The Police Commission plans to have an engineering firm review traffic flow on Key Rock Road to determine the best measures to control speeding on the northern section of that mile-long north-south connector road.

Key Rock Road links Sugar Street (State Route 302) to the intersection of Hattertown Road and Poverty Hollow Road.

Police Commission members discussed the “traffic calming” topic at an October 7 session, in response to a Key Rock Road resident’s request that a  speed table be installed near her home at 8 Key Rock Road to hold down traffic speeds. The street has a posted 20-mph speed limit.

The Police Commission also serves as the local traffic authority and reviews such requests.

Several years ago, the town installed two speed tables on the northern section of Key Rock Road in response to a North Branch Road man’s drive for better speed control on Key Rock Road. Those speed tables are located on Key Rock about 1,100 feet south of Sugar Street, and on Key Rock Road just north of its intersection with North Branch Road.

That section of Key Rock Road is flat and straight, as the roadway is positioned on earthen fill on its course through a large wetland.

The high-speed traffic occurs on the northern end of Key Rock Road when motorists on westbound Sugar Street, which has a 40-mph speed limit, make a swift left turn, while under traffic pressure, in order to enter southbound Key Rock Road and then travel faster than the posted 20-mph speed limit there until reaching the speed table that lies 1,100 feet south of Sugar Street.

 Following a September 2 Police Commission session, at which resident Carine Kuhn of 8 Key Rock Road raised her concerns about traffic speed, police conducted a basic traffic study on Key Rock Road to analyze the problem.

Fred Hurley, town public works director, told Police Commission members on October 7, “There’s no simple answer on this.”

“We know we have got some issues out there and we don’t have easy answers for the public … It’s a complex issue,” he said.

Mr Hurley said that during the 2015-16 fiscal year, the town plans to repave the southern section of Key Rock Road, which lies between its intersection with North Branch Road and its intersection with Hattertown Road and Poverty Hollow Road. Storwmwater drainage also would be improved.

The improved road surface will result in motorists driving faster there, Mr Hurley said.

Some Key Rock Road residents want the road section repaved, while others do not, Mr Hurley said.

The southern section of Key Rock Road does not lend itself to the placement of speed tables. That road section is hilly and winding, with several blind curves, making for hazardous travel.

Speed Tables

Police Commission member Joel Faxon said that the five speed tables which the town has in place on Queen Street, between its intersections with Grand Place and Mile Hill Road, function better than the two speed tables on Key Rock Road.

The Queen Street speed tables have a shallower pitch than the Key Rock Road speed tables and are thus easier for motorists to negotiate.

Mr Hurley pointed out that the town first installed two speed tables on Key Rock Road, later installed three speed tables on Queen Street, and most recently installed two more speed tables on Queen Street.

Thus, three “generations” of speed tables have been installed locally, providing the town with some evolving experience on the installation and functioning of the devices, he said.

 Chief Kehoe pointed out that town funds are available to have a traffic engineering firm study Key Rock Road in terms of possible speed table installation there.

The town is expected to contact Frederick P. Clark Associates Inc of Fairfield for such a study. That firm performed a study for the town on the installation of speed tables on Queen Street.

The  Queen Street speed tables have proved controversial, with some residents applauding their presence as a traffic-calming measure, and others criticizing them as an obstruction to traffic flow.

Police Commission members have discussed the Key Rock Road speeding issues for about five years and have considered the Queen Street speeding issues for about 15 years.