Police Panel OKs

Center Traffic Changes 

By Andrew Gorosko

The Police Commission is recommending to the Board of Selectmen that the Main Street flagpole intersection remain as is, that the triangular geometry of the Queen Street-Glover Avenue intersection remain unchanged, that several large speed bumps be added to Queen Street, that sidewalks be added to the southern section of Queen Street, and that the intersection of Queen Street, Mile Hill Road, and Tinkerfield Road be considered for traffic signal installation.

The Police Commission, which is the local traffic authority, made those recommendations to the selectmen after studying the Queen Street Area Traffic Improvement Plan, a 29-page traffic planning study prepared for the town on how traffic flow and motorist/pedestrian safety could be improved in the town center.

In a document issued at their July 10 meeting, Police Commission members detailed their responses to the 40 recommendations for improvements made by Stantec, Inc, a traffic planning firm formerly known as Vollmer Associates, LLP.

Stantec’s draft traffic plan recommends about 40 solutions for existing traffic/pedestrian problems on Queen Street, Glover Avenue, Church Hill Road (Route 6), Main Street (Route 25), Mile Hill Road (Route 860), and Commerce Road. The mile-long, north-south Queen Street links Church Hill Road to Mile Hill Road. The northern section of Queen Street has commercial and school uses. The southern section is residential.

“The (commission) recommends that the (Main Street) flagpole intersection remain untouched and intact,” Police Commission members agreed.  

A prime recommendation among Stantec’s suggestions is reconfiguring the Main Street flagpole intersection.

Stantec proposes a range of flagpole intersection changes as a travel safety measure and as a way to improve general traffic flow in the town center. Installing a set of traffic signals and reconfiguring traffic flow would improve the movement of traffic and pedestrians at the flagpole, according to Stantec. Entry to the intersection is now controlled by stop signs posted on Church Hill Road and on West Street.

Last December, the Borough Board of Burgesses also opposed altering the Main Street flagpole intersection.

“The (commission) is opposed to the reconfiguration as presented of the Queen Street and Glover Avenue intersection,” Police Commission members agreed.

Stantec proposes that the currently triangularly-shaped intersection be converted into a T-shaped intersection for safety reasons.

The Police Commission, however, endorses Stantec’s proposal for the placement of large, flat-topped speed bumps, known as “speed tables,” on Queen Street. One speed table with a crosswalk atop it would be located on Queen Street near the southern driveway entrance to Newtown Middle School. The other three speed tables would be installed on the section of Queen Street south of its intersection with Glover Avenue. However, the Police Commission points out that installation of such speed tables would require local “traffic calming” legislation and guidelines to be enacted.

Also, the Police Commission endorses constructing sidewalks alongside Queen Street, south of Glover Avenue.  

“The (commission) recommends that the State Traffic Commission conduct a traffic light study for the intersection on Queen Street, Mile Hill Road, and Tinkerfield Road. It further recommends that if warranted by the traffic light study, that the traffic light be installed,” according to the Police Commission.

The Queen Street and the Tinkerfield Road legs of the offset intersection are now controlled by stop signs. The movement of heavy, high-speed traffic on Mile Hill Road often makes it difficult for motorists on Queen Street and Tinkerfield Road to make turns onto Mile Hill Road.

The Police Commission also endorses the extension of Commerce Road to Wasserman Way to create a north-south route that would link Church Hill Road to Wasserman Way. “The (commission) understands the complexities and the substantial cost of this project,” it states, adding that such an effort should be expedited.

On July 11, First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said the selectmen would be reviewing the Queen Street Area Traffic Improvement Plan in the coming months in formulating which traffic improvement recommendations the town should pursue. The selectmen also will be reviewing the formal comments on the traffic plan made by the Police Commission and by the Borough Board of Burgesses. Most of the geographic area covered by the traffic plan lies within the borough.

Recommendations

In other recommendations to the selectmen, the Police Commission endorsed proposals to extend sidewalks along sections of Church Hill Road.

It also endorsed a variety planned traffic/pedestrian improvements to the intersection of Church Hill Road and Queen Street.               

The agency also supported improving the sidewalk network on Queen Street, north of its intersection with Glover Avenue.

Additionally, the panel supports four-way-red traffic-signal phasing at the southern driveway entrance to Newtown Shopping Village on Queen Street to improve the safety of pedestrians crossing the street there.

The Police Commission also recommends a variety of police traffic enforcement measures, including the use of  tri-town traffic enforcement squad in which Newtown, Bethel, and Redding currently participate.

The panel also endorses the use of automated speed control devices. Such devices instantaneously display the speed of oncoming vehicles, compared to the posted speed limit in the area.

Other devices, such as automated cameras, take photographs of the license plates of vehicles for traffic enforcement purposes. The commission acknowledges that such photographic traffic control devices are not currently permitted by state law, but urges that such state laws be approved to allow those devices’ use.

In their report, the Police Commission urges that the selectmen act soon on their various traffic recommendations.

In a letter to the editor in this week’s edition of The Newtown Bee, Borough Warden James Gaston raises a number of issues concerning the Queen Street Area Traffic Improvement Plan.

David Hannon, deputy director of the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), has told Police Commission members that much of the cost of the proposed traffic changes would be covered by grant funds, provided that the town pursues the project in a “unified way,” combining the many improvements recommended by the traffic consultants. HVCEO organized the traffic study for the town.

Excluding the consultants’ proposed extension of Commerce Road to Wasserman Way to create a local north-south connector road, the estimated cost of the consultants’ proposed traffic improvements is $1.89 million, based on 2006 cost information.

Since 2001, Queen Street area residents often have attended Police Commission meetings in seeking to resolve their concerns about the volume, speed, and noise of traffic along that congested road. The traffic plan that was produced by Stantec stemmed from those residents’ interest in improving traffic conditions along Queen Street.