Police Commission Considers Queen Street Safety Issues

By Andrew Gorosko

A local man who is spearheading a drive to make Queen Street a safer place for pedestrians this week updated Police Commission members on the progress being made toward improving problems there posed by the volume, speed, and noise of traffic.

Robert Geckle of 35 Queen Street told Police Commission members July 5 he is working to improve traffic conditions along the road.

The north-south Queen Street in the town center links Church Hill Road to Mile Hill Road. The northern section of Queen Street holds two shopping centers, Newtown Middle School, and several houses. The southern section of Queen Street is residential.

In a 2003 study, the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) provided the Police Commission with detailed recommendations on how to improve pedestrian safety on the congested northern section of Queen Street, an area that carries heavy school-related and commercial traffic. Many of those recommendations await implementation.

HVCEO, which is the regional transportation planning agency, plans to conduct a second pedestrian safety study focusing on the southern section of Queen Street.

Mr Geckle told Police Commission members that HVCEO has set aside $25,000 toward that second safety study, but needs an additional $20,000 to conduct the overall $45,000 project. Mr Geckle urged commission members to seek $20,000 that is still needed for the project from town sources. “The sooner, the better,” he added.

Mr Geckle serves a spokesman for about two dozen Queen Street residents concerned about traffic problems on that road. The Police Commission serves as the local traffic authority.

Mr Geckle told commission members he is working to reduce the number of “curb cuts” on Queen Street. Curb cuts are access ways to driveways and parking lots.

He said he will soon confer with the owner of Eaton Center about modifying vehicle access to two Queen Street businesses. Eaton Center at 5 Queen Street formerly held a Grand Union supermarket. It now holds a Brooks Pharmacy and a Wachovia branch bank.

Mr Geckle is seeking to have traffic enter and exit the common parking area for Newtown Color Center and for Andrea’s Bake Shop, both at 5 Queen Street, via the large parking lot at Eaton Center, instead of entering and exiting directly onto Queen Street. Traffic now reaches the two stores’ common parking area via a very wide curb cut.

Reducing the number of curb cuts along a street is considered a way to reduce congestion, eliminate turning-traffic conflicts, and generally improve traffic flow.

Mr Geckle said he is continuing to press the town for paint restriping work on Queen Street to improve travel conditions there.

Also, Mr Geckle urged that more “No Through Truck” signage be placed along Queen Street to make it clear to truckers that the road should not be considered as a route to somewhere else.

Mr Geckle also is seeking to have the school system reduce the number of school buses that use Queen Street. He urged Police Commission members to help him in that regard.

Resident Lisa Floros of 32 Queen Street said a dangerous situation occurs when school buses turn left from southbound Queen Street onto eastbound Mile Hill Road. Queen Street is controlled by a stop sign there.

Many motorists use Queen Street as a link to Mile Hill Road and Wasserman Way. The state built Wasserman Way in the late 1990s to create a major east-west connector road linking Route 25, Interstate 84, and Route 34. Reed Intermediate School is on Wasserman Way.

A traffic study of Queen Street indicates that the road handles between 5,500 and 6,000 vehicles daily on Mondays through Saturdays, and 3,500 vehicles on Sundays.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said that the town may modify the hazardous intersection of Queen Street and Glover Avenue.

For the sake of safety, that intersection may be converted into a perpendicular intersection, in which the east-west Glover Avenue would terminate at the north-south Queen Street in the shape of a “T.”

Currently, a tree on an island in that three-way intersection requires the eastbound and westbound lanes of Glover Avenue to diverge on arcs at the intersection. Only two legs of the three-legged intersection are controlled by stop signs, posing confusion for some motorists.

Chief Kehoe said the state Department of Transportation’s (DOT) plans to improve the traffic signals at the intersection of Queen Street and Church Hill Road have been delayed for funding reasons.

When the improvements are eventually made, the push-button switches that pedestrians use to control the traffic signals so they can safely walk across the street will function properly, stopping all traffic in the intersection.

The current pedestrian-activated controls there do not stop all traffic in the intersection, posing hazards for people who seek to cross the street.  

Also, the functioning of the traffic signal at the main entrance to Newtown Shopping Village at 6 Queen Street would be improved.