Riverside Residents Want End to Plaza ‘Cut Through’

Haverhill City Council President John A. Michitson.

Haverhill City Council President John A. Michitson.

Haverhill Planning and Economic Development Director William Pillsbury Jr.

Haverhill Planning and Economic Development Director William Pillsbury Jr.

Several Riverside residents are seeking help from Haverhill city councilors to make traffic one-way near River’s Edge Plaza. They say a side street used by motorists is being used as a “cut through for traffic” to and from the shopping center.

Fifteen residents of Burnham Street have signed petitions to the council and Planning Director William Pillsbury Jr. to request the street connecting Lincoln Avenue to Groveland Street become one-way to motorists heading toward Lincoln Avenue. They also seek narrowing of the street’s Lincoln Avenue intersection. According to petitions included with council agenda materials, residents are also “concerned about the added traffic coming onto Burnham Street due to the construction of a fast food chain, Burger King.”

“Burnham Street is already a cut through for traffic coming and going from the (Riverside) plaza with cars speeding in from Lincoln Avenue. The entrance is so wide no one has to come to a complete stop to make the turn,” wrote Luanne Little, 15 Burnham St., to Pillsbury. “We also feel that some of the trash being dumped on our street might be reduced if it could become a one way.”

Council President John A. Michitson placed an agenda item to allow the petitions to be submitted during tonight’s meeting.

Police Station to Receive Window Replacements

Also on the agenda, a request by Mayor James J. Fiorentinti to transfer $37,500 from the city’s “Free Cash” account to a police department capital account for “design and engineering services related to window replacement at the police station from water damage.” The money is to fund work by contractor Gale Associates, Weymouth, for “partial window replacement and masonry repairs.”

The Haverhill City Council meets at 7 p.m., tonight, in Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers at Haverhill City Hall.