Hampton Board: reduce speeds on Route 18

By Joshua Bassett

After multiple complaints and a few accidents, the town of Hampton has again asked the state to lower the speed limit on county Route 18, in part because the road is used by Amish driving horses and carriages.

The road from the Whitehall-Hampton town line to State Route 22A is currently posted at 55 MPH and the board wants that speed lowered to 40 MPH.

A request written by supervisor Dave O’Brien and approved by the board says that the community “has seen an influx of Amish people and they travel this road frequently.”

O’Brien said the Amish started moving into the area about a year and a half ago and that a request to lower the speed limit has not been done since then. He said this is the third time the town has tried to have the speed reduced.
The Amish introduce a new challenge,” O’Brien said. “I hope they take it under consideration.”

“Due to the contour of the road it is hard to see slow-moving horses and carriages when approaching or coming up behind them,” the request says, “and there have been several close calls with cars and trucks not being able to see the slow-moving horse and carriages.”

The request adds that there are parts of the road without proper space for vehicles to pull over and there are multiple intersections with tractors with farm equipment and vehicles turning onto and off the road.

“Fortunately to this point, we haven’t had any serious problems,” O’Brien said.

One resident questioned their concern if Hampton were to lower the speed limit and Whitehall did not. O’Brien said that he will speak to the Whitehall town supervisor about lowering the speed limit.

O’Brien said the state would do a study and decide whether to lower the speed limit.

The board and audience also jokingly questioned why they keep fixing the road.

“If they left all the frost heaves in there, they wouldn’t be going 40 (MPH),”said board member Tamme Taran, which was met with laughs.

Apologizes to board

Herb Sady, the town’s highway superintendent, apologized to the board for not following town policy and getting three quotes for work on a town vehicle.

Sady spent $1,500 getting the brakes on a 1997 International truck switched to a new system, which O’Brien said will reduce the cost of working on the brakes in the future.

O’Brien said the town policy, which he said should be followed, is to get three quotes when spending more than $500 and board approval for the funds.

Sady said he tried to get three quotes, but only one of the three would do the work for the price he wanted so he went ahead and had it done without consulting the board.

O’Brien said the goal is to give the town an option for where to get the work done and added that Sady had set aside the $1,500 for the repair in his budget.

“In the past we have sent people back to get three quotes,” O’Brien said.

Sady apologized for not consulting the board and said it would not happen again.