It’s a little past 5 p.m. on a rainy weekday in November. The sun has long since settled below the horizon, and passing headlights reflected off wet pavement add a film noir feel to East Concord. Conditions are not ideal for the evening commute, but for the work-weary driver there is peace – if not bliss – along this well-traveled rural route. Somewhere out in the darkness, home beckons – but not so fast. Chaos beckons, too.
The sliver of unordered universe that is the intersection of Mountain Road, East Side Drive, Shawmut Street and the Exit 16 off-ramp rises up quickly and malignantly. This is the land of white knuckles, fender-benders and close shaves – especially on a rainy night in November. Here, safe passage for the through-driver requires skill, alertness and peripheral awareness, yes, but plenty of good fortune, too. One by one, drivers longing to turn left crack under the weight of waiting and decide, in a fit of impulsivity, to create their own luck. The through-driver fears that mentality but knows it well, for he too has been a left-turner and will be again.
And so the traffic dance begins. The through-driver, fully expecting to be cut off by someone from somewhere, casts a wary glance at a left-signaling vehicle awash in dark rain and artificial light. The sinister left-turner, his patience shredded, realizes intuitively that hesitation is the real enemy now. When he decides to go, he must go – and let fate render its verdict.
For a brief, crucial moment, the through-driver and his momentary nemesis are of a single mind: If you’re going to do it, do it now.
Now!
The left-turner presses the gas pedal with everything he’s got – he would push it through the floor board if he could. The through-driver, who for a few tense seconds has had his foot lingering just an inch or two above the brake pedal, presses down just enough to give the left-turner a chance to clear the lane unscathed but not so much as to imperil the rear flank via fender-bender. It will be close. Very close.
It’s not until the through-driver begins to climb East Side Drive that he releases his breath and allows his hands to soften on the wheel. Peace will not come again for miles if it comes at all, but that’s the toll you pay at the Exit 16 intersection on a rainy night in November.
Okay, so maybe we’re being a little dramatic with the set-up, but we couldn’t be happier that after 16 years of debate this particular intersection will soon be a roundabout.
As the Monitor’s David Brooks reported on Wednesday, the $1.28 million project should take about 12 weeks to complete and be ready by the middle of next year.
“In the right location,” Brooks wrote, “roundabouts can provide better traffic flow than intersections, since vehicles don’t need to halt for stop signs or traffic lights, and can lead to fewer accidents because vehicles are not traveling at right angles.”
The roundabout may take a little excitement out of the commute for some of us, but there are plenty of hair-raising adventures to be had on other helter-skelter roads that lead home.