GCASA should consider different site for residence rather than accident-prone Butts Road
Editor:
From my previous written article about GCASA putting the entrance of the recovery center to Route 31 instead of Butts Road in Albion, I admit to being wrong that this could happen. I was informed about the state not wanting more driveways on main highways.
So I am writing this to say that GCASA’s 25-bed women’s recovery center be relocated to a completely different location in Albion. Due to the Town Planning Board and GCASA making a recommendation that their vendors, supply trucks, residential trucks and employees use Butts Road from Route 31, there would be more high traffic that comes up and down this road. The construction of the site will also add to the demands on the road.
The recommendation to use Butts from Route 31 will only increase the risk for a serious to fatal accident to occur, either due to people hitting the underpass, or misjudging the size of their vehicle and having to turn around in residential driveways or turning around in the proposed center’s driveway. It risks an accident with vehicles coming and going from it. Too many people also treat Butts Road/Crandall Road as their own personal drag strip.
Me, my fiancé and my mother have lived on this road roughly five years now. Our neighbor across have lived here a lot longer than us and has seen many more years of craziness that involves the underpass with people hitting it. Or misjudging their vehicle size and not being able to go under it.
To go back what I said about people treating it as a drag strip, this road has a 40 MPH speed zone on it. The majority of the vehicles – cars, motorcycles, trucks, dirt bikes and even snowmobiles – don’t obey it. There have been multiple motorcycles/dirt bikes that fly up and down this road at well over 80 MPH and it makes it hard to get a description to call to make a report.
Since the public hearing on Aug. 5 about the proposed center, we have had multiple turn-a-rounds due to the misjudgment of people with the underpass. On Aug. 27, three different times that day vehicles came north to the underpass and tried to go underneath. They had to turn around. They either turned around in our driveway, our neighbor’s across the street or in front of the proposed entrance to this center or even as far back as Saint Gobain’s employee entrance.
Then yesterday at 7 p..m we were almost involved in an accident with a motorcycle treating Butts Road as his own personal speed strip. We were trying to make a left turn into our driveway with children in the car he almost hit us from behind and then passed us on the right and took off at speeds close to 100 MPH. There was no way to make a report or call the police due to him flying at those kind of speeds.
Today at 7 am a U-Haul truck was driving south going under the underpass and got wedged underneath in it and was stuck. The underpass was shut down for almost an hour and again our driveway, our neighbor’s across the street and even where the proposed center’s entrance would be were all used as turnaround for multiple vehicles.
This part of Butts Road, with an already high traffic flow, doesn’t make sense to add more. You’re asking for a higher chance of a serious to fatal accident to occur or happen.
My recommendation is that other locations in Albion be looked at for this proposed center. One example is Clover Hill, which is currently vacant. It offers more bed space and is closer to the village and what the village offers. Residents could walk to doctor’s appointments, dentist appointments, grocery stores or parks if they chose not to use transportation.
I’ve said time and time again I’m all for this center. It’s a need to help fight addiction. But I think the time and effort to find a safe and secure location to help people fighting addiction was not taken into consideration when this part of road was considered.
Aaron Vosburgh
Albion
