Wrentham Police Chief Wants To Change Route 1 For Safety Purposes
WRENTHAM (CBS) -- For years, Route 1 through Wrentham was pretty desolate. Recently, there's been a building boom on the road, and with it, traffic.
According to the Wrentham Police Chief, you make a left at your own risk and the road is downright dangerous. "And it's always been a problem, turning left," said Wrentham Chief Bill McGrath. "Before the rapid advance in development that we are seeing now, we've had fatal accidents, we've had serious accidents, and a great deal of them from making left-hand turns."
Most recently, on Sunday night, police said several people, including a six-year-old girl, were injured in a "head on/angle crash" on Route 1.
From Chief Bill McGrath: RT 1 CRASH on SUNDAY Head on/angle crash on Rt. 1 last night at the intersection of Hawes...
Posted by Wrentham Police Department on Monday, August 5, 2019
So McGrath wants to "get ahead of the curve" before traffic gets worse. He is asking the state to make Route 1 a divided road with barriers that only allow left turns in dedicated lanes at stoplights.
But some business owners only favor dedicated turn lanes because they think the barriers would hurt business.
"Safety is the utmost importance but I think people see the building, they're coming down, and they might see the building and say 'hey, look Vespa let's pop in and take a look.' but they're scared to stop on the road because of the way the traffic is," said Steve Roche, who owns Stadium Vespa on Route 1.
It will be up to MassDOT to make any changes.