Raised Crosswalks Planned For Queen Street And Glover Avenue

By Andrew Gorosko

Before the start of school in late August, the town plans to have in place two raised crosswalks near Newtown Middle School, which are intended to both slow traffic in the area and make it safer for pedestrians to cross the street.

Public Works Director Fred Hurley said this week that the “experimental” crosswalks are planned for two town streets — Queen Street, just south of its intersection with Lorraine Drive, and Glover Avenue near its intersection with Meadow Road.

Unlike conventional painted crosswalks, which consist of painted white lines on an asphalt surface, the new devices will be “raised crosswalks.”

Segments of a rugged plastic known as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) will be assembled to create the raised surfaces upon which the crosswalks will be placed.

 The devices thus function as both crosswalks and as broad speed bumps, known as “speed tables,” which are designed to slow the flow of traffic. The sides of the PVC speed tables will be sloped to allow vehicles to roll up, on, and over the devices.

Road signs warning motorists that they are approaching raised road surfaces will be posted nearby to alert them of the presence of the raised crosswalks, Mr Hurley said.

The Police Commission, acting as the local traffic authority, has long discussed using such speed control measures in the town center in view of longstanding public complaints that traffic flow needs to be better controlled there. The use of such devices for traffic control is generally known as “traffic calming.”

The Legislative Council has scheduled a public hearing for August 6 on creating a local traffic calming ordinance. The proposed ordinance would designate the Police Commission as the agency which implements traffic calming measures.

Currently there is a painted crosswalk on Queen Street near the southernmost driveway entrance to Newtown Middle School. The planned raised crosswalk, which would be somewhat farther north on Queen Street, would replace the painted crosswalk.

Currently there is no crosswalk on Glover Avenue, near Meadow Road, where the new raised crosswalk would be installed.

Both crosswalks are intended to make it safer for pedestrians in general, and Newtown Middle School students in particular, to cross the street in the congested area. State law requires motorists to yield to pedestrians standing in crosswalks. Police have beefed up their enforcement of motorists violating the crosswalk law as part of an ongoing traffic enforcement campaign.

The raised crosswalks will be bolted onto the pavement of both streets, allowing them to be removed from the roads, if necessary, Mr Hurley said.

Mr Hurley said he hopes the devices are able to be used year-round. Snowplows are able to traverse the devices, he said.

“We’re finally going to have ‘Newtown experience’ with these things,” Mr Hurley said, noting that having the devices in place will provide people with some practical experience on the workability of the devices.

Mr Hurley said he does not expect that the presence of raised crosswalks would be a long-term solution for the traffic problems in the Queen Street/Glover Avenue area, but only the first step toward fashioning a long-term traffic solution.

In a related matter, the Police Commission has dropped its plans to conduct a traffic study on the feasibility of installing stop signs on Queen Street at its intersections with Lovell’s Lane and/or Elizabeth Street.

In June, commission members decided to study whether to install stop signs on Queen Street at those locations as a means to slow traffic on the heavily traveled road.

But after consideration, members decided that those stop signs are not warranted on Queen Street.