Queen St. Safety Measures Sought

By Andrew Gorosko

At the urgings of a Queen Street couple, the Police Commission has endorsed a past planning study that made various recommendations on improving pedestrian safety along the northern section of Queen Street, extending from Church Hill Road to Glover Avenue — an area that carries heavy school-related and commercial traffic.

Additionally, the Police Commission is calling for a similar pedestrian safety study to be performed for the southern section of Queen Street, extending from Glover Avenue to Wasserman Way.

The commission’s actions came January 4 at the urgings of Robert and Katherine Geckle of 35 Queen Street. The Geckles have been spokespersons for about two dozen Queen Street residents who attended Police Commission sessions last fall to air their traffic concerns. The Police Commission serves as the local traffic authority.

Last November, in response to Queen Street residents’ complaints that the volume, speed, and noise of traffic on that road in the town center poses public safety and quality-of-life problems, Police Commission members listed various steps that could be taken to improve the situation.

The north-south Queen Street links Church Hill Road to Wasserman Way. Queen Street parallels Route 25. The northern section of Queen Street contains a commercial district and Newtown Middle School. The southern section is residential.

Many motorists use Queen Street as a link to Wasserman Way. The state built Wasserman Way in the late 1990s to create a major east-west connector road linking Route 25, Interstate 84, and Route 34.

A recent traffic study of Queen Street found that the road handles between 5,500 and 6,000 vehicles daily on Mondays through Saturdays, and 3,500 vehicles on Sundays.

Police Captain Joe Rios told Police Commission members that police have focused their speed enforcement on Queen Street, among other streets in town.

Police have increased their radar speed detection work along Queen Street, as well as stationed their speed display there, he said. The speed display informs oncoming motorists how fast they are driving, compared to the posted speed limit for the area.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe pointed out although the town had the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) conduct a pedestrian safety study on the northern section on Queen in 2003, the Police Commission never formally adopted the recommendations of that study.

Commission members then formally approved the document.

Police Commission records, however, indicate that the commission adopted the pedestrian safety study at its March 4, 2003, session.

Chief Kehoe said the selectmen will forward the pedestrian safety study to the town’s public works department so that the town can start implementing the safety recommendations.

Additionally, the Police Commission endorsed having a pedestrian safety study performed on the southern section of Queen Street. Most of the residents who attended Police Commission sessions last fall to air their Queen Street traffic concerns live on the southern section of Queen Street.

Chief Kehoe said that HVCEO may be able to provide some funds for such a study.

Robert Geckle told Police Commission members January 4 that the intersection of Queen Street and Glover Avenue poses traffic safety concerns.

Two of the three legs of that three-way intersection are controlled by stop signs. Northbound Queen Street and eastbound Glover Avenue are controlled by stop signs, but southbound Queen Street has no stop sign.

Chief Kehoe said that installing another stop sign on southbound Queen Street there to create an all-way-stop intersection may not be a wise move now. The police chief suggested that the addition of a stop sign there be coupled with the redesign of that intersection.

Mr Geckle said he is encouraged by the Police Commission’s interest in resolving traffic problems on Queen Street. He urged that the HVCEO’s various recommendations for improving safety on the northern end of Queen Street be implemented, and that a similar study on the southern section of the street be performed.

Mr Geckle said he has spoken to business owners on the northern section of Queen Street in seeking to have them route truck traffic to their businesses from Exit 10 of Interstate 84 instead of from Exit 11, as a way to reduce commercial truck traffic on the southern section of Queen Street.

The Geckles also have been seeking to cut school bus traffic on the southern section of Queen Street.

The 2003 HVCEO safety study’s goal was to make the 1,300-foot-long section of Queen Street lying between Church Hill Road and Glover Avenue a “pedestrian-safe” corridor.

Queen Street carries especially heavy traffic in the mornings and afternoons, when students arrive at and leave school. Newtown Middle School is located at 11 Queen Street, near the congested and hazardous intersection of Queen Street and Glover Avenue. Hawley School is at 29 Church Hill Road, near that road’s intersection with Queen Street.

Turning traffic that enters and exits commercial driveways along 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.