Queen Street Area Traffic Study Slated for Discussion

By Andrew Gorosko

Residents interested in how traffic flow can be improved in the congested Queen Street area will have an opportunity to express their views on the topic next week, when a planning consultant airs a series of suggested traffic improvements for the area. 

Representatives of Vollmer Associates, LLP, of Hamden have scheduled the session for 7 to 9:30 pm on Thursday, May 4, at the lower level conference room at Town Hall South at 3 Main Street.

Information to be discussed at the meeting will soon be available to the public at the selectmen’s office in Edmond Town Hall at 45 Main Street, and at the Booth Library at 25 Main Street.

Members of a study committee, which is guiding the Queen Street Area Traffic Study, spent about three hours April 26 discussing the fine points of various suggestions that Vollmer has formulated as potential traffic improvements for the area.

Study panel members engaged in a lively discussion concerning the measures that would best improve traffic problems at various locations in the study area.

Vollmer has analyzed past traffic studies to aid it in understanding traffic problems along the Queen Street corridor.

The study addresses measures that could be taken to improve traffic flow during the coming 20 years. The traffic study report will include a spectrum of recommendations, ranging from small specific changes that could be made soon, to broader long-range changes that could be made farther into the future.

The traffic study will focus on traffic safety, vehicle access, and traffic volume issues. The current traffic study will incorporate information from a 2003 study that addressed pedestrian safety on the congested 1,300-foot-long section of Queen Street lying between Church Hill Road and Glover Avenue.

The current traffic study has focused on seven major intersections in the Queen Street area. They are: Church Hill Road and Main Street, Church Hill Road and Queen Street, Church Hill Road and Commerce Road, Glover Avenue and Main Street, Glover Avenue and Queen Street, Mile Hill Road and South Main Street, and Mile Hill Road and Queen Street.

 The consultants have prepared a detailed series of maps, graphics, and charts that will be on display at the May 4 session.

The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) is the regional transportation planning agency. It is overseeing the $49,000 study that is jointly funded by HVCEO and the town.

During the past several years, Queen Street residents often have attended Police Commission meetings in seeking to resolve concerns about the volume, speed, and noise of traffic along the congested road. The Police Commission is the local traffic authority.

The north-south, mile-long Queen Street links Church Hill Road to Mile Hill Road. The northern section of Queen Street contains a retail district and Newtown Middle School. The southern section of the road is residential.

In a final report due in late June, the consultants will provide conceptual plans for improving traffic flow on Queen Street and nearby roads, as well as providing cost estimates for such work.

Queen Street carries especially heavy traffic in the mornings and afternoons, when students are arriving at and departing from the middle school. The school is at 11 Queen Street, near the congested and hazardous intersection of Queen Street and Glover Avenue.

The turning traffic that enters and exits commercial driveways along northern Queen Street compounds the traffic congestion there. Currently, traffic signals are located at the intersection of Queen Street and Church Hill Road and also at the intersection of Queen Street and the main entrance to Newtown Shopping Village.

To alleviate traffic congestion on Queen Street, school officials have recommended that more students use school buses to decrease traffic volume. Many parents transport their children to and from school in private autos, leading to congestion.