Starting today, Grafton Street (Rt. 140) will be closed between Main Street and Route 9 for about three weeks.
Here's what the Town's website recommends:
Residents will be able to travel north and south from side streets that feed onto Grafton Street but in no case will they be able to cross the culvert located north of Old Brook Road. Residents traveling from west to east are encouraged to use Wesleyan Terrace and Wesleyan Street to access UMass Group Practice, Willy's Steakhouse, and Paquette Farm. Residents traveling east to west are encouraged to use Summer Street and Raymond Avenue to get to these businesses. These businesses will not be closed so please continue to support our local merchants during this difficult time.So leave early and allow extra time.
Don't forget!!
21 comments:
While no time is a good time to shut down a road- I certainly feel for these business locations affected by this construction. Lets hope the construction stays on task and the weather is nice so it limits the overall time it's closed.
Since this is about the road closing would this be a good place to discuss the use of policemen as opposed to flag workers to direct the traffic. There was an article in the Sunday Telegram and it appears that Dan M. is strongly opposed to even considering the use of flag workers. My take is even if it would save a little money any savings is worth it.
I wouldn't mind paying police as flaggers if they actually did their job. Today on Route 9 the cop at Svensen Road was watching the crew work (I'm sure he was fascinated by the concept) while everyone waited for the non-existant Svensen traffic to go through the signal cycle.
The same Contractor is doing Grafton Street that is doing Route 9. If history has taught us anything we know that the "Three Week Shutdown" will be more like three months. Everyone who lives on Grafton Street, sing along....I'll be home for Christmas...
Does anyone know if after the end of 3 weeks we'll just have a new culvert installed, or will that moonscape from Main Street to Route 9 be repaved as well?
This shut down is just for the culvert work. They're not going to finish the entire project in a mere three weeks.
Traffic Police details have been on my radar since I moved to Mass. 19yrs ago, since the vast majority of other states do not use them. I have spent 19yrs watching the police traffic details and in most cases I feel a cheaper high school kid with a orange vest and a Stop/Go sign does a better job.
12 years ago, on Southboro/Framingham line a female office did an outstanding job, she was alert, not drinking coffee or chatting on cell phone or looking at her watch. She did her job at a 3 way road merge, she made hand signals a person could understand, instead of the limp wiggle we usually get. While stuck on the 140 work a few weeks ago, I actually thought of sending money to buy bright colored gloves and to send the police to hand traffic signal school. If we are going to use tired police officers who are working overtime, they should be trained properly in traffic situations. The guy standing in the off to the side of the road acted surprised by his little jump when he saw the light turn green and me staring at him waiting for him to signal me, to tell me to go or stop. I love watching the traffic details who are soooooo interested in watching those big machines (I told you all boys like those toys) then they are dealing with the lines and lines or cars.
When one thinks of the concessions the teachers and other town employees made regarding wage freezes and then to have the town continue to use higher paid traffic details, just because that is the way we do it, just does not cut it. If I were the union rep for non-police employees, I would be having a hissy fit and playing major hard ball next time contracts rolled around.
I don't understand the need for "traffic" cops either. I come from NH, and they just had Flag people doing the job. The cops are more interested in the social scene or the job watching then directing traffic. I had one recently motion me to go but he had just told a car in the opposite direction to go- so I didn't move it was a one way road- he was flaying his hands till the car passed him and he realized how stupid he was. Times when you need a hidden camera for Utube!
Not saying stupid acts couldn't happen with flag people, but they certainly aren't making the same kind of money!! At the rate of pay for a cop on flag duty we should not be tolerating stupidity.
How do we change this?
One of the problems with getting rid of Police Details is that the flagmen would be paid "Laborer" wage under the prevailing wage law. The last prevailing wage project I bid (if memory serves correctly) the total Laborer Package was $24.10/hour in the envelope and around $10/hour in benefits. Add in Workmans Compensation Insurance, FICA, FUTA, MED, Public Liability Insurance OH&P, and you get a total burden rate of around $62/hour. The burden rate goes higher for Non-union contractors because they have to pay Comp and Public Liability Insurance on the whole package, because most do not have registered benefits administators like the Unions are.
The Town charges $30/hour for a cop on traffic duty. We are not permitted by Statute to charge more than 10% over their base wage. It is actually a money losing proposition for the Town once you factor in the cost of administration, benefits, OT, etc.
There are too many people with a vested interest in this system to be able to change it politically. It's better that our road repair dollars are only getting charged $30/hour for traffic control than twice that if we were using common laborers, but it's lousy that the towns have to subsidize this.
John,
Does your $30.00 for traffic control include the same (Workmans Compensation Insurance, FICA, FUTA, MED, Public Liability Insurance OH&P)? The reason I ask is the figures in the Sunday Telegram were much closer in regards to total compensation for police officers as compared to flag workers. Just want to make sure we are comparing apples to apples. Also is there any overtime involved with the police officers?
Thanks,
Police Officers are not subject to Workmans' Compensation Insurance expenses nor statutes. They are also not subject to unemployment insurance charges be they state or federal. I am not saying that Police Officers are not subject to some of the other expenses that you noted, just that the Town is not allowed to charge for them by statute. The Towns are also not allowed to pass along any of the benefit expenses. I questioned this during the Saturday hearings, and was told that we are not allowed to base invoicing on Burden Rate, but actual Wage Rate only.
A flag worker could not do any worse. I live of off Grafton Street so today I was using a short bit of Grafton Street to get to Municipal Drive. There were three green cones directing you to go around them to enter Municipal Drive and a large truck coming down from the center. But never fear I am sure things will work out ok as there is a cop right there to direct traffic. WRONG. Before you can direct traffic YOU NEED TO BE OFF YOUR CELL PHONE and paying attention. Luckily the truck driver and I were both paying attention and no problems arose. But gee whiz if Dan M. is going to stand firm that cops direct traffic isn't that what they should be doing. If the MBTA bands cell phones on duty shouldn't the Shrewsbury Town Manager or Police Chief ban cells phone on duty after all they do have police radios if they need to be reached.
I say ban cell phones and eating on the job for police doing traffic. The one at Svenson is always off to the side either eating or on the phone. p.s. he loves bananas.
The cellphones are at least more attractive (albeit, far less safe) than the wad of chewing tobacco the officer on the corner of Route 9 and South Street was chewing this week. What a disgrace to the uniform to be doing that? Is that actually allowed, or was this fool thinking no one would notice? It's appalling to see our "public safety officials" on the job, chewing tobacco, smoking, talking on cell phones or listening to their iPods! I expect more from them.
I think it's very comical to listen to all of these "anonymous" posts about the local police department. Cell phones are part of our lives now, deal with it. A police officer on a cell phone is no different than 99 percent of the population on their cell phones at work. Police officers don't have families that they might need to talk to? A police officer can't say hello to his children via the cell phone or make a last minuted doctors appt. Give me a break. It costs the town ZERO dollars to have police on the road working details and it saves town taxpayers ZERO dollars. All of these anonymous posts bashing the very police officer that might just be pumping your chest when you have that unexpected medical or apprehending the individual that just kicked in your door trying to rob your home. How about instead of bashing police officers how about thank them for once for putting their lives on the line each day for YOUR town. And oh by the way the following paragraph is in regards to one of the U-30 bank robbers who was certified to be a FLAGGER!! Would you rather him or a cop on a cell phone. I'll take the cop sitting in a lounge chair drinking lemonade instead of some criminal!!
A Norwood man arrested last week as a suspect in a series of seven brazen bank heists pulled off by the blazing fast “U30 bandits” is certified in Massachusetts as a civilian flagger, the Herald has learned.
"Dimitri Long, 32, who has some 70 arrests on his rap sheet - including a conviction for viciously stabbing, stoning and burning a man and leaving him on railroad tracks in a racially motivated attack - was trained at New England Laborers Trust Fund in Hopkinton to work as a FLAG MAN."
And since no one else posts their real name I'm going anonymous on this rant.
Recent ranter said: "It costs the town ZERO dollars to have police on the road working details and it saves town taxpayers ZERO dollars."
What does that mean? The officers are donating their off-duty time? Meanwhile, the taxpayers (who aren't the only ones who pay the bills), don't save money?
Your furious rant is incoherent.
Pro bono,
Incoherent? Read it: A Police Officer standing at a detail costs you, a town tax payer ZERO dollars. There is no savings being passed on to you as a tax payer if you have done your research. Flagmen do make $15-$20 an hour but you are forgetting health insurance, workmans comp. etc. The town makes 10% off of every police detail. That disappears with flagmen. Hopefully thats clear now.
I agree with Pro Bono. Why don't the Police Officer standing at a detail cost me? A teacher gets paid. A firefighter gets paid. A cop gets paid. And when they're on detail they get paid.
Monday, July 13, 2009 3:19:00 AM
First I do appreciate the police officers in this town. A couple of points.
First they would not be rushing to your aid while on the cell phone or eating a banana (heaven forbid if they get delayed because they are on their cell phone with a personal call)
Second the police officers job is tough enough without being distracted. Did you ever think that maybe he or she is putting himself or herself at risk by not giving their undivided attention to traffic? A large car or truck has more of a chance of hitting them then do other dangers they encounter daily.
I think banning cell phones and eating on the job not only protects the citizens but also just as importantly protects them.
Also I am stumped as to how you figure this doesn't cost the taxpayer? I am sure there must be overtime involved.
And the teachers we pay would be fired on the spot if they stood at a school assembly with a wad of chewing tobacco in their cheeks. They are forbidden to smoke on the job. Yes, cell phones for an emergency are fine, but body language on South Street sure didn't look like someone dealing with a family emergency!!
And just how do details cost us nothing? Just because they might be paid initially by the contractor, doesn't mean the costs are not directly passed on to us, the taxpayers - even for those jobs that aren't "our" money, but money from the feds! (we pay those taxes too, don't you?!) I think you're full of the junk the officer I saw was chewing!
Not sure if anyone noticed but many of our police officers that are directing traffic on 140 are actually firemen.
First off there is NO overtime involved in police details. They are paid by the contractor or the company that hires the detail, not from the town budget. (Unless a town department hires a detail, but it still does not become an overtime issue.) Secondly, I have never seen or heard of any police officer eating tobacco on the side of the road. Just because he had a wad in his mouth does not mean it was chewing tobacco. It would be much appreciated if facts could be displayed on this blog instead of assumptions. So cops on details can't eat? They're humans, they get hungry!
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