Traffic jamming IKEA's neighbors

STOUGHTON -- For most of New England, the opening of an IKEA store here last week meant the arrival of copious amounts of blond wood furniture. At long last, the Swedish retail giant had brought its tables and chairs with names like Bölsö and Enköping to the Bay State.

But for some residents on the streets surrounding the megastore, the grand opening has not been cause for celebration. In a few short days, neighbors such as Ken Ward have watched in horror as their quiet community has been turned into a parking lot and feeder road for hordes of consumers bent on sprucing up their homes.

Pleasant Street, where Ward lives, has been packed with cars hauling shrink-wrapped end tables and lamps. He put a wooden sawhorse on his front lawn to prevent cars from turning in his yard to head to the store, which is about a mile away, hard by the Avon border. Deep tire marks in the grass show the blockade has proved ineffective.

''Makes you think, you know, is it time to sell what you got and get out of here?" said Ward, 60, a truck driver who has lived in his modest white house for eight years. ''Before, it was a nice little neighborhood down here, with people and quiet. Now, somebody just opened the floodgates on us."

Ward's grandson, Sal Williams, 10, looked down from high in a tree he had climbed and voiced his opinion of the 346,000-square-foot behemoth, which offers 10,000 exclusively designed home furnishings and an in-store cafeteria serving Swedish meatballs and 99-cent breakfasts.

''I think it should go," Williams said.

Town officials say IKEA has been a blessing with a few downsides for Stoughton, a working-class community of 27,000 located 20 miles south of Boston. IKEA officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

At the store's grand opening Wednesday, selectmen and store managers celebrated the arrival of 500 new jobs and an estimated $1 million a year in tax revenue for the town.

''I think it's a good thing," said John J. Kowalczyk, chairman of the Stoughton Board of Selectmen, who attended the gala opening, which drew an estimated 20,000 shoppers, some from as far away as Atlanta. ''The town is growing and you need to fund and maintain the services that are necessary."

Planning for the opening started months ago, he said, and involved IKEA officials, Avon and Stoughton police, and State Police. The town built a new road, IKEA Way, to bring traffic exiting the store to Route 24. IKEA sits in a shopping park near a Jordan's Furniture, a Christmas Tree Shop, and other big retailers. A high-volume BJ's Wholesale Club is nearby, in its own plaza.

The advance work paid off, officials said yesterday.

''It seems to be working well, given the amount of traffic," Kowalczyk said. ''I think we can grow into a happy medium here."

On Wednesday, however, traffic backed up for a mile on Route 24. On Friday, authorities closed Exit 19B on Route 24 North and sent traffic to Exit 20B to avoid another snarl. Yesterday, the offramps were clear but small roads to IKEA were teeming with cars. Members of IKEA's traffic and security staff waved yellow wands and Stoughton police directed cars to a giant parking garage.

Some of the guided traffic, however, winds up on Pleasant Street, because drivers leaving IKEA pass the residential street as they travel the store's new road.

''I feel like I felt when I lived on Cape Cod -- you don't go anywhere on Saturdays," said Janice Winer, a 16-year resident of Beatrice Lane, off Pleasant Street, who used to live in Marstons Mills on the Cape. ''I'm not going anywhere today because even if I take a right, away from the store, it'll take me an hour to get home."

Frank Graziano, her neighbor, raked leaves outside his house on Pleasant Street yesterday. It took him 20 minutes to go a mile down his street on Saturday, he said. When he tried to cross traffic to enter his driveway, cars honked and a few drivers cursed him, as they inched toward IKEA's shopping plaza.

''It cramps your weekend plans," said Graziano, 35. ''You can't go anywhere. From here, you can't even get in the back way to BJ's because of this traffic."

Some shoppers said they expect the traffic to subside once the euphoria surrounding the newest retailer wanes.

''It's just a big thing now," said Ann Daly, a West Bridgewater resident who wheeled a cart of furniture out of IKEA yesterday with her daughter, Samantha, in tow. She spoke in the store's parking lot, which was buzzing with buyers. ''Once you've seen the place, you know it's here and if you want something, you'll come back."

Graziano was less optimistic.

''It's not going to get better," he said, motioning toward the shopping mecca. ''These places aren't going anywhere."

Stoughton police deployed shifts of about six officers from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. all last week to control traffic, said Lieutenant Francis Wohlgemuth. Today, the shifts end and it will be up to IKEA officials to manage the traffic, he said.

Wohlgemuth said there have been complaints from frazzled residents and a few business owners irked by the backups, but no reports of accidents. He acknowledged that traffic has been nightmarish, and said he had personally avoided the store because of it.

''It's been terrible, actually. It's been a mess," Wohlgemuth said. ''It's just the volume. They've got great advertising, I guess."