Police Commission Pursues

Traffic Safety Measures At Queen & Glover

By Andrew Gorosko

The Police Commission has endorsed pursuing additional research on how the hazardous intersection of Queen Street and Glover Avenue can be made safer.

The commission also has endorsed installing raised-surface crosswalks on Queen Street near Newtown Middle School, and on Glover Avenue near Meadow Road to improve pedestrian safety.

The five-member Police Commission is the local traffic authority.

At a May 6 session, at the request of Queen Street resident Robert Geckle, commission members endorsed the town’s having the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) reconsider how the Queen Street-Glover Avenue intersection could be modified to make the hazardous junction safer. The triangular intersection is located near the driveway entrance to Newtown Middle School.

The Police Commission has long discussed making safety improvements to that intersection in response to area residents’ concerns about the hazards that it poses to motorists and pedestrians.

In 2006, Stantec, Inc, a traffic consulting firm that was working for the town, produced the Queen Street Area Traffic Improvement Plan, which recommended about 40 improvements that could be made to improve traffic flow and public safety in the town center.

Among those recommendations were proposed changes to the Queen-Glover intersection that would reconfigure the junction to make it safer. In July 2007, the Police Commission, however, rejected certain specific Stantec recommendations that would convert the intersection from its current triangular shape into a T-shape.

At the May 6 session, Mr Geckle asked that the town seek having HVCEO urge Stantec to reconsider, at no cost to the town, how the intersection could be physically improved. HVCEO is the regional transportation planning agency.

But commission member Bruce Walczak of Glover Avenue said such a topic should be the subject of the commission’s June 3 meeting. Delaying the topic to the June 3 session would allow there to be public notification that the subject would be on that meeting’s agenda, he said.

“I’m not sure we gain anything by waiting,” said commission member Duane Giannini.

Audience member Terence Trow, MD, of Dodgingtown urged Police Commission members to act quickly on pedestrian safety issues.

Last October, Dr Trow’s 8-year-old stepson was struck and seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver while the boy was on Queen Street, near its intersection with Borough Lane. The boy has recovered from his injuries. Police recently closed their investigation into the collision without making an arrest in the case.

“My son, in October, got hit and almost killed,” Dr Trow told commission members. “There is some expediency that needs to be offered here.”

Dr Trow has said he wants the town to install speed-calming devices on Queen Street to hold down traffic speeds there to prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future.

Pedestrian crosswalks, stop signs, and broad speed bumps, which are known as speed tables, would be appropriate speed-calming devices, he has said. The town has been slow in responding to the need for Queen Street speed-calming measures, he has said.

Public Works Director Fred Hurley said that the problematic Queen-Glover intersection needs to be improved. The intersection should be reconfigured into a T-shape, he said. “We know it’s not an uncomplicated intersection,” he said.

In February 2007, the Borough Board of Burgesses formally opposed creating a T-shaped intersection to replace the triangular intersection. Borough officials oppose the removal of some trees which would be necessary for such an intersection change.

In its motion on the intersection issue, Police Commission members recommended that the Board of Selectmen urge HVCEO to have Stantec, at no cost to the town, provide the town with design alternatives for reconfiguring the Queen-Glover intersection.

Crosswalks

In another traffic matter at the May 6 session, Police Commission members endorsed the installation of raised-surface crosswalks on Queen Street near Newtown Middle School, and on Glover Avenue near Meadow Road. That endorsement would be forwarded to the Legislative Council’s ordinance committee, which is studying creating a local “traffic calming” ordinance.

In raised-surface crosswalks, the road’s surface is raised a few inches in the form of a “speed table,” which is a broad speed bump, upon which a crosswalk is placed. The speed tables are designed to force motorists to slow down at crosswalks. Adjacent traffic signs are posted warning of the raised road surfaces.

Mr Hurley said he recently met with the first selectman and the town engineer to discuss Queen-Glover traffic issues. Mr Hurley said the town wants to install the raised-surface crosswalks at the two locations.

Initially, the town would install temporary versions of raised crosswalks made of durable plastic, he said. The town would later install permanent raised crosswalks, provided the temporary crosswalks proved such devices’ workability, he said.

Mr Hurley said he wants to get the raised crosswalk project underway as soon as possible.

The proposed town “traffic calming” ordinance would provide the town with limited liability for the presence of raised crosswalks, he said.

Mr Walczak voted against the motion in which the Police Commission endorsed installing the two raised crosswalks. The matter should have been the subject of a future commission meeting which was preceded by public notice that such a topic would be an agenda item, he said.