Selectmen Explore

‘Traffic Calming’ Options

By John Voket

No, it is not a brightly robed monk sitting by the flagpole chanting a soothing “oooommmm…” And it does not involve irate drivers stuck in traffic on Queen Street exiting their vehicles simultaneously and rubbing the shoulders of the driver in front of them, either.

But selectmen were serious enough about learning how to slow chronic speeding in town neighborhoods to agree to examine benefits of installing traffic calming devices on certain local roadways.

On Monday, the Board of Selectmen took to heart longstanding concerns of residents on several town thoroughfares, agreeing that the only option to slow speeding traffic may be to install speed bumps, humps, or “rumble strips” in strategic areas.

The three top town officials focused particular attention on Queen Street, one of the most widely used, and some say abused, shortcuts for drivers looking to avoid South Main Street between the flagpole and Wasserman Way. Residents, particularly those on the southern end of the roadway near Wasserman Way, have been fixtures at Police Commission meeting in the past and have also addressed the issue verbally or in letters to selectmen, Legislative Council members, and other local officials.

Despite Newtown Police running regular radar monitoring, and the intermittent installation of a brightly lit passive radar monitor near Newtown Middle School, traffic can often be seen zipping up or down Queen Street seemingly oblivious to the posted speed limits, running red lights and rolling through stop signs.

First Selectmen Herb Rosenthal told fellow selectmen William Brimmer, Jr, and Joseph Bojnowski that one of the greatest challenges to implementing physical traffic calming initiatives may be that there are no state or federal guidelines or laws related to the practice.

Town engineer Ron Bolmer, who attended the meeting of the selectmen, explained, “There are just suggested guidelines, there are no state or federal [laws] and the guidelines don’t release you from liability at this time.”

“If somebody has an accident and their attorney says they wouldn’t have had the accident if it wasn’t for our traffic calming devices, there are no state or federal statutes to fall back on,” Mr Rosenthal added.

While much of Monday evening’s discussions centered on Queen Street, Mr Rosenthal said that since he has been in office he has been receiving complaints about excessive speed in several town neighborhoods.

“We’re getting a lot of requests from Queen Street lately, and I’ve gotten requests from people on Poverty Hollow requesting us to look at Hopewell Road,” Mr Rosenthal said. “The Town of Redding recently put in some speed humps on the Redding side of Hopewell Road and they want to know if we can put some on the Newtown side.”

The first selectman pointed out the noise associated with cars constantly rolling over the humps, and other engineering issues that could complicate the possibility of using such devices.

“I know civil engineers and public works departments don’t like them because of the whole idea of putting obstructions in the road, they try to take obstructions out of the road. Police departments have issues about them to a certain extent. And the plowing of the roads is made more difficult sometimes,” Mr Rosenthal said.

According to the first selectman, public works director Fred Hurley, Mr Bolmer, and Police Chief Michael Kehoe suggested forming a committee to explore the ideas and issues surrounding the practice of traffic calming.

“I think the public works people and Mr Bolmer would rather we not pursue them, but I think we’re going to be getting more and more requests for them as traffic increases in town and people look for ways to slow it down,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Mr Brimmer said that he has been commuting south into Fairfield County in recent years, and he has observed that the speed humps installed in Redding have made a difference.

“Since Redding put in those speed humps I’ve seen fewer people taking Hopewell Road. Before it was like a nightmare,” Mr Brimmer said. “If we can move the traffic from Queen Street to South Main Street then we’ve done alright. That’s where the traffic should go.”

The selectmen agreed that if Queen Street is used as a prototype to test the proposal, the devices would also have to be installed on all the cross streets between Queen and South Main Streets to discourage traffic flow on those avenues as well.

“I am definitely in favor of this committee, I think we need it,” Mr Brimmer said.

Mr Rosenthal said ideally, the committee would be comprised of a representative from town police department, public works, engineering, and possibly the police commission. Mr Brimmer added that a member of the public could add a balanced perspective to the panel.

The first selectman said the committee would likely contact other local municipalities that employ speed and traffic calming devices, as well as communities in other states. Mr Rosenthal also suggested looking for data and support from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, of which he is currently serving as president.

Mr Bojnowski made the endorsement of the idea unanimous, saying he supported forming such a committee and selectmen agreed they would further discuss the plan at a subsequent meeting.