Wednesday, Oct. 24, was a red-letter day. I made it through all three sets of traffic lights drivers need to pass to get to Boxborough, Acton, and points east on Route 111. Those three lights are like the three-headed hellhound, Cerberus, who kept the dead from leaving Hades and prevented the living from entering.
Heading east, the first head is the traffic light at the Cisco intersection, timed to stop Mass. Ave. traffic as soon as a car from Cisco approaches the intersection. That’s reasonable, of course, because the lights were installed for Cisco when it built its New England headquarters on Sampson Road in Boxborough.
The second head stops the eastbound traveler immediately when cars exiting Interstate 495 want to turn left onto Mass. Ave. That’s reasonable because those drivers have been driving 65 to 80 mph, and can’t possibly wait at a stop light for the same amount of time the Mass. Ave. drivers will have to wait after their light has turned red.
The third head keeps the Mass. Ave. crowd from turning left onto the entrance ramp to I-495 north, the exiting I-495 driver from being able to turn left onto Mass. Ave., and westbound cars from continuing along the road if either of the other two situations exists. And that’s reasonable because state officials know that Massachusetts drivers can’t be trusted to make safe left turns or have the patience to wait for a break in traffic before crossing from one road to another.
Who knows if Harvard is Hades, or outside Harvard is Hades, but those Cerberus traffic lights do a good job of preventing anyone from getting anywhere easily. (I didn’t make it through all three lights on the way home.)
Speaking of traffic control, the four-way stop signs in town center are great. Ayer Road-Mass. Ave traffic doesn’t breeze through town center and past the schools at 30 mph, but still has a chance of getting through town because Still River Road traffic now has to stop, too. One unintended consequence is that many drivers now make eye contact with other drivers. Another is that some drivers make friendly hand gestures to clear up any confusion about whose turn it is to cross the intersection. Pedestrians also have a chance to cross without fear of being run over.
Speaking of pedestrians, there are some wonderful areas of town for the driver who likes to live on the edge and miss pedestrians by mere inches. My favorite is Littleton Road as it approaches the stop sign at Fairbank Street and town center. The speed limit is 45 mph into a blind curve about 100 yards from the stop sign. Fifty yards from the stop sign, the speed limit drops to 20 mph. Several homes and a small condo stand between the curve and the stop sign. Those edge-living drivers can almost take that curve on two wheels before they have to slow down. But the residents in the neighborhood better stay off the streets. Sometimes we’re protected; sometimes we’re not.
Nineteen-year resident Laura Andrews is a former editor of The Harvard Post, The Bolton Common, and The Harvard Press.