Amy Assad shows Westport selectman Rick Tongue where her daughter's accident took place at the dangerous intersection on Route 6 near where Westport and Dartmouth meet.

WESTPORT - It was every mother's nightmare and it happened to Amy Assad. She got a call from her daughter at 11 p.m. on June 29, saying the car she was driving had just been hit. Ms. Assad, who lives on Borden Street, ran out the door with one of her sons and made her way to the accident scene near Lincoln Park. It was a moment befalling all too many families here -- an accident at one of this region's most dangerous intersections.

"When I got there, the police said, 'You're lucky your daughter is alive. It's really a bad road,'" Ms. Assad recalled. "I almost lost my daughter because of it."

Ms. Assad's daughter, Jeannine, was 22 at the time of the accident. She turned 23 on Aug. 16. Jeannine is making a full recovery, but she suffered a fractured skull, ruptured ear drum and broken scapula, which is a bone at the back of the shoulder blade.

The refrain is all too familiar lately. Scott Pacheco, 21, was killed in an accident by Lincoln Park on Aug. 13. When police arrived, they found his body lying against an anchor fence.

Police said it appeared the driver of the vehicle Mr. Pacheco was in had slowed to make a left turn through the median. The driver, 16-year-old Matthew Almeida of Westport, apparently veered to avoid other cars and lost control of his Ford Explorer.

Mr. Pacheco was a much-loved student at Westport High School. For weeks after his death, bouquets of flowers, stretching about 15 feet, hung on the fence by Lincoln Park where he died.

On Sept. 12, Westport police officer Todd Oliver was injured when his motorcycle hit a pickup making a U-turn, also near Lincoln Park. Mr. Oliver was transported to Brigham & Young Women's Hospital in Boston where he underwent surgery for a badly injured arm. Earlier this week, he was still recovering at Charlton Memorial Hospital where he was undergoing physical therapy.

"If this is a death trap, block the medians," Ms. Assad said. "It's a blind intersection. My daughter said she looked back and nobody was coming. She's a careful driver. She took a left at the median and he came at her and that's all she remembers. He came out of nowhere and almost killed her. She's really cautious. She's a bright kid."

Westport Selectman Steve Ouellette chairs the Route 6 Task Force, which has been trying to get the state to make changes to this intersection and the one at Route 6 and Sanford Road.

The funds for Sanford Road and Route 6 have been allocated. They include leveling Sanford Road where a slope makes it difficult to see oncoming vehicles. The state also plans to add a left turn lane and signal on Route 6. Mass Highway has scheduled work on this intersection for 2007, but the Route 6 task force is trying to get it changed to 2006.

The task force also wants to see changes near Lincoln Park. Mr. Ouellette said Westport would like a stop light to be installed near the Chinese restaurant, which is a little bit closer to the town line than Lincoln Park. The task force also wants a left hand turn lane in addition to the two lanes that already exist.

The state included funds in its transportation bond bill for this intersection but without a commitment from Mass Highway to make the changes anytime soon, the Southeastern Region Planning and Economic Development District, or SRPEDD, allocated the funds for other roads. SRPEDD is responsible for dispersing funds to Mass Highway.

Dartmouth has been trying to get the developer of a proposed 250-plus unit subdivision and commercial space at Lincoln Park to pay for a stop light. If so, it would be placed at the exit from that subdivision, however, which is not exactly where the Westport task force wants it.

"Obviously, our hands are tied because it's in Dartmouth," Mr. Ouellette said.

As for the slow pace of getting safety changes made to this very dangerous intersection, Mr. Ouellette said "I'm sick of excuses, I want to get this job done. We're pushing for it. But technically, it's on the Dartmouth side."

The pressure for changes on Route 6 increases after every fatality but then it seems to ebb again. After Dartmouth resident Floyd Fineberg was killed while turning at the Lincoln Park cut-out in December 2002, his daughter, Susan, wrote an impassioned letter to a local paper.

Ms. Fineberg wrote, "What brilliant road engineers also decided that cars could also take a left turn from this side street, basically turning into other cars coming from Westport at highway speeds? It was a recipe for disaster."

Of her father's death at 59, she said, "My father, Floyd, was a smart, special man and was killed before he even turned 60. All the years he had left were stolen away."

The local press quoted the executive administrator of Dartmouth, Michael Gagne, saying he wanted the cut-out closed as soon as possible. Almost three years have passed since that fatality.

Asked why the state doesn't just block the median, Mr. Ouellette said SRPEDD is afraid that if it does, Mass Highway will never add the street lights and make other safety changes. There is also a concern that people who are used to crossing at the median won't notice the jersey barrier, which will cause even more accidents, Mr. Ouellette said.

Mr. Ouellette said state funds are being consumed by other projects, including bridge projects that seem to be unending.

"We've been fighting for money for Route 6 and Sanford for years and they haven't put a shovel in the ground yet," he said.

Referring to the delays on local bridge projects, he added, "It's hard to get your hopes up seeing the bridge projects."

Ms. Assad asked why police can't patrol the intersection of Route 177 and Route 6 better. She actually parked and watched traffic there one afternoon. In an area with a 35 mph speed limit, most cars were going 55 or over, Ms. Assad said.

"Not one car was doing the speed limit," she said. "They're all flying up that road."

Mr. Ouellette said Westport police are seeking grant money to station more police at dangerous intersections. Along with Sanford and Route 6 and Route 177 and Route 6, there are growing numbers of serious accidents on Route 195 in Westport, Mr. Ouellette said.

"If it was on the Westport side, we could a heck of a lot more screaming," he said of the median at Lincoln Park.

But, he added, "I just want to see it get done. Too many of our people are getting hurt or killed."

by peggy aulisio

paulisio@eastbaynewspapers.com