The Police Commission, in its role as the local traffic authority, is considering changing the traffic pattern on Nettleton Avenue, to make the narrow dirt road a one-way street. The east-west Nettleton Avenue links Elm Drive to Juniper Road.

The Police Commission is scheduled to discuss the proposed traffic change when it next meets on January 3.

Nettleton Avenue is about 780 feet long. It intersects with Elm Drive on the east, and with Juniper Road on the west. The 500-foot-long eastern section of the road is privately owned. Margot and Robert Hall are the owners of the 500-foot-long eastern section of the road, as well as a house and lot at 5 Nettleton Avenue.

According to a police traffic study on Nettleton Avenue, the 280-foot long western section of that road is owned by the town. On December 14, Mr Hall, however, said that the western 280-foot-long road section is owned by other private property owners.

The police department's traffic unit performed a traffic study on Nettleton Avenue in November following an unidentified citizen's complaint about traffic problems there.

Currently, the road carries two-way traffic. Under the proposed traffic pattern change, Nettleton Avenue would be converted into a one-way street, with travel restricted to an east-to-west direction, flowing from Elm Drive to Juniper Road.

The proposed change stems from Nettleton Avenue carrying much traffic in a west-to-east direction, from Juniper Road to Elm Drive, during evening rush periods, especially on Thursdays and Fridays.

That Nettleton Avenue traffic is created when eastbound motorists traveling on Sugar Street (Route 302) encounter traffic backups on that road. Those motorists, who want to head southward on South Main Street, turn right onto Juniper Road, turn left onto Nettleton Avenue, and then turn right onto Elm Drive.

From southbound Elm Drive, the motorists are able to reach South Main Street via Hawley Road, Borough Lane, Country Club Road, or either of the two southerly legs of Elm Drive, depending upon how far south they are headed. Those maneuvers allow the motorists to avoid the congested intersection of Sugar Street and South Main Street.

Also, the motorists using Nettleton Avenue as a detour drive too fast while taking that road as alternate route, according to the complainant. Nine private properties abut Nettleton Avenue.

A police traffic study of Nettleton Avenue, which was performed in November, found that approximately 33 vehicles use that road daily, with heaviest flow occurring during the morning and evening rush periods.

In its report, the police traffic unit recommends that Nettleton Avenue be converted to a one-way street carrying east-to-west traffic flow from Elm Drive to Juniper Road in order to eliminate traffic traveling west-to-east on that road.

The traffic unit notes that traffic congestion in that area is expected to increase after the state starts its construction project to replace a bridge on Sugar Street, near Elm Drive, just west of Sugar Street's intersection with South Main Street.

After the state's bridge replacement project is completed and Sugar Street has been widened in that area, the police traffic unit would study whether two-way traffic flow could be restored on Nettleton Avenue.