Oxbow Soccer 2011-05-25June 10, 2011
The building department has observed traffic at the entrance to the Oxbow Marina on 3 separate dates, May 25th, June 4th and June 5th. There were scheduled games on each of those days.
We attempted to determine the numbers of vehicles entering and leaving the Marina property, the number of vehicles parking at the soccer fields, the number of people present at the fields
during the games, the number of vehicles parked in the PCA at the head of Island Road, the number of people walking or riding bikes to the games and the duration of increased traffic
due to soccer activity. Attached is a summary of our counts.
It is clear to me that the Northampton Soccer Club is making an effort to minimize the traffic on Island Road. The PCA lot is being used, and we observed a number of vehicles with two
or more players in them. Some of the people parking in the PCA lot are walking or biking to the fields and then getting a ride back after the game.
Based on our observations, it seems that each game results in an average of 26 vehicles entering and leaving the Marina, and that between 60 and 80 people including players attend each
game. The traffic before a game seems to occur over a 30 minute period and the traffic after a game occurs over a 15 minute period. The time between two games is the period of highest
traffic, with some 50 vehicles traveling on Island Road in 30 minutes.
I have not yet received the results of the week long traffic count done for the soccer club or results of a manual count done by the club. I. I expect those numbers soon and will pass
them along as soon as I get them.
At the present time I feel that the club is meeting the conditions of the 2007 special permit. The traffic counts are well below the counts from the same week in 2010.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or feedback.
Louis Hasbrouck
Building Commissioner
lhasbrouck@city.northampton.ma.us