In an ongoing, phased traffic safety review of town roads, the Police Commission, in its role as the local traffic authority, has endorsed speed limits for 18 local residential roads and is seeking state Department of Transportation (DOT) approval for those speed limits on both sides of the affected streets.

Police Commission members on October 6 approved submitting the data to DOT for its field review of the proposed speed limits.

DOT will review the requested speed limits through an analysis of the width and gradients of the roads, the presence of roadside development, sight line restrictions, and the prevailing speed of vehicles which use the roads.

Police Sergeant Aaron Bahamonde, who heads the police department’s traffic unit, said the affected roads already have locally-posted speed limit signs on them, but those speed limits have not yet been approved by DOT.

Among changes in speed limits, the town proposes that the 4.2-mile long Hanover Road have a single posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour, he said. That road currently has 35-mph, 30-mph, and 25-mph speed limits posted along different road sections, he said.

The 17 other roads slated for DOT review are all listed as streets with 25-mph speed limits. Those roads are Alberts Hill Road, Bresson Farm Road, Charter Ridge Drive, Echo Valley Road, Gelding Hill Road, Grand Place, Hi Barlow Road, Hoseye Coach Road, Marlin Road, Mountain Laurel Lane, New Lebbon Road, Osborne Hill Road, Poorhouse Road, Shut Road, Still Hill Road, Taunton Lane, and Tunnel Road.

In order to qualify for state review and speed limit endorsements, the affected town roads must be at least 500 feet long and be paved.  

In related matter at the October 6 Police Commission meeting, Police Chief Michael Kehoe said that  DOT has approved the commission’s April request to raise the speed limit on Wasserman Way, which is a state road.

The area planned for an increased speed limit lies east of Reed Intermediate School.

The speed limit will be increased from 30 mph to 40 mph. Chief Kehoe said he expects that new speed limit signs to be posted on that road within the next few months. Until those new signs are posted, the speed limit will remain at 30 miles per hour, he said.

Wasserman Way is a major east-west connector that links Route 34, Interstate 84, and Route 25 via the Fairfield Hills campus.

The state rebuilt and greatly enlarged what formerly was known as Mile Hill Road and renamed it Wasserman Way in the late 1990s to serve as a bypass road for the town center.

Earlier this year, residents Deborra and Charles Zukowski of Cornfield Ridge Road suggested increasing the speed limit on the eastern section of Wasserman Way to encourage more motorists to use that street as a bypass road for the town center, in seeking to alleviate some traffic pressure on Main Street.