Police Commission Considers Two Traffic Signal Proposals

By Andrew Gorosko

The Police Commission is considering proposals to install two traffic signals to regulate hazardous traffic flow at intersections on South Main Street (Route 25) and on Berkshire Road (Route 34).The locations proposed for traffic signals are the intersection of South Main Street and Cold Spring Road, and also the intersection of Berkshire Road, Bennetts Bridge Road, and Gray’s Plain Road.

Decisions on whether red-yellow-green traffic signals would be installed at those locations would be made by the state Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over traffic signals. The Police Commission is the local traffic authority.

In a letter to the Police Commission, resident Mary Curran of 41 Cold Spring Road proposed that a traffic signal be installed at the South Main-Cold Spring intersection. Motorists exiting Cold Spring Road have difficulty making a left turn onto northbound South Main Street. Cold Spring Road is now posted with a stop sign. Middle Gate School is on Cold Spring Road.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said he would inform the DOT that the Police Commission does not oppose traffic signal installation there, adding that the developer of a shopping center proposed for the corner of Cold Spring Road and South Main Street should cover all traffic signal costs.

TP Properties, LLC, of Danbury has proposed the construction of a 66,000-square-foot shopping center known as Plaza South on 12.35 acres at 266-276 South Main Street.

TP Properties has not proposed installing a traffic signal at the Cold Spring-South Main intersection. The developer has proposed installing a traffic signal at a new four-way intersection, which would be created at its South Main Street driveway entrance. That signal would regulate traffic flow at the intersection of the proposed driveway, South Main Street, and Button Shop Road. That intersection would lie several hundred feet north of the Cold Spring-South Main intersection.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is considering the Plaza South application, which has drawn opposition from the owners of the adjacent Sand Hill Plaza and from nearby residents.

The Police Commission is expected to again address the Cold Spring-South Main traffic signal proposal after receiving information from the DOT.

Also, Chief Kehoe said he expects to receive a report from the DOT about the feasibility of installing a traffic signal at the intersection of Berkshire Road, Bennetts Bridge Road, and Gray’s Plain Road. A four-way caution blinker is now in use at that intersection. Bennetts Bridge Road and Gray’s Plain Road are posted with stop signs.

Due to a pronounced dip in Berkshire Road to the east of that intersection, motorist sight lines in that area are not as clear as they might seem, posing particular hazards for vehicles entering the intersection from Bennetts Bridge Road and from Gray’s Plain Road.

Chief Kehoe said he soon expects to receive a written report from the DOT on the feasibility of installing a traffic signal there.