Relocation of Gov. Francis Farms mail box has some residents going in circles

Posted 11/10/15

Not all that long ago, and for as long as residents could remember, motorists making the circle on Namquid Drive in Gov. Francis Farms could post their letters without leaving their cars. It was easy …

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Relocation of Gov. Francis Farms mail box has some residents going in circles

Posted

Not all that long ago, and for as long as residents could remember, motorists making the circle on Namquid Drive in Gov. Francis Farms could post their letters without leaving their cars. It was easy and especially convenient during inclement weather.

That changed last week when the box was moved to the right side of the circle and turned around so people then had to get out of their cars to post their letters. The calls started coming in to the Post Office and the Beacon. It was argued this was a recipe for an accident.

Warwick Postmaster Brian Holt said the box was moved at the request of Warwick Police, but he also agreed that being on the rotary could be problematic. The box was moved again – this time to Spring Green Road, not far from the rotary. It is positioned so that motorists must park to use it.

James Monroe was one of several who called the Beacon. A retired highway construction supervisor who worked on building the Airport Connector among other projects, Munroe found placement of the box an inconvenience and questioned why police replaced stop signs at the rotary with yield signs. He said the yield signs are as good as no signs to young motorists and said, rather than improving safety conditions, they have been worsened.

Lt. Michael Gilbert of the Warwick Police Department said yesterday a traffic survey of the rotary was done several weeks ago in response to complaints that traffic was coming to a stop in the rotary as people posted letters. On the basis of the survey, the department requested the location of the box. When related to the side of the rotary, the department asked that it be moved for a second time. As for the yield signs, Gilbert said they are usually used on entering a rotary and to indicate traffic in the rotary has the right of way.

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  • gwsjr75

    So a mailbox is located in a convenient spot for at least 40 (?) years, or my entire memory. Then someone complains that traffic is coming to a stop while people mail letters (on a 25mph road mind you, deep in a residential neighborhood that has often had speeding problems and never "traffic" problems). Then the police do a "traffic survey" and, presumably with no involvement of the neighborhood association or the city councilman (?), direct the movement of the mailbox from its half-century or more location to a new spot? How about the mailboxes along Post Road in Apponaug, very close to police headquarters, where people are whizzing by at 40mph or more as other cars pull in and out to deposit mail without getting out of their cars? So peculiar that WPD would do this. As an aside, there was near uproar in the late 80s or early 90s when WPD insisted that stop signs be placed at the Namquid (but not the Algonquin) rotary, without neighborhood input. Now I guess they are changing their mind, again without neighborhood input. My grandfather, who hated the stop signs when they were put in because he liked to speed through the neighborhood, would feel vindicated now, were he still alive.

    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 Report this