Danger zone: Andover state police barracks among busiest in state

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September 5, 2010

By Jonathan Phelps jphelps@eagletribune.com The Eagle Tribune Sun Sep 05, 2010, 12:09 AM EDT

ANDOVER — Straddling two major interstates, the state police barracks on Route 125 is a busy place.

"If you take the intersection of 93 and 495 and draw a circle around it encompassing Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, that's kind of the problem area. Historically, it always has been," said Maj. Edward Amodeo, commander of Massachusetts State Police Troop A, which includes the Andover and Haverhill barracks. "It's an intersection of two major interstate highways, and the traffic volume is extremely high."

The Andover barracks, which also covers Methuen, Dracut, North Andover, Tewksbury, Lawrence and Lowell, was recently identified as the fifth busiest out of the nearly 30 barracks across the state. In 2009, troopers from Andover responded to 2,527 total events — 1,609 crashes and 918 arrests — throughout the Merrimack Valley.

But even by those standards, Amodeo said this has been a busy summer for rollovers, accidents, vehicle fires and other incidents on 93 and 495. Not to mention drunken driving arrests, speeding violations and other threats to public safety.

Andover fire Chief Michael Mansfield said he's also noticed an increase in responses to the two highways this year.

"Not only have we seen an increase in responses, but we've seen an increase in the severity of the accidents and fatalities," he said.

Amodeo said there are a few reasons why there have been more accidents and arrests this summer than in past years.

"First, you had beautiful weather — everyone's out and about," he said. "The last two summers were horrible."

Second, he said people stayed closer to home because of the economy, meaning more day trips.

The high traffic volume also has a lot to do with it. When 495 was built in the mid-1960s, designers projected the average daily volume would be between 20,000 to 50,000 cars. But the average number of cars traveling the highway is now more than double that total.

Looking to address the problem, state police officials decided this summer to redeploy 37 troopers from barracks in the western part of the state where there aren't as many incidents to Andover and other busier barracks.

"Stations in western and central Massachusetts had the same personnel, but significantly lower crashes and arrests," Amodeo said. "In a time when we're faced with a decrease in manpower, the colonel shifted those people to those stations that had the most amount of arrests and crashes."

The state police restructuring, which was based on 2009 statistics, placed each barracks into a tier to determine the need for staffing. Tier one had more than 2,000 events, tier two between 1,000 and 2,000 events, and tier three was less than 1,000 events, according to David Procopio, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police.

Seven barracks — three in Troop A — landed in tier one, 13 in tier two, and 10 in tier three.

The state police barracks in Springfield, Medford, Danvers, Dartmouth, South Boston and Milton, along with Andover, were in tier one, with Springfield the busiest.

The Newbury barracks, which serves Haverhill, Boxford, Georgetown, Merrimac and surrounding communities, was in tier three. There were 450 crashes and 280 arrests at the Newbury barracks in 2009.

The state police force is down about 446 troopers from 2,592 in 2006 to 2,146 due to budget cuts and retirements, with the last state troopers having been hired in 2006, Procopio said. As a result, there were fewer troopers patrolling state highways and an increase in response times to accidents and crimes.

He called the reshuffling of troopers an example of "intelligence-driven policing," a law enforcement method that uses data to help commanders determine resources and tactics.

State police officials hope the restructuring will allow troopers to have more of a presence on the highways to deter erratic, drunk or aggressive drivers which cause accidents and to have faster responses to crashes and other incidents, Procopio said.

He said 14 troopers have been reassigned to Troop A this summer, which serves the Northeastern part of the state and the Merrimack Valley, including Andover along with Danvers, Medford, Concord, Revere and Newbury.

On average, this will add an additional patrol for all three shifts at each barracks in Troop A, including Andover, Procopio said.

The additional manpower has already had an impact, according to Amodeo.

"It is helping," he said. "I was able to put an extra person on a shift in every one of the six barracks here. That was huge. Putting one or two extra on a shift just has an enormous impact."

Most of the crashes on 93 and 495, Amodeo said, are a result of drunken or aggressive driving. That's where the added patrols have proven particularly beneficial.

"The primary way we can reduce fatalities is by enforcing drunken impaired drivers, and next comes aggressive driving, speeding and those types of things," he said.

Enforcement appears to be the key to keeping the number of crashes down, as there are no immediate plans to make safety improvements to the two roadways, according to Massachusetts Department of Transportation spokesman Adam Hurtubise.

Federal highway officials plan to widen Interstate 93 from Andover to the New Hampshire border in the near future, but this is being done to improve traffic flow and not because of safety issues, he said.

3 quick tips for avoiding crashes

1. Always leave plenty of time; don't get yourself in a rush. That's when problems occur.

2. Leave plenty of room between your car and the car in front of you, even on the interstate. It gives you more reaction time.

3. Be extra cautious around the late evening hours. Those are the hours you see people engaging in drunken driving.

Source: Maj. Edward Amodeo, commander of state police Troop A