To Queen & Glover—

Raised Crosswalks Are Coming

By Andrew Gorosko

The town has ordered the materials needed to construct two raised crosswalks planned for Queen Street near Newtown Middle School, and for Glover Avenue near Meadow Road, according to town Public Works Director Fred Hurley.

Town road crew members plan to do some drainage improvement work on Glover Avenue next week in preparation for construction of a raised crosswalk there, he said.

The raised crosswalks are intended to both slow traffic in the school area and make it safer for pedestrians to cross the street.

Raised crosswalks are among a range of devices used for “traffic calming,” which is a set of methods designed to have motorists reduce travel speeds in a given area.

On August 6, following a public hearing, the Legislative Council approved a town ordinance on traffic calming. In that law, the council designated the Police Commission as the local agency responsible for traffic calming measures. The Police Commission is the local traffic authority.

The traffic calming ordinance provides the town with a legal foundation for pursuing traffic calming projects.

Mr Hurley explained that constructing raised crosswalks is more complex than simply painting a crosswalk on a road.

The public works director said that after the two raised crosswalks are installed, he expects to hear a range of public opinion on the wisdom of placing such devices on the roads.

Mr Hurley said he hopes to have the two crosswalks installed before the start of school late this month. It takes less than one day to install a raised crosswalk, he said.

Road signs will be posted alerting motorists that they are approaching raised crosswalks, he said. The crosswalks will be raised about three inches above the road’s surface. The sides of the raised crosswalks will be sloped to allow vehicles to easily roll over them.

The raised crosswalks are considered “experimental” devices to be installed on Queen Street, just south of its intersection with Lorraine Drive, and on Glover Avenue, most likely just east of its intersection with Meadow Road, according to Mr Hurley.

Currently there is a painted crosswalk on Queen Street near the southern driveway entrance to Newtown Middle School. The planned raised crosswalk, which would be somewhat farther north on Queen Street, would replace that painted crosswalk.

Currently there is no crosswalk on Glover Avenue, near Meadow Road, where the new raised crosswalk would be installed.

Unlike conventional painted crosswalks, which consist of painted white lines on an asphalt surface, the new devices will be elevated above the road surface.

Segments of a rugged plastic known as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) will be assembled to create the raised surfaces upon which the crosswalks will be placed. The devices thus function as both crosswalks and as broad speed bumps, known as “speed tables,” which are designed to slow the flow of traffic.

Both crosswalks are intended to make it safer for pedestrians in general, and Newtown Middle School students in particular, to cross the street in the congested area. State law requires motorists to yield to pedestrians standing in crosswalks. Police have beefed up their enforcement of motorists violating the crosswalk law as part of an ongoing traffic enforcement campaign.

The raised crosswalks will be bolted onto the pavement of both streets, allowing them to be removed from the roads, if necessary.

The Police Commission, acting as the local traffic authority, has long discussed using such speed control measures in the town center in view of continuing public complaints that traffic flow needs to be better controlled there.