Town officials are studying traffic patterns in northern New Canaan to figure out how signage and rights-of-way should work at a complicated intersection overlooking the Siscowit Reservoir.
Approaching the intersection of Bowery, Wakeman and Ogden Roads from Bowery Road southbound. Credit: Michael Dinan
Right now there are no signs instructing motorists about yielding at the intersection of Bowery, Wakeman and Ogden Roads—which is essentially four-way, since Bowery continues through and runs north across the state line, according to Tiger Mann, assistant director of the Department of Public Works and member of a advisory committee that fields requests for traffic calming. This request came in from a resident who noted that there are no signs there now.
The question facing Mann and others on the Traffic Calming Work Group now, he said, is: “Does the cut-through traffic come up Ogden or does it come up Wakeman?”
Approaching the same intersection from Bowery running out of New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
“That’s the biggest question,” Mann said at the group’s June 14 meeting, held in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department.
There’s little time advantage between the two, as they run roughly parallel and dump one house apart onto Lukes Wood Road to the south.
Mann said he felt more comfortable as a motorist navigating the intersection taking Wakeman, but that ultimately he would return in the morning as commuters traverse it and see where they go.
“My car wanted to go Wakeman the entire time,” Mann recalled. “I don’t know if that’s because that is my mom’s maiden name or not.”
One change that the group decided to make straightaway was putting a stop sign on Bowery Road where it comes into the intersection.
There are already ‘Do Not Enter’ signs there, Mann said. Regarding the question of who would yield to whom, “the way I viewed it was that Wakeman would have the right-of-way and then Ogden would have to yield to Wakeman,” Mann said.
“I think what we need to do is watch cars in the morning and see where they are going. They might go to Ogden because it’s a better road. Wakeman is narrow. You have to go uphill but Ogden is the sharper turn and the striping directs you toward Wakeman. It doesn’t direct you toward Ogden.”
Having grown up on Bowery Road, and having negotiated that intersection for decades, my observations are: (1) Bowery Road residents usually go up Ogden, not Wakeman, since Ogden is wider and straighter; (2) early morning train commuters from NY state often go way too fast up Ogden in their effort to get a good parking spot at the station; (3) the overall flow of traffic is so light all day at that intersection that adding signs and “traffic calming” measures seems excessive to the situation. The police records could tell you if there’ve been any accidents there, but I don’t recall any.
I agree with Cam Hutchins comments on the Bowery, Ogden, Wakeman intersection. I have lived on Bowery road for 27 years and have never heard of nor seen any accidents, issues, confusion about how to navigate this intersection. Most cars drive up and down Ogden as Wakeman is smaller, steeper and the visibility is not as good as along Ogden. Please let this intersection be. Don’t waste Town time and money on this. I am sure you have more important tasks to deal with.