Town officials said Tuesday that they’ll study the speeds of cars traveling southbound on Lukes Wood Road after hearing concerns from neighborhood residents that limited sight lines make it difficult for motorists at the Michigan Road intersection to see approaching vehicles.
Looking up Lukes Wood Road from the end of Michigan Road in New Canaan. Some residents of Michigan are calling for a stop sign for the southbound traffic on Lukes Wood. Credit: Michael Dinan
Police Capt. John DiFederico said he also will seek not only speeds but measurements on line-of-site distance for motorists waiting at the end of Michigan Road to turn onto Lukes Wood Road.
Part of what makes it difficult for Michigan Road motorists is a bend in Lukes Wood Road just before the intersection, DiFederico said at a meeting of the Traffic Calming Work Group. The administrative team includes members of the Police, Fire, Emergency Management and Public Works departments. It fields residents’ requests for traffic calming, making recommendations to the Police Commission.
“I want to have the distance measured for the line of sight if you are at Michigan, to see how far you can see, to determine if you can give people enough time to get out of Michigan safely,” DiFederico said at the meeting, held at the New Canaan Police Deparmtent. “For example, if it’s 200 feet and [cars are traveling at] 35 mph and you cannot see around the corner if the way is clear. That is how we determine if a stop sign is warranted there.”
Two residents of Michigan Road, Cheryl Goss and Catherine Wu, attended the meeting and voiced their concerns to DiFederico.
According to data captured by a speed sentry in the area, the 85th percentile of motorists travel approximately 35 mph on Michigan—against a speed limit of 25 mph.
Wu said there are “a lot of young kids” on Michigan Road and that New York trucks and cars using Lukes Wood Road as a cut-through between Routes 123 and 124 are “very, very dangerous to us.”
“I feel my children’s life is threatened,” she said.
Wu said she lives on the corner of Michigan and Lukes Wood Roads and that there’s no effective way to landscape her property in order to improve the sight line because the danger comes from the contour of the road.
Goss added that motorists often travel far too fast and dangerously so on Michigan Road, which—narrow and with high embankments—is already unfriendly to pedestrian use.
A resident of the street for about two years, Goss said she has a utility pole in front of her house that had been struck by a motorist shortly before she moved in, and that it’s been struck again since then.
Regarding the prospect of a stop sign, DiFederico said that traffic officials are wary of midblock stop signs because motorists do not anticipate them and that can create a false sense of security for other motorists or pedestrians who think vehicles automatically will stop.
With that said, DiFederico added: “This does look like something that needs a closer look.”
DiFederico said he would consult with Public Works Director Tiger Mann with an eye on proposing to the Police Commission at its next meeting (in September) that the town obtain a traffic study of the intersection.
What about the eastbound junction from North Wilton Rd onto 123? While it makes sense for the westbound 123 traffic to simply angle onto North Wilton Road, for traffic going the other way, having the merge at an angle as it it now makes seeing back over your right shoulder at a severe angle nearly impossible. The traffic on 123 can be heavy and quite fast. A much safer alternative would be to make the eastbound lane of North Wilton curve to the right so it was at a 90 degree angle to 123. This would make the eastbound merge a full left turn with clear sight lines of oncoming traffic in both directions.
Good idea!
It would help if they just kept the edge of the road mowed. When weeds get too high you can’t see a thing until you are half way out. But people do drive about 50 not 25 – same on Michigan Rd. I am sure I am going to be killed coming out of my drive some day or getting the mail.
We kept asking our landscaper mowing the weed on the edge between michigan and luks wood rd , however, the key problem is people (especially driving cars with NY plates) driving TOO fast and the road is curved which makes people’s barely see the left coming car. There’s no way for us to bend the road, but we could add a STOP sign at least to protect our children.
The issue is that motorists are traveling too fast on Luke’s Wood and that the road is being used as a ‘short cut’ for New York cars (instead of sticking to the main roads). Luke’s Wood is not designed for such traffic which causes safety issues including at the intersection with Michigan.
To resolve, the objective should be to reduce the number of cars and actual travel speeds on Luke’s Wood.
The best way to achieve this is by adding 3 to 4 wide speed bumps on Luke’s Wood, starting just South of Grace Farm’s entrance and ending North of Michigan, along with reducing Luke’s Wood speed limit to 20 miles an hour.
Motorists traveling routinely from NY would be discouraged from using Luke’s Wood as a short cut by having to slow down to 10 miles an hour over the bumps (spaced approximately 400 – 500 feet from each other) effectively reducing through traffic… and actual speeds between the bumps will likely slow to 25 MPH or less. The combination will resolve the Michigan Road intersection as well as other safety issues for pedestrians and bicyclists on Luke’s Wood.
There should be a flow study with times to see how people are using the main road and the connecting roads to Lukes Wood. A study could show the uses and speeds along with intensity to see if people are avoiding intersections such as RT. 123 and Puding Hill etc due to the increase in traffic at that intersection. The sooner the better with the study as there are discussions underway with the Grace Farms Foundation application that then could provide conditions to alleviate these concerns.