Traffic Panel Weighs Options

For Queen-Glover Intersection 

By Andrew Gorosko

Police Commission members, in their role as the local traffic authority, are again considering how to improve the safety of the hazardous intersection of Queen Street and Glover Avenue, which lies near Newtown Middle School.

The north-south Queen Street and the east-west Glover Avenue meet at a triangular intersection, just southwest of the school’s southern driveway. A grassy area with several mature trees and plantings comprises a triangular traffic island at the intersection. Vehicular turning motions at the intersection are controlled by stop signs, except for southbound traffic on Queen Street, which has no stop sign.

At a September 2 Police Commission session, commission Chairman Carol Mattegat suggested that a traffic roundabout, or rotary, be created at the intersection to improve conditions there. Creating a rotary would allow the vegetation to remain at the intersection, she said.

But commission member Bruce Walczak asked whether a rotary would cause more motor vehicle accidents at the intersection.

Rotaries are effective devices for traffic control, Ms Mattegat responded.

But commission member Brian Budd observed that traffic rotaries are not designed with pedestrian safety in mind.

Creating a T-shaped intersection would be an improvement over the existing triangular intersection, Mr. Budd said.

Commission member Duane Giannini said that traffic speeds tend to increase when motorists travel in rotaries. “I’m not a fan of the rotary,” he said.

What the commission decides to do to improve the Queen/Glover intersection amounts to “a big decision,” Mr Walczak said.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe noted that a past traffic planning study suggested six options for improving the Queen-Glover intersection.

Earlier this year, the Police Commission had asked that the traffic planning firm that performed that 2006 study for the town revisit the issue of how best to improve the Queen-Glover intersection.

But, Chief Kehoe explained that the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), which oversaw the traffic planning study, has informed the town that the six options for improving the intersection are the only options available from the traffic planning firm.

To deal with the technical aspects of traffic planning, Police Commission members had requested that the town provide money in its 2008-09 budget to hire a consulting traffic engineer for the commission’s use, but that funding request was denied.

Ms Mattegat urged that the commission again seek such funding for traffic engineering in its 2009-10 town budget request.

For the past several years, commission members have considered town center residents’ complaints about traffic problems in the town center, especially along Queen Street.

Those complaints led the town to conduct two traffic/pedestrian planning studies of that area, the most recent one being the 2006 Queen Street Area Traffic Improvement Plan.

That traffic plan listed a wide range of recommendations on how the town center’s growing traffic volume can best be managed during the coming 20 years. It focused on the reconfiguration of several major intersections, including the Queen-Glover intersection and the Main Street flagpole intersection.

Traffic Calming

In a related matter, Police Commission members agreed to meet on September 22 to discuss the panel’s new role as the local agency in charge of “traffic calming.” Commission members said they would be discussing formulating some traffic calming guidelines at the meeting.

In August, the Legislative Council approved a town ordinance on traffic calming. That ordinance provides the town with a legal foundation for pursuing traffic calming projects.

Traffic calming uses various methods to have motorists reduce their travel speeds in a given area.

In its first traffic calming venture, the town soon plans to install two “raised crosswalks” near the middle school to both slow traffic in the area and also to make it safer for pedestrians, especially students, to cross the street.

Those devices consist of crosswalks positioned atop broad speed bumps. The portable units are slated to be installed on Queen Street near the southern driveway of the middle school, and also on Glover Avenue near its intersection with Meadow Road.

Resident Paul Morris of 15 Glover Avenue told Police Commission members that truck traffic on Queen Street and Glover Avenue exceeds the posted speed limit. Mr Morris said that posting a stop sign on southbound Queen Street at its intersection with Glover Avenue would calm the traffic flow.

Chief Kehoe said commission members have considered posting a stop sign there, but added that the panel does not have any traffic engineering information to substantiate the benefits of doing so.

The police chief said that posting a stop sign there might make traffic congestion worse near the middle school.