To the editor:
It may not be any of my business, as I am not a Rockport resident.
However, I do pass through the Five Corners intersection every day.
Last Saturday morning, I parked on Parker Street and watched the flow of traffic for about an hour.
What I gleaned from my watch, was a curious anomaly. I noticed that the heaviest traffic was between upper Main Street and Broadway. Traffic traveling in any other direction slowed to almost a stop in deference of right-of-way vehicles.
Therefore, I deduced that the most logical and cost effective solution to all the writers' concerns would be the installation of a stop sign on the southeast corner of Broadway.
As I did not notice a crosswalk on upper Main Street, a stop sign there would not be necessary, allowing a free flow of traffic across the intersection and on into the town proper.
The stop sign I've suggested interferes with nothing, but would offer protection for those pedestrians using the crosswalk on Broadway, lower Main Street and Railroad Avenue. It also permits a free flow of turning traffic regardless of direction.
Why must all solutions posited have to be involved and costly? It cost me one hour of a visibility study, and the cost of one stop sign is minimal, with no long-term feasibility study necessary.
The town Department of Public Works could have the perceived problem corrected in less than an hour, without any traffic disruption.
GERALD MAHIEU
Langsford Street, Gloucester
