By Benjamin Witte

Somerville has the dubious distinction of being home to the state‚as  most dangerous intersection, according to a Massachusetts Highway Dept. (MassHighway) report made public earlier this year.

     MassHighway ranked the multi-artery intersection where Fellsway meets Mystic Avenue number one out of 1,000 accident-prone hotspots statewide. The document, entitled ‚ÄúTop 1,000 High Crash Locations Report 1999 ‚Äì 2001,‚Äù revealed that during the three-year time period covered in the study, 544 reported accidents occurred at the Somerville intersection, which is located just north of Foss Park. Of those, 215 crashes involved injuries to passengers and/or drivers. Only one crash proved fatal.
     While the report is clearly dated ‚Äì MassHighway has yet to fully analyze data for the years 2002 to 2005 ‚Äì people who live and work in the area around the infamous intersection aren‚Äôt surprised by its top ranking. Nor, they say, has traffic safety in the Mystic Avenue-Fellsway tangle improved of late.
     ‚ÄúThere‚Äôs always an accident, especially when it rains,‚Äù an employee with Electro Sales, located less than a block from the dangerous intersection, told the Somerville News. ‚ÄúWe always see someone getting banged over there.‚Äù
     Another Electro Sales employee said he hears the accidents from his office. ‚ÄúI haven‚Äôt heard it recently,‚Äù said the man, ‚Äúbut some parts of the year, I hear accidents on an average of three times a week. Many times from people making an illegal turn. I‚Äôm just surmising. Sometimes two or three times in a day. I‚Äôd surmise some aren‚Äôt even reported.‚Äù
     Chief Kevin Kelleher of the City of Somerville Fire Dept. isn‚Äôt surprised either that the Somerville intersection was recognized as the state‚Äôs worst. The Fire Dept., conveniently located just blocks away, has responded to countless accidents there over the years. Other times Kelleher has witnessed first-hand.
    ‚ÄúI think a lot of people get very confused when they get to the stoplight there, and the lights almost blend in with the highway background,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúAlso they make a mistake, I think, with the retaining wall that forms the top of the tunnel. They have no idea that there‚Äôs crossing traffic. They go right through the intersection at high speed.‚Äù
“When they fix the guard rail,” he added, “I doubt it lasts more than a week.”
    So what‚Äôs being done to solve the problem? Not much, according to Kelleher. A few years ago, ‚Äúthey might have changed the type of lamp in the stoplights,‚Äù he said. But otherwise, and despite public awareness of the danger, nothing has been done. ‚ÄúI‚Äôm very surprised that there are no plans to even change the lighting or signage over there to make it safer,‚Äù said the fire chief.
    A big part of the problem is that the intersection falls under state, rather than local jurisdiction. City Hall, said spokesperson Tom Champion, is well aware of the MassHighway report. ‚ÄúWe‚Äôve seen it and indeed we have been aware that this is a problem,‚Äù he said. But, City Hall can only raise the issue ‚Äì suggest that something be done. Ultimately it‚Äôs the state that holds the purse strings and the authority to fix the intersection.
   ‚ÄúIn terms of regional transportation planning, this is certainly an issue we can raise. There are a larger set of roadway planning issues to which this should be added,‚Äù said Champion. ‚ÄúBut,‚Äù he added, ‚Äúbecause it is a state intersection, we cant‚Äô address it directly.‚Äù
   Ranked second on the MassHighway list, just below Fellsway-Mystic Avenue intersection, is the Drum Hill Rotary in Chelmsford, where 541 accidents (none fatal) were reported between 1999 and 2001. Thirteen other Somerville intersections made the Top 1,000 High Crash Locations Report. The area where the McGrath Highway meets Washington St. (222 accidents) ranked 41st on the list. At the number 116 spot is the intersection of the McGrath Highway with Broadway (116 accidents). The Somerville Avenue and Washington Street intersection came in 323rd.
    While very few of the Somerville crashes cited in the report were fatal, in Massachusetts as a whole, according to MassHighway, the number of fatal crashes has increased steadily since 1998, 2001 being an exception. Compared to 1998, fatal crashes in 2004 were up 18 percent.