Residents are complaining about the increased traffic on Eastline Road in the towns of Ballston and Malta, due to the construction of the roundabouts off of Exit 12 of the Northway.
Ballston Lake resident Jack Henry, in a letter to the town board, said Eastline Road is becoming increasingly dangerous as a result of motorists trying to avoid the newly constructed roundabouts on Route 67.
As a result of the traffic change, safety and the quality of life from noise has affected all of us, said Henry, speaking on behalf of his neighbors. `At a minimum, the new circles at Exit 12 create such congestion that the logical choice is to avoid them and use Eastline Road.`
Henry said this has led to increased truck traffic, such as fuel tankers and loaded dump-trucks. Linda Lambert, another Eastline Road resident, said she hasn’t noticed an increase in truck traffic, but has definitely noticed more commuter traffic.
`Now, what we used to get in a day, we get in an hour,` she said.
Henry proposes several short- and long-term solutions. For the time being, he said, local law enforcement should strictly enforce the 55 mile-per-hour speed limit on Eastline Road and ticket heavy or loaded vehicles if they are traveling in excess of a `safe speed.`
For the long term, Henry said he would like to see the road’s speed limit decreased to 45 miles per hour, and prohibit all truck traffic on the road, except for local deliveries. He would also like to see a traffic light installed at the intersection of Eastline and Round Lake roads, he said.
Ballston Supervisor Ray Callanan said the town will pass a resolution at its next meeting to forward Henry’s letter to Saratoga County for their disposition. Regardless of the outcome, Callanan said he didn’t expect a study to be performed on Eastline Road or the roundabouts until construction of the roundabouts was complete.
Henry made similar statements to the Malta town board the night before. The board agreed to pass a resolution at their next meeting requesting the state Department of Transportation lower the speed limit on Eastline Road and perform a study to see if other traffic improvements are needed.
Ballston councilman Carlton Potts said the roundabouts were scaled down in size to control traffic speed, but as a result, he wonders if the smaller roundabouts aren’t going to cause problems for larger vehicles.
`I saw two campers coming down Route 67 the other day, with cars in tow,` he said. `I was tempted to follow them through the roundabouts to see how they made out.`
Potts said he didn’t know of any traffic incidents on the new roundabouts, but Callanan said he knew of one.
`Just me, the first night I drove on them,` he said, laughing. `I drove right over the middle of the first one.`
In other news, Callanan reported the town will not see increases in the highway and general budgets this year.“