Fairfield Hills Traffic & Pedestrian Safety Analyzed

By Andrew Gorosko

Police Commission members, serving as the local traffic authority, are considering ways to improve traffic safety and pedestrian safety at the town-owned Fairfield Hills core campus.

As such, commission members are reviewing the results of a traffic/pedestrian safety study performed for the town by the police department’s traffic enforcement unit.

The traffic unit received an assignment that included studying the possibility of placing crosswalks on DG Beers Boulevard and on Simpson Street to improve pedestrian safety for motorists who park their vehicles perpendicularly along the sides of those two streets farthest from the Newtown Municipal Center.

Fairfield Hills has 15-mph speed limit signs posted on its various streets. The complex includes Newtown Municipal Center, Newtown Youth Academy, Newtown Emergency Operations Center, Newtown Police Department Substation, and numerous athletics fields.

Among the findings of the study, “A large number of pedestrians utilize the roadways for walking and running, instead of [using] the sidewalks. Numerous individuals were observed walking or jogging at or near the center lines of the roadway, impeding the safe flow of traffic.”

The study found that when pedestrians exiting Newtown Municipal Center need to cross Simpson Street and DG Beers Boulevard to reach their perpendicularly-parked vehicles on the far side of those streets, those pedestrians must walk between some other perpendicularly-parked vehicles on the nearer side of those streets.

Also, there are fire hydrants located along the sides of DG Beers Boulevard and Simpson Street in the locations that logically would contain midblock crosswalks. Also a utility pole is positioned in a perpendicular-parking area along DG Beers Boulevard.

The traffic unit has had installed additional speed limit signs stating that the Fairfield Hills speed limit is 15 mph. That action increased the number of speed limit signs from four to nine.

The traffic unit recommends that to make the campus a safe and enjoyable place, pedestrians should use the sidewalks and should be cautious while on the streets.

Recommendations

The traffic unit makes a series of recommendations on traffic and pedestrian safety at Fairfield Hills.

The unit recommends that the installation of raised midblock crosswalks be considered for DG Beers Boulevard and for Simpson Street near Newtown Municipal Center.

Such raised crosswalks combine the features of a crosswalk and a “speed table,” which is a broad speed bump. Such devices are designed to provide a safe place to cross the street and also to slow traffic.

Also, the unit advises adding some sidewalks along DG Beers Boulevard and Simpson Street.

The traffic recommends adding painted crosswalks at the stop-sign-controlled intersections of:

*DG Beers Boulevard and Keating Farms Avenue.

*DG Beers Boulevard and Primrose Street.

*Simpson Street and Primrose Street.

*Simpson Street and Keating Farms Avenue.

The traffic unit recommends continuing the use electronic speed display signs at Fairfield Hills that inform motorists of their travel speed in relation to the posted speed limit. Also, police speed enforcement should be employed to underscore the meaning of those speed displays, it adds.

A traffic island should be installed around the utility pole positioned in the perpendicular-parking area along DG Beers Boulevard to reduce the possibility of accidents there, the traffic unit adds.