Residents’ petition on Main Street safety prompts referral to Highway Advisory Committee, sitewalk scheduled

Plaistow’s Planning Board on June 3 heard from members who said a community petition of about 60 signatures describes worsening safety on Main Street, North A and nearby intersections and asked that the matter be routed to the town’s Highway Advisory/Highway & Safety committee for review.

Planning administrator Shay Maker said the board’s role is to collect concerns and forward them to the body with authority over roadway changes, and the selectmen’s representative agreed to convene the highway group so petitioners could present their concerns. Board members suggested measures the committee might study, including additional stop signs, restrictions on left turns at key intersections, and traffic counts to document heavy-truck movements.

A board member summarized the petition as reflecting serious local concern: “That petition spoke volumes with those 60 signatures,” and urged officials to give the petitioners a forum rather than referring them to an abstract website. Members agreed to notify petitioners and to publicize any highway-advisory meeting so other residents with similar concerns can attend and submit anecdotes or surveys.

The board recommended that staff and the selectmen’s representative gather traffic data and bring it to the highway committee; any formal roadway changes would be the purview of the selectmen or the highway authority. The board also discussed scheduling a public hearing or dedicated forum within the master-plan or transportation work stream to collect resident testimony and survey data for the advisory committee to consider.

Next steps: the board will notify petitioners of the referral, the highway advisory committee will be asked to convene and accept public input, and staff will seek traffic data to inform possible remedies.