A few well placed potholes do the trick quite nicely.

hawsheen Street is a major thoroughfare in the mornings and late afternoons. It really should be a State Rd like 129A.

The police department is catching speeders but we need permanent signs telling drivers how fast they are going and to slow down.

This Street needs a major upgrade ith sidewalks and bike paths too

WHIPPLE ROAD!!! Nobody drives the speed limit on Whipple especially the illegally loud bikers. I never see any police enforcing the speed limit on this road. The police are always just sitting up at the Heath Brook school and never perform speed traps on Whipple. If they spend one day performing a speed trap on Whipple their quota for the month would be filled. This is a dangerous residential road with no sidewalks. Whipple is used as a route 38 bypass and has ZERO traffic enforcement. Once the Brown street bridge is finished it will be back to an even worse state.

We live on North st and it is amazing how fast people drive to get to the stop sign at North and east st even worse when school is in the buses drive so fast!!!

I have live in Tewksbury my entire life and Shawsheen St has always been a race way. I agree with the reader above that sidewalks and a bike path would be a great addition on the Dascomb Rd side of Shawsheen since it leads to 93. I know everything costs money but we should find a way to keep our road ways safe for our pedestrians too!

I just moved to Tewksbury from East Boston and I agree that Shawsheen seems to take the prize. I heard there was a sidewalk commitee, but I only see small sections of sidewalk on Shawsheen. It would be nice to promote health and fitness by having sidewalks on that road not to mention safety.

The last thing we need is bike paths,the roads are too narrow as it is.

Whipple Road

Chapman Road

Honestly, I don't think you can pick just one that's the "worst." Tewksbury has many "main" streets - North, South, East, Chandler, Shawsheen, Whipple, Andover - and people fly on all of them. There are certain intersections I try to avoid at all costs so I don't have to cross or turn onto these roads. Trull and Andover Road comes to mind...ever try taking a left up there? I swear I break out into hives every time.

I live on Andover street Rt 133 a short cut to Lowell and Dracut. Most times I need a running start to enter the speedway. I was told that a previous owner of my home was hit by a car and killed while getting his mail.

Its not a main street, but it connects two of them....Pine Street is bad. Speed limit is 25 but its posted only one way. Many ignore the 25 mpg and cars coming the other way just fly.

Chandler St. / Foster Rd. / Colonial Dr.

Salem St on the Northbound side

Northbound vehicles on Salem St blow through the intersection at South st and then blow trhrough the Stop sign coming on to Main st; I've seen many near misses on any given day

Hands down...Pike Street...It's a cut through from Main to Whipple.....thin road, no sidewalks, lots of kids and pets. Speed limit - 25. Average Speed 45-50.

Livingston Street...Even though there are Speed Bumps people try to go as fast as they can to get to them and after them. There are Sidewalks but it is still scary to walk down to the Park when people are Flying down the road....Speed Limit is Only 25 before you get to the Speed Bumps and Park Area.

The question really is "how do we get drivers to drive more safely and slower?". Speed bumps, less wide or more curvy roads, potholes, etc...

The answer is not more police or spending more money.

I live on Shawsheen, trying to cross the street, driving out of the driveway, waiting for the school bus , You take your life into your hands.The trucks fly down the road and hits a bump, my house literally shakes.. . This town needs to have more police patrol the area. People need to know that when they speed in Tewksbury, they will get caught.!!!

Maple St.....cut through to all. Cant get out of the driveway safely or even cross the street to visit a neighbor!!

SOUTH ST.! Now that the school year is about to start the traffic and speeds will pick up. No one ever drives at 25-30 down this road.

even though it is a 'short street" Drivers on Hill Street FLY!!

Livingston Street - After the tracks. I'm afraid to get my mail when there's a car coming!

Chandler Street is really bad ... few drivers obey the 30 MPH. I usually do but am often subjected to tailgating, beeping, or being passed by idiots in pickups, cars, and motorcycles alike! Sometimes, they do get pulled over if the police are laying in wait but not often enough. Speeding way over the posted limit is a big problem.

Sorry about that folks, I'd forgotten to add the actual poll to the story. The poll is now attached, so feel to vote for your (favorite?) street.

Looks like you need an "all of the above" choice.

River Road has actually been straightened so they can go faster

The article makes a fundamental logical error that the police are trying to "address" the speeding situation. Police are trying to profit from it, not address it. The police have no interest in preventing speeding, because without speeding, they lose a fair amount of money. If you want to prevent speeding, stand on one of these roads holding a sign that says "speed trap ahead" (It doesn't even have to be true .. ) You'll prevent more people from speeding in one hour than the police do in a year.

If they wanted to prevent speeding, they wouldn't hide to try to catch speeders, they would be highly visible. They to catch speeders and profit from them, not prevent speeding.

First has to be Shawsheen street. All those street mentioned have cars that speed but Shawsheen with the removal of the truck limitation has tracker trailers and dump trucks speeding down it. Second might be lowe street b/c it is so narrow.

Pleasant Street. The speed limit is 30, but the average speed is 50.

Bill,
Have another question for you if could consult with the town manager on this one:
If we are receiving "chapter 90 funding" where is this being used; certainly not street repair or paving!

Trull Road

I agree Trull Rd, people think they are still on the 495. I live there and I first had a problem with Atamian Honda that was test driving their VW thinking they were on Germany's Autobahn. This is an important connection between Rte 38 and 133, it is residential zone but who knew?

South Street, especially between Fieldstone and Bridge Street.

VALE STREET! You ain't seen nuthin' 'til you've spent some time there!

Dump trucks, landscaping trucks, 18-wheelers, testosterone-laden teens. Doesn't matter what time of day, they're usually doing 45+ in a 30, and on the phone at the same time. Commuters speeding from Andover trying to break the sound barrier getting to work from 5AM on. Commuters in a hurry to get home to Andover from 3PM on. Kids thinking since it's dark noone will see them flying at 50! Dump trucks flying to and from Forever Green Landscaping because time is money, another load is money. Even school buses which have to hurry and finish one route because kids are waiting at another school for pick-up. FedEx & UPS flying. Young working ladies can be the worst--staring straight ahead, while on the phone, oblivious of what's to their left or right. Same type of road as Maple/Low Streets, where the posted speed limit is 25mph, but much more highly travelled.

The signage isn't in the right places, there's a life-long history of residents going out of their minds w/speeders--once, in the '50's, young mothers lined up their baby carriages and formed a barrier from one side of the road to the other and stopped traffic. In 60 years, the traffic situation has worsened tenfold. Street is nearly forgotten by authorities (until someone places another call to the PD) because it's off the beaten path (Shawsheen) and is on the Andover line.

You ain't seen nuthin' 'til you've seen 7AM or 5PM there!

south street... highway to Billerica & Wilmington

Well, I just looked at the survey results, and you don't have to worry about speeders on Rt. 38. . . . . you can't even drive down Main Street, nevermind speed! (No more new residents, no more new businesses, please! We can't accommodate what we have already!)

Foster Road

I wanted to vote for all of them, but I chose Andover St. since it's closest to my home. And I would like to add that the intersection of Andover and River Rd is treacherous, with cars pulling in and out of Rite Aid and others speeding along Andover or trying to turn left from River Rd.

Main Street from Chandler intersection to Victor drive - every sat for 3 weeks iin a row now, an accident right near Orchard & Preferred. Today, it was a bicyclist - hoping he/she is ok. Not that speeding at any time is OK, but during day time hours, you never know why, when trafic may stop, a kid or someone on a bike may dart out.

When we moved here a hundred years ago, we were taught to avoid 38 at all costs and shared this advice: Fly down Foster, Shoot Down Shawsheen and Whip down Whipple.

I say south street don't get me wrong I know shawsheen is a bad street for speeders but I have lived off of south street for over 7 years and I have never seen a officer checking speeds on the side to Wilmington nor is there any room to walk down the street if you tried during the 4-6pm time too much traffic and Franklin st is a small side street that lots of people fly down at times and use it as a cutoff between south street and main st if there going towards Wilmington I would like to see a officer on south st just once maybe in 7 years there has been one but I have yet to see it neither has my wife altho the speed limit is 25mph I typically see 40mph down here and every house is pretty much a blind spot for drivers down this street as well

It's just another benefit to living in Tewksbury! One of the highest water bills in the state, out of control spending and roads that need repair. If I remember correctly we spend over 100 million on water and sewer up grades. Part of that operation was opening up our streets. Where is the accountability to CDM for their workmanship?? Call the town hall and ask!!! Our roads are a disgrace and yes we have speeders, but spending more money to fix CDM issues is bad business. That money could go toward traffic enforcement. Wake up Tewksbury!!!

I've seen a couple of comments/replies that say the "wish" there was traffic monitoring on their street. . . What do you think it takes to get a radar unit down there? Or, the electric road sign? Or, a speed limit sign? All it takes is phone calls to the P.D.!!! They're not going to read your mind! You've got to call them yourself and ask for assistance! "Squeaky wheel gets the grease!"

Call the Dispatcher anytime, or ask for JENNY WELSH, Safety Officer. You can also E-mail Officer Welsh.

TRULL ROAD SPEEDWAY....between Old Main Street & Andover Road....

Jane. The issue isn't as simple as call the PD. The PD has a hard enough time keeping up with the house breaks, drunk drivers ..... The PD will tell you they simply don't have enough man power to clock traffic. This could be a revenue generator. However we have this othe problem in town. We are broke and keep spending! The roads in this town are deplorable! CDM opened them up and were supposed to repair the damage. Go for a ride down pleasant street. A joke! So now we the tax payers will be forced to pay for their shoddy workmanship. That sucks up money that could be spent on traffic patrols, opening the fire station or any of the issues tuis town has. The PD could generate revenue and solve a problem, however with out the man power neither happens. This town needs to be run like a business. If someone repaired something in your home and you had to repay to have the job done again in am sure it would have an impact on your lifestyle. Let alone the time off from work and the in on eninece. That is all I am saying.

F o F: Are you replying to me? Sounds a little like we're mixing apples & oranges here. Are you an employee or representative of the Town? Maybe that's why your perspective is different? I have never had a problem when requesting either a radar unit or the speed trailer (except that one time when the cruiser was sent to do radar and the officer pulled into the neighbor's driveway and went inside, and gossiped about me over coffee, instead of doing his job.)

Re CDM: Why should taxpayers pay for someone else's mistakes? That is unacceptable! That's what lawyers are for, are they not? The Town does have an Attorney, afterall.

Drunk Drivers: I don't know about the drunk drivers, but that is a likely problem when we have so local many watering holes in this town. Put a little responsibility on the Bartenders who let the patrons leave drunk; the law says they're responsible, too.

"Run like a business": Well, what's the problem, here? We had a Town Manager with a degree in Finances. (Of course, he didn't know we had a General Fund, but, well, he was a busy man, afterall.) And, now we have another Town Manager. We have a Finance Committee. We've always had a Finance Committee. What's their problem? No, don't answer that. That's another conversation, and this one is a poll about which streets have the worst speeding problem. Seems they've pretty much been identified, and there's a lot of history on each one.

Well, results thus far (in no particular order):

Shawsheen St.
Lowe St.
Maple St.
Vale St.
Whipple Rd.
Avon St.
North St.
Chapman Rd.
Pine St.
Chandler Rd.
Hill St.
South St.
Foster Rd.
Colonial Dr.
Salem St.
Pike St.
River Rd.
Trull Rd.
Franklin St.
Andover St/Rt. 133
Livingston St. (near RR X)
Marston & Whipple
Salem & South
South & Main
Main St. (fr. Chandler to Victor)

We sure have a lot of "roads with biggest speeding problems"!

If every person who posted on this thread would commit to driving the speed limit on all town streets at all times we would have a much safer town.
I start with myself.
That's one.

It is that easy.
Will you commit to not exceeding the speed limit on any street at any time?

When my kids were little and I was driving them to preschool, I used to know Tewksbury Transit's phone number by heart! I would try to keep up with the school buses going 50 miles per hr on North St-EVEN thru the 25mph school zones! I couldn't believe it, so I would call Tewks Transit and report the school bus # and when and where I was-right smack behind the speeding bus! I must have called a couple dozen times-involved the police dept, too. I complained so much about speeding buses and cars on North St, that I don't DARE drive over the speed limit anywhere in town! LOL But in all seriousness, I do not drive over the speed limit anywhere in town, and I also do get rude people behind me, getting all worked up that they I won't go any faster. A simple, but rewarding 'revenge"! I'm with you, Bob, if we all did the same, maybe being the example instead of the ---hole, would be good karma!

Susan Duffy

Well if your town ok'd the proposed off ramp from 93 to enter tewksbury, people wouldn't be in such a hurry down Shawsheen street. After an illegal uturn on the Dascomb off ramp they can't help but put the pedal down.

Salem Road is the cut through to 93 right now and most cars fly down it even though it is a purely residential street anchored at both ends in Tewksbury and Wilmington by schools. Wilmington does a fairly decent job in enforcement but as soon as folks hit the Tewksbury line they easily are going 45 mph. When I go 30 I get people riding my bumper and beeping. Rush hour is the worst but that is usually when the kids are waiting at the bus stops and it is so dangerous.

I almost got taken out on Saturday by someone running the stop sign on North Street behind Skewers. People fly down that little stretch of roadway so fast and they either dont see the stop sign or dont care that its there. Also, I live off of Shawsheen Street and there is a cop sitting at the end of my street, Old Shawsheen at least twice per week in the 12:00pm -1:00pm hour and in the evening catching speeders. Recently I was driving down Livingston Street and was almost been taken out by one of the Tewksbury PD cruisers flying down the road....WITHOUT their lights on. My husband has almost ran over by one of the female cops flying down North Street several times. We as a society are always in a rush to get everywhere we need to go and we do need to slow down, maybe the police can lead by example instead of just handing out tickets.

Whipple RD/Brown Street. This has been a speed way since Brown street bridge opened. Posted speed limit on this road is 25 mph in some places but I see motors going over 50 mph. It has become very dangerous road. You check both sides to pullout your car from drive way and there is no car, next second you are almost hit by a car. It feels like it is Storrow drive in Cambridge area. I purchased property around this Area when bridge was closed. I did not know about the traffic flow and the speed and I baselined the speed looking at Speed Limit on this street. Only if I knew there was no speed enforcement on this street I would have never purchased property in this area.

Resident: I can both empathize and relate. I moved in 28 years ago, thought I was buying property on a quiet, narrow, little ol' Country road. Was never warned about the 50mph in the 30-zone speeders, the speeding dumptrucks constantly, the log/tree trucks with the attached cranes, nor the 18-wheelers all night and day, the endless speeding landscaping trucks w/the smashing tailgates and rattling rakes. . . etc.. Many residents since the mid-50's have gone way out of their ways to do something about it, including all the Mothers once stretching their baby carriages across the street to stop the traffic. Know what's been done about it? Nothing. Petitions, letters, meetings, phone calls, etc.. Nothing. The most we can get is occasional radar patrol and the speed trailer.

Sorry. I know what it's like to keep the windows closed all summer and sleep with earplugs.

I have noticed the stepped up efforts to curb speeding in the town, especially on South Street as I live on Jennies Way. What we do have on Jennies are 2-3 kids occasionally
Flying around the circle on a Quad and on dirt bikes. There are many small children living on the street and I hope the police catch them. Shame on the parents if they know their children are being so reckless flying around the street on ATV’s that are not street legal. I myself will be calling the police the next time I see this. Someone is going to get seriously hurt.