The state has agreed to pay for most of the work needed to make one of New Canaan’s most harrowing intersections safer for pedestrians, officials said Tuesday.
Looking southbound along Route 123 at Locust Avenue, on June 25, 2015. Credit: Michael Dinan
The Board of Selectmen approved a $7,000 contract with Bridgeport-based Cabezas-DeAngelis Engineers & Surveyors to create a formal design—likely with push-button signals, sidewalks, pedestrian ramps and crosswalks—to help pedestrians cross Route 123 where Locust Avenue and Brushy Ridge Road come in.
Brought to the attention of town officials in June by a resident of the area, the complicated intersection at the moment allows for “no pedestrian access across [New Norwalk Road],” Tiger Mann, the assistant director of the Department of Public Works, said at the selectmen’s meeting, held in Town Hall.
The intersection of Locust Avenue at Route 123, from the Locust Avenue side. On June 25, 2015. Credit: Michael Dinan
“The push buttons that are there are behind the guardrail, you can’t get to them, there’s no connectivity as far as where the sidewalk ends on Locust to anything across the street—River Street, Brushy Ridge—and you have several residents trying to cross the street. It’s a busy intersection, it’s got four legs into it.”
Residents in the area have told town officials that awkwardly timed traffic signals are prompting motorists to speed and run red lights at the intersection. More families with young kids have moved into the area, residents have said (there are five bus stops on Locust alone between Cherry and 123), and cars at peak times back up as far as Cherry Street itself.
The intersection of Locust Avenue at Route 123, from the Summer Street side. On June 25, 2015. Credit: Michael Dinan
State officials two months ago sketched out a plan whereby sidewalks on Locust would be extended and a new crosswalk on 123 would help pedestrians cross along the south side of the intersection. However, it wasn’t clear how much of the estimated $33,000 cost the DOT would be willing to fund.
According to Mann, New Canaan under a new proposal would pay for a $4,000 topographic survey and then $3,000 design.
Selectman Beth Jones said: “That is a really tough intersection, the way Summer Street goes in and River Street goes in.”
Selectman Nick Williams called the intersection “one of the toughest in town.”
Motorists approaching from Locust Avenue and Brushy Ridge Road get a traffic light and are instructed to stop well before the intersection at a red light—a signed directive that is frequently disobeyed. Motorists on Summer and River Streets come to a stop sign before entering those “feeder” streets. Though there’s a “push for green signal” button for pedestrians on two corners to cross New Norwalk Road, the intersection itself has no crosswalk and in any case, the light signal does not allow for a pedestrian-only crossing of the state road when it’s used. The only sidewalk that approaches the intersection runs along the south side of Locust Avenue and it terminates where Summer Street comes in.
First Selectman Rob Mallozzi told the resident who flagged the problems at the intersection—Lauren Cerretani, who was at the meeting—that he was “delighted” with her initiative.
“We don’t usually get this response from the DOT, so we might ask you to do some more lobbying,” he told her.