because drivers do not expect it to be there. Now, if they were there to protect the public, that would be okay, but to protect a parked car? Really! Secondly, in the case of an emergency, they are a traffic flow inhibitor and when the new Stop & Shop finally opens, every driver in the area will be cursing those bump-outs even more because they will exacerbate the traffic flow. I would hope that all the council members would start looking forward and reconsider removal of these non-sensible irritants. Remember, it is more important to reconsider decisions when logical ideas are presented. That didn’t happen when everyone was pushing to make the 517 bypass a reality. It was supposed to rid the downtown area of excessive traffic. Instead, it is now doubled or maybe tripled. I vote for delaying the resurfacing project and removing those bump-outs. Phillip Lid Sparta