A police officer will be stationed inside a vehicle at the Main Street flagpole intersection during weekday morning and evening rush periods, as staffing permits, according to police Captain Joe Rios. The police officer would not direct traffic, but would monitor traffic flow.

Captain Rios stressed that posting a police officer in a vehicle at the flagpole intersection would be based on officer availability, noting that police face many tasks.

Those police posting plans stem from public discussion on the hazards of Main Street traffic generally and flagpole intersection traffic in particular at a Police Commission “open dialogue” session held on Monday, October 26.

Karen Banks of West Street told the four commission members present that she is concerned about hazardous traffic flow in that area.

The five-legged intersection of Main Street, Church Hill Road, and West Street has a 100-foot-tall flagpole as its centerpiece. The flagpole, which is not shielded by barriers, effectively serves as the hub of a traffic rotary. Access to the intersection is controlled by stop signs on Church Hill Road and West Street.

That intersection has the second-highest accident rate of any location in town, according to a police statistical report for calendar years 2012 through 2014. During that period, there were 55 collisions at that intersection, according to police. A majority of those accidents involved vehicles colliding with one another and the others involved vehicles driving into the steel flagpole.

Ms Banks told Police Commission members that in the morning, she drives on West Street to the intersection and then seeks to cross it to enter Church Hill Road.

“It is always a problem,” she stressed, adding, “You cannot get across easily.”

Also, there are blocked sight line issues for motorists, she said.

“Why can’t we have an officer there?” she asked. Police are needed there on weekday mornings and evenings when the traffic flow is heaviest during commuter periods, she said.

The presence of police at the intersection would make drivers behave better and also curb travel speeds, she predicted.

Police Commission members agree that the flagpole intersection is problematic, posing hazards for motorists and pedestrians, said Police Commission member Joel Faxon.

Mr Faxon explained that the intersection’s traffic problems are currently under study by a traffic consultant hired by the Police Commission.

Several years ago, police parked an unoccupied marked police car near the flagpole as a deterrent to aggressive driving in the area, but that measure eventually proved ineffective.

Mr Faxon noted that Main Street carries more traffic than it did in the past, when considering that added truck traffic travels on nearby Interstate 84 due to truckers seeking an alternate route to avoid the congestion on Interstate 95.

The flagpole intersection has posed safety hazards for a long time, said commission Chairman Paul Mangiafico. The difficult traffic conditions there cause some motorists to behave irrationally, making risky driving decisions, he said, adding the Police Commission wants to correct the traffic problems at the flagpole, but doing so is not simple.

Making any changes at the flagpole intersection is complicated by the fact that Main Street and Church Hill Road are both state roads and are under state Department of Transportation control. Mr Mangiafico said that a police presence at the flagpole intersection would slow down motorists, but would not reduce traffic congestion there.

Mr Mangiafico said he expects the flagpole intersection traffic study to be completed soon.

In September, commission members approved conducting the study. Frederick P. Clark Associates, Inc of Fairfield is performing the work for $17,900. The flagpole intersection has been a subject of past traffic studies.