CAN WE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!
Locals and Visitors -- please note that the traffic pattern around Monument Square has been altered. New signage has been added which you need to pay attention to. In one location, drivers now have to yield where they previously had the right of way, and in another location the opposite is true.
Those of us who travel through Monument Square frequently know that there's one intersection that is a mite tricky. Visitors who don't know any better (and we get 1 million of them annually, so this is no small matter) will blow right through there without a fare-thee-well despite conspicuous "Yield" signs facing in their direction.
This is because the rotary around Monument Square is really TWO rotaries, not one -- one around the flagpole, and the other around the rest of the square. Two rotaries kissing one another... joined at the hip... intimately entwined -- all of which sounds much nicer than it actually is.
Because what it is is downright confusing and dangerous. While drivers already in a rotary normally have the right of way, where the two rotaries intersect SOMEONE is going to have to yield the right-of-way or it's going to get messy. It used to be that drivers continuing around the flagpole to go straight onto Main Street used to yield to cars going toward Lexington Road. However, as of this past Monday this has been switched and is now the opposite: drivers traveling past Monument Hall toward Lexington Street now have to yield to cars going straight onto Main Street as they travel around the flag pole.
Got that, right? Sure you do.
There's all kinds of new signage pointing out the ins and outs around that rotary. We are amused to see signs that say "Round About" everywhere. "Round About"? When did we start using that terminology in Massachusetts? "Rotary" is what we say, and if it confuses others, so be it: it's full of local character. But there we are: we have a "Round About" now. We have been traveling and thinking about this traffic problem for many, many years. Of course, others have, too, especially the Concord Police, who have made this change on a trial basis in order to increase public safety. We've all seen near and full-on accidents at that intersection. Trying to do SOMETHING to increase safety in Monument Square makes a lot of sense. But will switching the right of way there achieve the goal? Or is it just transferring the confusion and danger to an equally confusing and dangerous configuration? No matter who yields to whom, all the yielders will feel that it's irregular and unexpected to do so. It will never feel natural to drivers who are used to navigating rotaries.. uh, er... round abouts.
We think -- though we could be wrong -- that the only way to eliminate the problem is to break the embrace between the two rotaries... to make it all ONE rotary, instead of two round abouts that intersect. Why not close off the street that passes between the two rotaries, going between the flagpole and the square? Make everyone go around the entire rotary instead of some folks -- the actual cause of the trouble in this scenario -- cutting through at the point of the "kiss". Sure, it would be a pain in the butt, but at least it would make the traffic pattern unequivocal and clear: there would be no spot where healthy rotary behavior would not be appropriate.
Nonetheless, we wish the best for the outcome of this trial. It's not a bad idea to make us all pay a lot more attention as we travel through Monument Square... just make sure you're reading the signs and taking extra care as you motor on through.
Map: Courtesy Google Map Search. Photo: Courtesy Clipart.com.
