Town Awaits Queen Street Area Traffic Report

By Andrew Gorosko

The Queen Street Area Traffic Study final report will contain approximately 40 recommendations on how the town could best manage traffic flow in the town center through the year 2026.

If all recommendations were implemented, the cost of the work would fall in the range of $1.75 million to $2 million, of which more than half the amount would likely be reimbursable to the town through a combination of state and federal grants, according to the regional planning official who is overseeing the study on behalf of the town.

David Hannon, deputy director of the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), said this week he expects that the traffic study final report will be submitted to the town by the end of this month. HVCEO is the regional transportation planning agency.

The $49,000 study’s cost is being split between the town and HVCEO. Vollmer Associates, LLP, of Hamden is conducting the study under the guidance of a town advisory panel.

Mr Hannon declined to describe the specific recommendations to be made in the report, saying that the document is still undergoing review and is subject to possible revision.

“I think we’re near the end of the study part of the [planning] process,” he said.

The town advisory panel met recently to review public comments on the traffic study that were made at a May 4 public information meeting.

After the town receives the final report, it would hold a public meeting to present the report and hear public comments. Members of the various local agencies to be responsible for accomplishing the report’s recommendations would attend that session, Mr Hannon said. Those agencies include the Board of Selectmen, Legislative Council, Police Commission, Board of Education, Borough Board of Burgesses, and Historic District Commission, among others.

The report’s various recommendations will be categorized by a general schedule and by location, Mr Hannon said.

The recommendations will include work to be accomplished during the coming five years, and also work to be done during the next five years to 20 years. Also, the recommendations will be categorized by place, including Queen Street, Glover Avenue, Church Hill Road, Main Street, Mile Hill Road, and Commerce Road.

Some of the less complex traffic-related improvements for Queen Street and Church Hill Road could be accomplished in 2006, Mr Hannon said.

The recommended traffic improvements that are eventually made will depend upon the town’s budgeting for such work, Mr Hannon said. “This will be an ongoing process,” he said.

Bruce Walczak of 12 Glover Avenue, who is one of the members of the town traffic advisory panel, has been an outspoken critic of the traffic study.

Mr Walczak said the traffic planning process was “not comprehensive” in terms of how the borough could best manage traffic flow during the coming 20 years. Mr Walczak said that the traffic problems of Queen Street were more thoroughly researched than those of Glover Avenue.

“I learned a lot about how things work in Newtown and how difficult it is to provide a counterbalance,” Mr Walczak said of his efforts to have the interests of Glover Avenue residents considered as carefully as those of Queen Street residents. “It ruffles feathers,” he said.

The traffic study addresses traffic congestion, vehicular and pedestrian safety, excessive speeds, and existing confusing intersection designs. Vollmer is considering the use of traffic-calming measures such as speed bumps, crosswalks, and sidewalks, as well as employing traffic signals, roundabouts, and redesigned intersections.

Detailed traffic information stemming from the study is posted on the town’s website, www.newtown-ct.gov/Home/.

Under Review

At the May 4 public information session, Queen Street area residents described persistent traffic problems occurring there to Vollmer Associates in seeking to have the town better manage traffic volume and speed in the town center.

Among the traffic improvement concepts, Vollmer Associates has variously suggested that the hazardous intersection of Glover Avenue and Queen Street be converted into a traffic roundabout; be converted into a bypass intersection with added landscaping; be converted into a conventional T-shaped intersection, or be converted into a T-intersection with a three-way-stop design.

For the intersection of Queen Street, Mile Hill Road, and Tinkerfield Road, Vollmer has variously suggested prohibiting left turns from southbound Queen Street onto eastbound Mile Hill Road; narrowing the end of Queen Street at the intersection; or installing a set of traffic signals.

At the intersection of Church Hill Road, Main Street, and West Street, Vollmer has suggested creating a traffic roundabout surrounding the Main Street flagpole; closing one of the two one-way legs of West Street and making the other leg a street for two-way traffic; or installing traffic signals at the intersection.

For the intersection of Queen Street and the main entrance to Newtown Shopping Village, Vollmer has suggested that various crosswalk improvements be made to enhance public safety.

At the intersection of Church Hill Road and Queen Street, the firm has suggested the installation of new crosswalks, sidewalks and pedestrian-activated traffic signals.

At the intersection of Queen Street and Newtown Middle School’s main driveway, Vollmer has suggested that the two legs of that driveway be consolidated and that a large speed bump be installed to slow traffic on Queen Street. Repositioning the crosswalk there also is under consideration.

During the past several years, Queen Street area residents often have attended Police Commission meetings in seeking to resolve concerns about the volume, speed, and noise of traffic along the congested road. The Police Commission is the local traffic authority.