Commission Addresses Traffic Flow On Country Club Rd

By Andrew Gorosko

Police Commission members are considering altering the traffic flow on Country Club Road as a public safety measure.

Country Club Road is a short street that links South Main Street to Elm Drive. The road extends from the intersection of South Main Street and Mile Hill Road to the section of Elm Drive that lies south of Borough Lane. Although Country Club Road is well paved, it is a narrow, winding street with steep slopes and poor sight lines. A rock outcropping along the northern edge of the road near the Newtown Country Club poses traffic hazards. The east-west road runs along the northern boundary of the country club’s golf course.

Country club officials June 5 approached the Police Commission for help in correcting safety problems on the road. The Police Commission serves as the town’s Traffic Authority.

Club president Joan Crick said, “The use of [Country Club Road] has become much heavier due to the bypass road.” The bypass road is an improved section of Mile Hill Road, known as Wasserman Way, which was built to divert heavy trucks from the town center. The bypass road also reroutes traffic away from the core campus of Fairfield Hills.

Vehicles using Country Club Road as a shortcut between South Main Street and Elm Drive now drive in both directions on the narrow street, Ms Crick told Police Commission members. Autos traveling on the road drive too fast, she said. When the town’s new athletic fields, which are now under construction on Elm Drive, are eventually in use, the traffic flow on Country Club Road would increase, she said.  

Ms Crick said golfers at the country club play golf until it gets dark, creating public safety situations along the road, which is directly adjacent to the golf course.

“We have seen some really close calls. The road is really narrow. [Drivers] have to stop [to pass] because the road is really narrow,” she said.

Paul Payne, club vice president, said a rock outcropping along the northern edge of the road poses safety hazards. He said he was involved in an auto accident at the outcropping, which caused $4,000 in damage to his vehicle. “It’s an issue of overall safety due to the narrowness of the road,” he said.

Country club superintendent Joe Kocet said the road carries much heavier traffic than it had in the past. There have been recent incidents involving some close calls on the street, he said. “It’s becoming worse and worse. The speed is too fast,” he said.

Mr Payne noted that one of the most heavily used intersections in town is the junction of South Main Street and Mile Hill Road. It would be helpful if some traffic were diverted away from that intersection, he said.

Ms Crick suggested that motorists could use Hawley Road and Borough Lane as better “cut through” roads linking South Main Street to Elm Drive.

To improve the traffic flow problem, country club officials proposed that the Police Commission create three different traffic-flow zones on the road. Club officials proposed that a short section of each end of the road have two-way traffic and that the longer interior section have “westbound only” traffic.

Police Commission members said that such an arrangement is probably too complex to be workable.

Commission members suggested that the road continue to have eastbound and westbound traffic on the road section from South Main Street to the country club parking lot. They also suggested that the road have “westbound only” traffic on the road section between the country club parking lot and Elm Drive.

Police Commission members did not act June 5 on changing traffic flow on the road. Action is expected July 3.