In response to the public safety concerns of Pearl Street residents, who want to curb the speed of motorists there, police officials will further study the problem in seeking a solution.

About a dozen Pearl Street area residents attended the December 1 Police Commission meeting to register their speeding concerns. The Police Commission is the local traffic authority.

The hilly, curving 3,600-foot-long Pearl Street connects Washington Avenue to Philo Curtis Road. Pearl Street is the main road at Tilson Woods, a 40-lot subdivision of large homes that was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission in 2000. Two dead-end streets, Tilson Lane and Charlie’s Circle, extend northward from the east-west Pearl Street.

Pearl Street lies just north of the westbound lanes of Interstate 84 in the vicinity of Exit 11. The northeast section of Tilson Woods abuts Treadwell Park.

Due to its location, Pearl Street often is used as an alternate route by motorists seeking to avoid the traffic congestion that occurs during daily rush periods on the section of Berkshire Road lying between Newtown High School and Pole Bridge Road. A police traffic study indicates about 1,230 vehicles travel on Pearl Street daily.

Herman Valentin of 9 Pearl Street, who has lived there for 15 months, told Police Commission members that the “excessive speed” of some motorists poses a public safety risk to residents. The street is not wide enough to handle the volume of traffic which it carries, he said.

Speeding motorists make it difficult for residents to either walk or jog on the street, he said. When driving westward and downhill on the road, motorists pick up speed, traveling as fast as 60 miles per hour in what is a posted 25-mph speed zone, he said.

Mr Valentin said that a majority of Pearl Street residents want “speed tables” to be installed on that road to reduce travel speeds.

In response to other speeding problems, the Police Commission has had five speed tables installed on the southern section of Queen Street and four speed tables installed on Key Rock Road.

Police Commission member Andrew Sachs observed that police officials need to do more travel speed research on Pearl Street to better understand the problem.

Another Pearl Street resident told Police Commission members of a past motor vehicle accident in which a truck traveling there damaged his property. He suggested that installing speed tables is likely the best way to deal with the speeding problem.

Alex Rio of 4 Tilson Lane stressed the dangers posed to residents by the high-speed vehicles that travel on Pearl Street.

Charles Dunn of 30 Pearl Street said the presence of speeders has made it dangerous for residents backing their vehicles out of their driveways.

“Something really has to be done,” he said.

“Sometimes, you literally just have to jump out of the way” of the speeders, he said.

Patricia Goldbach of 4 Pearl Street said that conditions have gotten so bad that she can no longer walk her dog on the street.

When police arrive to conduct a radar speed patrol there, they stay only briefly, after which the speeding resumes, she said.

Police Captain Joe Rios told Police Commission members that police will do more research on the Pearl Street speeding problem.

He noted the streets use as a cut-through for motorists seeking to avoid traffic congestion near the high school.

Police radar patrols will continue on Pearl Street and electronic travel speed displays, which show motorists their travel speed in relation to the posted speed limit, will continue to be posted there, he said.

Capt Rios suggested that Pearl Street residents obtain the marker plate numbers of speeding motorists and provide those numbers to police, if possible.

Police Commission Chairman Joel Faxon said that through further study, the commission would learn if posting police officers on speed patrol at Pearl Street is sufficient to solve the problem or if “speed calming” devices are needed there.

When police place speed-detection devices on Pearl Street again, they will be positioned uphill of the location where they were initially placed in order to gain more data, Capt Rios said.

“We’re on the case…We’re on the case,” Mr Faxon told the Pearl Street residents.