A Path Forward For Tubman Road Speed Issues

 BREWSTER – The stretch of Tubman Road between Route 137 and Route 124 may be only half a mile long, but the complaints go on for miles.

Residents who live along Tubman Road have long been urging the town to look into reducing speed limits that range from 25 miles per hour at either end and 35 mph in the middle. After connecting with the Cape Cod Commission and conducting some of his own research, town engineer Griffin Ryder presented his findings to the select board Monday night. 

His inquiries stemmed from a flurry of resident complaints that requested the speed limit be lowered to 25 mph on the entire length. 

 The road has been formally classified as a rural minor collector road, according to a memorandum developed by Ryder. This means the road is used to connect neighborhoods to arterial roads, in this case Route 137 to Route 6A. 

In 1967, the state’s department of public works (now MassDOT) conducted an engineering speed study and a subsequent special speed regulation that established regulatory speed limits along the road between 25 and 35 mph. Regulatory speed limits are speed limits that have a special speed regulation, have been established in accordance with the state’s laws and are posted along the roadway. 

The stretch itself is unique in that it has two different intersections at either end. Heading west toward Route 124, the intersection is a classic T-shape where motorists on the main arterial road do not stop. The intersection at the east end of Tubman Road, where it connects to Route 137, is a Y-shape, meaning it is easier for cars to slip into oncoming traffic at higher speeds. 

Ryder noted that drivers from Route 137 entering Tubman Road are not met with a speed limit sign until they are about 400 feet onto the road. This means that many cars are entering at around 40 mph, the speed limit on Route 137.

“I have the same observations that Griffin points out,” said Police Chief Heath Eldredge. “People don’t have to come to a stop and most don’t as long as traffic is clear, to make that entry onto Tubman from 137.”  

Around four or five years ago, the town realized a 30 mph speed limit sign had been posted on the road, which was not in line with the state’s special speed regulation and thus not enforceable. It was removed shortly thereafter. 

“I think some folks recognized that and said, ‘Wait a minute, are you raising the speed limit?’” said Ryder. “That was never the intention of that. We needed to make sure that we met the special speed regulation, which is essentially the law.” 

In 2023, the state passed the “Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities,” which allows speed limits to be set without defaulting to the 85th percentile. Speed limits are usually controlled by speed engineering studies where the 85th percentile represents the speed at or below which 85 percent of drivers travel. The law also allows for a reduction in speed limits in thickly settled or business zones to 25 mph without further state approval. 

Massachusetts law also defined a set of statutory speed limit specifications that are only applicable in the absence of special speed regulations. In Ryder’s research, he found that the characteristics of Tubman Road would qualify it for a 40 mph speed limit, which would be enforceable by tracking only. This means police officers would have to follow a car for about an eighth or quarter of a mile before they can pull them over. This becomes challenging on a road that is only about a half mile long. 

In response to the updated speed laws, the Cape Cod Commission established a draft safe speeds resource guide. Ryder said this helped to define the options available for any changes on Tubman Road. 

In preparing a list of options, Ryder first looked at rescinding the 1967 speed study. He said this would default to the statutory speed limit, which would result in an increase from the current limits. Thus, this was off the table. 

He further said that there was an option to define an area on Tubman Road as thickly settled, which would automatically lower the speed limit to 30 mph based on the statutory speed limit specifications. Thickly settled areas are defined by a quarter mile where dwellings are an average of 200 feet or less apart. The Cape Cod Commission agreed to look into the area and see if there was a section that met the qualifications. While Ryder said this is still an option, it would result in the tracking speed enforcement method, which would be harder to accomplish on such a short stretch. 

The third option would be to conduct a new engineering speed study to redefine the 85th percentile speed. In helping Ryder prepare the options, the Cape Cod Commission conducted some preliminary speed testing and found that the 85th percentile speeds were around 38 to 39 mph in the current 35 mph zone. MassDOT allows towns to determine a speed within a seven-mph window. With the current information, the speed limit would still be above the 30 mph mark. 

With those options in mind, Ryder said, from an engineering standpoint, the other opportunities would be geometric revisions of the roadway. Short-term solutions could include additional and updated striping along the road. Adding fog lines on the edges of the lanes would hopefully encourage drivers to go slower along the stretch. Every year the town sweeps and restripes roads before Memorial Day, so Ryder said this would be an easy add-on to the schedule. 

He also suggested a long-term solution would be updating the intersection at Route 137 to be a T-shape instead of a Y-shape. This would force motorists to slow down before entering Tubman Road. 

After the full presentation, the select board agreed that striping the road for now would be the best solution in the short term. 

Ryder said once the stripes are added, a speed test could be conducted to see if the 85th percentile number had gone down. Even a two to three mph decrease would allow the town to appeal to MassDOT for a 30 mph limit, decreasing the current middle area by 5 mph. 

“It’s so much more complicated than you would imagine,” said Pete Dahl, select board member. “You would think that the town itself can just regulate town roads, and you can’t. You would think that the police would be able to use their instantaneous reading to enforce the traffic rules, but they can’t.”