Town Tells State To Hold Off On Traffic Signal

By Andrew Gorosko

The police chief has informed the state that installing a traffic signal at the intersection of Mile Hill Road, Queen Street, and Tinkerfield Road due to heavy school bus traffic there may be unnecessary.

In a July 31 letter to state Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner James F. Byrnes, Jr, Police Chief Michael Kehoe wrote, in part, “At this time, it is felt that to move forward with signalization would be imprudent, since the issue of school bus left-turning difficulties at that intersection may have been alleviated with a change to the school bus schedule.

“We have agreed that we will monitor the [traffic] situation for future problems, and if necessary, we can revisit the issue at a later date,” the police chief added.

The police chief explained to the DOT commissioner that the Police Commission had reviewed the DOT’s offer to install a traffic signal at the intersection. Chief Kehoe added that he had also discussed the matter with the School Superintendent Evan Pitkoff.

Chief Kehoe presented the letter to two Police Commission members at a August 5 session. The commission did not achieve a quorum at the meeting. The commission is the town’s traffic authority.

After the meeting, Chief Kehoe said that modified school bus schedules and bus routes, which will be in effect in the coming school year, are expected to lessen the school bus congestion at the Queen-Mile Hill intersection.

During the second half of last school year, approximately 30 school buses used that intersection just before the start of classes at the nearby Reed Intermediate School. That occurred because those buses first dropped off students at Newtown Middle School and then dropped off remaining students at Reed Intermediate School. The buses approached the intersection either from South Main Street or from Queen Street, posing congestion problems.

Chief Kehoe said that changes in school bus routes and schedules could result in no need for a traffic signal at the intersection.

In a June 20 letter to State Rep Julia Wasserman, Mr Byrnes wrote, “In view of the difficulties that have been reported regarding school buses and other left-turning vehicles [from Queen Street], the [DOT] is receptive to signalization in a future traffic signal project.”

In light of the school bus traffic situation, in a February 5 letter to Mr Byrnes, Mrs Wasserman had urged that the DOT investigate how traffic safety could be improved at the intersection. “Left-hand turns…from Queen Street onto [eastbound] Mile Hill Road…are unnerving and dangerous for motorists. There is no other access from the west into the [Fairfield Hills] campus to the east,” Mrs Wasserman wrote.

Mr Byrnes has explained that to simplify making left turns from southbound South Main Street onto eastbound Mile Hill Road, the DOT plans to increase the timing of the southbound green left-turn arrow on the existing traffic signal at that intersection.

Also, to improve general traffic flow in the area, the DOT is studying using new signals to improve traffic flow at the intersection of Glover Avenue, South Main Street, Sugar Street, and Main Street.