News

‘40 Kids Is a Lot of Kids’: Town Officials Lay Out Plan To Calm Traffic on River Street

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Responding to safety concerns from residents who live along a densely housed residential street where motorists tend to speed, town officials say they’re looking at a number of ways to slow down traffic. River Street runs for about a half-mile parallel to Route 123 between Brushy Ridge and Strawberry Hill Roads, along the Fivemile River, with most of its houses—many of them multi-family dwellings—on the east side of the street. It has no speed limit signage, faded ‘no parking’ signs on one side, needs (and is scheduled) to be repaved and often sees drivers cut the light while traveling northbound on 123 at Brushy Ridge Road, speeding up to 50 and 60 mph, according to Christine Simmons, a representative of River Street and Charles Place residents. “We have 40 kids on River Street between the ages of 1 year old to 18 years old and the elementary school kids they get picked up on multiple places on River Street and in the fall and winter it’s dark,” Simmons told members of the Traffic Calming Work Group at their most recent meeting. “There are no street lights and we have the older kids that honestly they need education on driving on River Street because they are sometimes the violators of the speed,” Simmons continued at the meeting, held March 20 at the New Canaan Police Department.

Around Town

Officials Receive Request To Swap Angled and Parallel Parking Sides on One-Way Stretch of Elm Street

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Town officials say they received a request from a resident to swap the angled and parallel parking on Elm Street to opposite sides along the busy one-way stretch—a suggestion that, if New Canaan’s traffic authority considered it, could open a larger, longstanding discussion about the direction of traffic flow in the center of the business district. The suggestion was made in the context of safety, according to members of the Traffic Calming Work Group, an administrative team of public works, police and fire officials that met March 20 at the New Canaan Police Department. The resident “suggested moving the angled parking to the other side because when you are looking over your right shoulder as you back out of a spot, you have a better line of sight than your left shoulder,” Police Capt. John DiFederico said. “It’s blocked by the vehicle. It makes sense but that is a dramatic change.

News

Selectmen Approve New Security Cameras at NCPD

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $9,205 contract with a Norwalk-based company to replace security cameras at the New Canaan Police Department. The Board of Selectmen voted 2-0 in favor of the contract with Security Solutions. The funds are to be paid of out this year’s approved capital budget, according to Police Capt. Andrew Walsh. The department’s current video surveillance system is “over a decade old with grainy footage,” Walsh said during the selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “We have a few blind spots around the building,” he said.

News

Traffic Officials Urge Motorists, Joggers To Work Together To Ensure Pedestrian Safety

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Traffic officials are urging New Canaan motorists and pedestrians, especially joggers or runners, to work together to ensure everyone’s safety at intersections where motor vehicles often converge with people on foot. After recent repaving along South Avenue between Farm Road and the downtown, crosswalk striping was not immediately re-installed at certain intersections, confusing some about “what cars needed to do,” according to Police Capt. John DiFederico. “If you continue jogging down the sidewalk, not wanting to break stride, you have to make sure you make eye contact with cars and that they see you, too,” DiFederico said Oct. 17 during a meeting of the Traffic Calming Work Group. The administrative team, which includes representatives from police, fire, public works and emergency management, fields requests and complaints related to traffic calming and makes recommendations to New Canaan’s traffic authority, the Police Commission.

Government

Police Vow To Slow Traffic on Nursery Road, a Popular Detour for Merritt Parkway Motorists

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Saying a residential street in New Canaan has become a popular detour for Merritt Parkway motorists who zip along it, police said Tuesday that they’re taking steps to slow down the traffic. Speed sentry data on Marvin Ridge Road a “high increase of traffic” traveling westbound from about 7 to 9 a.m. and again going eastbound from about 3 to 4 p.m., according to New Canaan Police Capt. John DiFederico. Many drivers are traveling the 25 mph road at 35 mph, “so we are going to put the speed sentries out there again next week,” DiFederico said during a meeting of the Traffic Calming Work Group. The group, which includes members of the Fire, Police, Emergency Management and Public Works Departments, fields requests for traffic calming and makes recommendations to the appropriate municipal agency. DiFederico said he has called on police patrol shifts to boost enforcement during peak times and added that it’s possible the town will install a ‘Bus Stop Ahead’ sign on the street.