The Police Commission voted 3-0 last week to install a stop sign with flashing lights at Michigan and Smith Ridge Roads to alert westbound traffic seeking to cross or turn onto Route 123 of the dangerous intersection.
The move is one measure town officials are taking while they wait for the state to address concerns raised months ago regarding the intersection, site of “multiple serious accidents,” Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said during the Commission’s Oct. 16 meeting, held at police headquarters.
“We just had another one,” Krolikowski said. He referred to an Oct. 15 crash in the area. (The intersection saw yet another crash at about 8 a.m. Friday.)
“By the time the state gets a plan approved and they start work, who knows how long it is going to be?” he said. “So why not consider a flashing stop sign… maybe it will alert motorists to the stop sign there. Try it out, see if it works, and see if it is effectively alerting motorists, and maybe it will make the intersection a little bit safer.”
Following two serious crashes at Smith Ridge and Michigan Roads earlier this year, traffic officials requested that the Connecticut Department of Transportation conduct a study of the area. Two months later, two people were taken to the hospital following another major collision there. Last month, town officials said they’d address the problems at the intersection with or without the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s OK, though Route 123 is a state road and the work needed there—shaving back a ledge that limits sight lines—is in the state right-of-way.
Commissioners voting in favor of the flashing stop sign were Chairman Sperry DeCew, Paul Foley and Jim McLaughlin.
The ledge is just below the southeastern corner of the intersection.
Foley said northbound traffic on 123 appears to be traveling at 60 to 70 mph.
“They are on top of you,” he said.
Foley added, “But boy we have get that ledge down, that is the problem.”
Public Works Director Tiger Mann, a guest at the meeting, said that the town has formally recommended to the state that the ledge be removed.
“We already cut back foliage and we already trimmed some of the trees even though that is in their [the state’s] right-of-way, we went there and did that,” Mann said. “But that ledge is there and we need a permit for that.”
Krolikowski said that Public Works has a sign like the one needed in its inventory now.
Thank you for stepping up to ensure motorist safety at this intersection.
Another intersection that concerns me is Route 123 at Parade Hill Road. The congestion backs up on all sides of Rt. 123, Forest Road, Parade Hill Road, and at times Heritage Hill Road. At times, the high motorist speeds on Rt. 123 makes it difficult to enter Rt. 123 safely. Perhaps a blinking light would be appropriate here as well.
Thank you for your attention to these busy intersections.
Thanks Michael. I’m just seeking a clarification. Is the stop sign with blinking lights being installed on Michigan or as a new stop sign on 123?
On Michigan Road/for Michigan Road traffic, not on Route 123 itself.
I have lived near and navigated this intersection for nearly 50 years. The issue isn’t that Michigan Road traffic doesn’t observe the stop sign; it’s the fact that northbound traffic on 123, moving at 50-60 mph, does not have sufficient early warning of the Michigan Road intersection. As a result, northbound vehicles suddenly come upon westbound Michigan Road cars attempting to enter 123. A better solution in my opinion would be a much larger northbound intersection warning sign with either flashing LEDs or alternating yellow flashers like those warning of the curve on Oenoke Ridge at the Historical Society.