Holyoke doesn’t need Walmart store Everyone who drives south along Northampton Street and continues along Whiting Farms Road towards the Holyoke Mall is well aware that the traffic becomes bumper-to-bumper several times per day, and especially heavily so during the holiday seasons. Edging along in line in either direction as you wait for lights to change at either end of Whiting Farms Road is not merely frustrating, but most importantly, it is consuming precious time and fuel and spewing carbon. Traffic studies have shown that when a major business venture, such as Walmart, were to be located in the center of this traffic pattern, the traffic flow would be expected to more than double. Can you picture the horrendous effect on the ability of emergency vehicles to get through this line-up of cars and trucks on this two-lane road? Even with regulated traffic light changes at all intersections along Whiting Farms Road, first responder emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks, will be perilously delayed. Allowing the building of another heavy traffic business to come into the area of a two-lane road has to be seen as ridiculous planning, and it cannot be corrected if it occurs. Expansion of lanes at intersections and usage of traffic lights cannot move cars and trucks away from needed emergency traffic travel. Whiting Farms Road is not a four-lane road. It cannot be effectively used as such without creating horrendous traffic tie-ups. This will not be a traffic inconvenience, it will be a traffic hazard! It is terrifying to think that the city planners may be considering a business such as Walmart to come into the city. There are numerous existing retail businesses that are already providing the same low prices that Walmart does. The low-paying jobs that would be available at Walmart would be readily filled by those already working persons that will be laid off when such businesses as K-Mart, Ocean Sate, the Dollar Stores, and the smaller hardware stores are pressured out of existence. Walmart stores are available within a few minutes of travel on all sides of Holyoke. As a lifelong resident of Holyoke, I find it tremendously disappointing to see city planners considering this socially irresponsible business to come into Holyoke, and especially to have it located such as to effect a traffic-impediment safety hazard. – ANTONIO FERREIRA, Holyoke
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 18:30:55 +0000
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