New Bedford council committee to consider closing two Hathaway Road safety requests

NEW BEDFORD A New Bedford City Council committee will be asked Tuesday night to close two requests for safety work on Hathaway Road that have sat in committee for years: a 2018 call for a traffic study at the Route 140 North exit and a 2023 call for a meeting on stoplights, crosswalks or other ways to slow drivers on the road.

The chair of the Committee on Public Safety and Neighborhoods suggests the committee waive the reading of both motions, vote to take "No Further Action" on them and send that report to the full City Council, which would end the committee's work on both requests. The committee meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, in the Council Chambers, Room 214, at City Hall, 133 William St.

What the requests asked

The older motion, from Councilors Gomes and Dunn, was referred July 19, 2018. It asked the city and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to "immediately conduct a traffic study" at the exit, which it said "has become a real challenge and unsafe to motorists exiting onto Hathaway Road going east and west," with "nonstop traffic making it a challenge to enter and exit onto Route 140 North."

It also asked MassDOT to keep the grass cut at every highway exit in the city, saying "tall grass obstructs the vision of motorists entering and exiting highway exits, including said Hathaway Road exit." The motion was to go to the city, MassDOT, the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD), the committee and state Rep. William M. Straus, whom it names as chair of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation.

The second motion reached the full council Oct. 26, 2023, from Councilors Oliver and Gomes. It asks that the city administration, state Rep. Antonio Cabral, the Traffic Commission, the Department of Public Infrastructure, MassDOT and SRPEDD be invited to a committee meeting "to discuss the feasibility of stoplight(s), crosswalks and/or other safety measures in order to reduce speeding on Hathaway Road." Later agendas list five more sponsors: Councilors Abreu, Carney, Markey, Giesta and Lima.

The same Oct. 26, 2023, council agenda carried a related motion from Gomes and Oliver, filed on behalf of parents and faculty at Nazarene Christian Academy, 764 Hathaway Road. It asked the Traffic Commission and the city to put up solar-powered school zone signs a quarter mile east and west of the school, set at 20 mph from 7 to 9 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m., and asked for police radar patrols there and a letter seeking the Dartmouth Police Department's help slowing traffic near the school. That motion is not on Tuesday's agenda.

How the requests got here

Both Hathaway Road motions were on the committee's March 19, 2024, agenda. Invited for the traffic study item were Straus and representatives of MassDOT, the mayor's office and SRPEDD; invited for the speeding item were Cabral, Public Infrastructure Commissioner Jamie Ponte, parking clerk Laurie A. Alfonso and representatives of MassDOT, the mayor's office and SRPEDD.

That night the committee voted to send a letter to Cabral, Straus, MassDOT and SRPEDD "requesting that in the future, they notify the Committee if they are unable to attend a meeting," and tabled both motions. The history listed with each motion on Tuesday's agenda shows no action since.

Elsewhere on Hathaway Road

On Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 21, a car pulled out of a hotel parking lot on Hathaway Road and into the path of a school bus carrying 15 children, New Bedford police said. The children were taken to the hospital for evaluation as a precaution, no serious injuries were reported, and the driver was charged with operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation and failure to yield, police said. The charges are accusations, and the driver is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Read the story on that crash.

Other items on the agenda

The chair makes the same "No Further Action" suggestion for a 2022 motion by Gomes to amend the city's home rule petition on special police officers so that retired officers could be appointed until age 70, which the motion says would let officers older than 65 work detail assignments in the city. Referred Aug. 18, 2022, it came back unsigned by the mayor Sept. 6, 2022, and has been tabled or kept on the table eight times since, most recently March 9, 2026.

The committee is also set to take up two motions on the Police Department's Flock Safety license plate cameras, both tabled Sept. 9. One, from Gomes, seeks a meeting with Police Chief Jason Thody, the mayor's office and Flock Safety on the cameras' policies. The other, from Councilors Burgo, Lopes and Abreu, seeks a review of the city's surveillance technology, how its data is kept and shared, and whether more local rules are needed.

Two motions from Councilor Pemberton ask Thody and Ponte to explain why no cameras were working near Ashley Boulevard and Tallman Street on March 8, when about 10 shots were reported, and ask health and inspection officials what can be done about old vehicles and debris on a Conduit Street lot at the bottom of Shaw Street. The chair recommends moving two other motions, on the sewage treatment plant and on public trash barrels, to the Committee on Appointments and Briefings.

What happens next

If the committee follows the chair's suggestion, its report goes to the full City Council, which is scheduled to meet Nov. 12 and Nov. 24 at 7 p.m.

Tuesday's meeting will be live streamed and recorded; council and committee meetings can be watched from the city's home page under Quick Links, then Meetings. Anyone who needs an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act should call the City Council Office at 508-979-1455 at least 48 hours ahead.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.