Community Corner
Obama Visits Martha's Vineyard: 9-Day Road Closure Planned
Expect detours and delays while the Obamas are in town. The president and first lady arrive in Martha's Vineyard Saturday to stay in Chilmark, where a portion of South Road reportedly will be closed during their nine-day Island vacation.
For the first time during a presidential vacation on Martha's Vineyard, a stretch of public road is slated to be closed for more than a week while President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are staying at a Chilmark rental.
Updated 1 p.m. Aug. 7: The Town of Chilmark issued an announcement Wednesday morning saying the road closure is an "active and changing situation."
The announcement continues,
"The proposal is to close South Road to through traffic for the duration of the President's stay Aug 10 - 18. Local traffic is permitted on most of South Road. The road will be closed from Meeting House Road to Wooton Bassett Road. Only residents of that area will be allowed past the check points."
Posted on Patch at 5 a.m. Aug. 7:
Both the Martha's Vineyard Times and the Vineyard Gazette are reporting that the Secret Service has told Chilmark police it will close South Road between Meeting House Road and Wooten Bassett Road during the presidential visit Aug. 10-18.
"it's going to be a hassle," Chilmark selectman Warren Doty is quoted by the Gazette as saying during Tuesday's selectmen's meeting, when town officials learned about the Secret Service plan. "It's not as if they asked us what we thought."
The Obamas are renting at $7.6 million "vacation compound" on Snail Road, owned by financier David Schulte, after staying in past years at a more remote up-Island estate that has since been sold to a British lord and lady, the Times reports.
The planned detour will shunt up-Island traffic either to narrow, winding North Road or to Middle Road, which is recommended for commercial traffic and larger vehicles, reports the Times.
Read more:
South Road detour in effect for Obama Vineyard vacation (Martha's Vineyard Times)
Presidential Visit Will Likely Close South Road (Vineyard Gazette)
Obama Family Expected (Martha's Vineyard Patch)
Obama Vacation Rumor Causes Comment (Martha's Vineyard Patch)
Will the planned road closure during the Obamas' visit be "a hassle" for you? Tell us in the comments.