The town has enlisted the services of a traffic engineering firm to help it devise plans to resolve a chronic motorist speeding problem on Toddy Hill Road, a north-south town road that links Sandy Hook to Botsford. Toddy Hill Road’s name becomes Botsford Hill Road south of its intersection with Button Shop Road.

Many motorists use the two-lane blacktop roadway as a shortcut to expedite travel between Sandy Hook and Botsford, rather than using the often-congested South Main Street for their north/south trips.

Police Chief James Viadero discussed the Toddy Hill Road speeding problem at length at a special meeting of the Police Commission held on June 13 at the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps headquarters at Fairfield Hills. The Police Commission is the Traffic Authority, addressing traffic issues on local roads.

It was expected that a group of Toddy Hill Road area residents who had vigorously complained about the street’s speeding problems at a May 7 Police Commission meeting would attend that session, but only one person from that neighborhood showed up. The Police Commission’s June meeting, which was to have been held on Tuesday, June 4, at Town Hall South, was postponed to the June 13 session at the ambulance building.

Chief Viadero explained that traffic engineer Michael Galante, who is the managing principal of Fredrick P. Clark Associates Inc, has been hired by the town to perform an independent traffic study on Toddy Hill Road. Chief Viadero said that data collection for the traffic study has started, and more information will be gathered.

In the past, after the town had received continuing complaints from the residents of Queen Street and Key Rock Road about speeding problems in their neighborhoods, the town had traffic consultants study how “traffic calming” techniques could be used to hold down traffic speeds. In both cases, the town installed “speed tables” on sections of those roadways — five on Queen Street and four on Key Rock Road. Speed tables are broad speed bumps that have a shallow pitch designed to have motorists observe the posted speed limit in the area.

Of the recent speeding complaints by Toddy Hill Road area residents, Chief Viadero said, “It’s been a hot topic... There was a lot of emotion there.”

The chief said, “We’re looking at progressive steps,” adding that he has discussed the situation with First Selectman Dan Rosenthal.

The chief said that during the past decade, the volume of traffic traveling on local roads has increased significantly. Toddy Hill Road is being used more heavily than ever as a local north-south short-cut, he added. Chief Viadero noted that there are industrial properties situated at both ends of the road.

“Toddy Hill Road is a traffic enforcement priority,” he said, adding that the road has about 7,000 vehicle trips daily. It is posted with a 30-mph speed limit.

“We’re hoping that we’re making some kind of impact there,” the police chief said of increased police traffic enforcement on Toddy Hill Road. “We spent a lot of time out there,” he said. He presented many enforcement statistics to illustrate the time police have spent on speed patrol there.

The use of an electronic speed display and having police posted there has decreased motorist speeds, Chief Viadero said.

On June 17, the portable electronic speed display was positioned on the northbound road shoulder of Toddy Hill Road, just north of its intersection with Pilgrim Lane. The device displays the speed of the vehicles approaching it in the 30-mph zone. When a vehicle’s speed hits 40 mph or higher, brilliant red and blue lights flash above the displayed speed.

“We’re going to do what we have to do to make that a safe road,” the chief said. He recommended that a rumble strip be installed along the road’s center lines.

Although police have spent much time on traffic enforcement in the neighborhood, they are not able to sustain such a heavy speed enforcement presence in one place, when considering the other duties they face, he said.

The police chief said, “I was frustrated when several individuals implied we weren’t doing anything” about the speeding problem. Those people attended the May 7 Police Commission meeting.

A Single Resident

The one Toddy Hill Road resident who attended the June 13 session, Kim Jaeckal, said police are doing something about the problem. She said that Toddy Hill Road area residents just do not want speeding to occur in their neighborhood.

Ms Jaeckal asked what schedule the town would follow in posting improved traffic signage along Toddy Hill Road. She also asked whether new traffic signs would be installed.

Police Commission Vice Chairman Brian Budd, who chaired the June 13 meeting, said the planned traffic study will explain what measures would work best to resolve the speeding problem. The heightened police presence and the use of the electronic speed display have had a positive effect on the situation, but those measures are not a permanent solution, he said.

Ms Jaeckal pointed out that the electronic speed display tends to have a positive effect within about a quarter-mile area near that display.

The town plans to install at least two permanent electronic speed displays in the problem area.

On May 7, about 15 people from the Toddy Hill Road neighborhood attended the Police Commission session to push for better control of reckless drivers and speeders who pass through their area while traveling on the road.

The intense May 7 session was reminiscent of a May 2, 2017, Police Commission meeting, which about a dozen Toddy Hill Road area residents attended to stress the need for better control over drivers in that area. Early on the morning of May 2, 2017, a serious one-car accident had occurred on Toddy Hill Road, near Clearview Drive.

Since then, a handful of Toddy Hill Road area residents have regularly attended monthly Police Commission sessions to stress the need for better control over speeders and reckless drivers in their neighborhood.