MANCHESTER — The look of Barnumville Road may change in the months ahead.
During the discussion about the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) at the Select Board's last meeting on Oct. 14, Manchester Town Manager John O'Keefe discussed the possibility of closing off the section of the road near the sharp corner on Route 7A and instead having the access point be further down the road where motorists would have to take a 90 degree turn.
"There's too many points of access into Barnumville and having one point of access would make more sense," said O'Keefe.
The town has gotten a number of complaints from residents that the speed of cars coming onto Barnumville Road is too fast, O'Keefe said.
The town will be considering the possibility next fiscal year — sometime after July 1, 2010 — and O'Keefe said if they were to pursue it the process would not be that complicated.
"It's not a tremendous amount of work. There's some paving involved. Some drainage, some tearing out of the old pavement and landscaping and signage," he said.
O'Keefe continued to say there was a possibility that the town could get a $15,000 grant from the state. The cost of the project is expected to be about $50,000, O'Keefe said.
Earlier this year the intersection was designated as the worst intersection in Bennington County by the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) and was placed at the top of the list for
O'Keefe said the road was ranked number nine on the safety improvements list last year, but rose because of the increased number of accidents at that location, according to previous reports.
The possibility of creating an e-commerce system at the parks and recreation department also came up during the CIP discussion.
O'Keefe said that residents have complained about the inability to pay for programs — both online and at the parks and rec department — either by credit or debit card.
"This is something people have been asking for for quite some time. It's certainly not a cutting edge idea," said O'Keefe. "I think it's a huge flaw in the system that we allow you to register online, but we don't allow you to pay online."
The parks and recreation department's Web page will be updated to allow credit and debit card payments to be made online and the parks and rec department will obtain the necessary equipment to allow such payments to be made at the park, O'Keefe said.
Even though there is a small fee associated with the use of a credit or debit card, O'Keefe said he believes providing the additional payment options will increase participation.
Further detailed discussion on the CIP will take place at the next select board meeting which begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 27. However, there will not be any formal votes, O'Keefe said.
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