Definitely agree! People loiter illegally in the lobby of 746 and block the door.

I have sent the requested form to the Engineering Department, Mr. Richard Miller, at the City of New Haven as instructed on the website. Please vote to fix the issue if you live or work in the vicinity!

Form was submitted 25 days ago, awaiting a reply from the City of New Haven's Engineering Department.

The sidewalk is probably too narrow here to accommodate a shelter structure. The city needs to maintain wide sidewalks in order to encourage walkability, especially on its main commercial streets like Chapel.

However, bumping out the curb would create plenty of room for a bus shelter.

This section of Chapel Street was significantly widened in the 1960s in order to accommodate more car traffic, which was an unnecessary move.

Lanes can be removed here (just as the City did last year on the section of Chapel Eastbound between Church and Orange), which would allow plenty of space for a balanced, complete street that could easily have car travel lanes, bike lanes, bus stops, shorter pedestrian crossing distances, AND wide sidewalks altogether.

Mark, they do happen to be re-paving the street in question at this precise time... anything to be done? I still have heard nothing back from the City department who is holding the request, incidentally.

I don't think they are planning to make any changes at this time. They are adding striping, etc., and apparently didn't tell anyone in advance that the project would be done so there was none of the community/public oversight that might have allowed more progressive engineering.

Can you post here if you receive an acknowledgement of your request form? It may be worth checking in to make sure it was received. Though just having the request on the books is important, it would help to bring the form around to neighbors or management team meetings, and collect more signatures.

Still nothing whatever from the city... in the meanwhile, [mass-transport-supporting] people continue to live out part of their lives awaiting the bus in the available shelter -- two entryways to 746 Chapel. We have to ask people to move their small children so that we can open the door without injuring them, which is part of why this seems like an accident waiting to happen. Toddlers sitting in front of a sharp, heavy door seems like plenty enough reason to find or design an alternative.

Hey Greta,
What would you think about opening a second issue to promote a full service bus terminal on State Street in one of the lots. The loitering and litter are not conducive to improving what should be the main retail corridor in New Haven and moving all of the bus goers off of this street would go a really long way.

To be clear I have no issue with the people who take the bus. I do have an issue with the tension that is created from too many people being jammed onto a sidewalk with no accommodations.

I think that bus terminals are the sort of place that people avoid, and I would like to have the alternatives integrated into the city so I'm hesitant to do that. Relocation to a place that could have a shelter --and if at all possible a live map of where the buses are on the routes, for the otherwise-missing accountability factor that makes bus-taking a nightmare-- would be well worth a few clicks. Particularly as my "Complete Streets Request" seems to have gone straight to the circular file, which I admit naive surprise at.

Bus stop now has a nice weather-protected schedule on a post that looks rather permanent... but no bus shelter. If there is not enough room here for a shelter, is there enough room here to have a proper bus stop at all?

Side note: sharpened tree stump still here, at ankle height. Can the city send someone out with an axe to get rid of that?

We need a shelter and a bench. This door is dangerous.

Ben, I'm going to change my reply on moving this bus stop, as I've received word from the City a couple of weeks ago that they are thinking about the problem, but can't currently see a bus shelter going in here. A sheltered bus stop on State could be the solution; ideas?

Hey Greta,
I met with Jim Travers last week and he believes that a shelter can go in here.

The new bench is great. However, I think that Travers and the city's engineering office are misguided if they believe that they can add a full scale shelter here without widening the sidewalk.

The proper approach would be to add a "curb extension"/"bumpout" like the one shown here in Cambridge, Massachusetts:

http://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/Transportation/design/Transit.aspx

or the "bus bulb" like this one in NYC:

http://landscapeonline.com/research/article/12267

Wide sidewalks are needed to encourage walking in Downtown and also promote safety by giving people enough space to maneuver with baby carriages, bicycles, and the like. If you look around other bus stops in Downtown New Haven, you'll notice that the shelters are often set back or located on an area with an especially wide sidewalk.

Bumping out the curb would create plenty of room for a bus shelter. This section of Chapel Street was significantly widened in the 1960s in order to accommodate more car traffic, which was an unnecessary move. If appropriately configured, this street can easily have car travel lanes, bike lanes, bus stops, shorter pedestrian crossing distances, AND wide sidewalks altogether.

Mark, I'm with you. I have come to view this as one of NHV's most dangerous intersections, precisely in front of this bus stop. Looking at the footage when a police report is made would enlighten the City on what's happening here. In the meanwhile, the awesome new privately-funded cardboard bench is cause for celebration and smiles from a lot of bus commuters.

While I'm asking for things I don't want to personally pay for (!), can Superman, Wonderwoman, URI or Public Works replace the cursed sharpened stump at the same bus stop (for long over a year now) with an actual tree? If this chunk of sidewalk were owned privately, it would be called Blight...

Bus riders congregate in front of my business on rainy days, because there is no shelter. They leave trash on ground, are noisy and disrespectful and block the entrance so no one can enter the shop. It would be better if the bus stop was moved...

Hey Leah,

Have you thought about leaving a trash pail out by the temporary benches that we could just empty in the big street pail at the end of the day?

I'll look around our office to see if we have extras if you don't.

B

Hi Ben,

Biggest issue is probably the blocking of the entrance- gets really crowded in front of our shop on rainy days. It's the only storefront that provides coverage from the rain. We don't mind sweeping up a bit of trash, comes with the job, don't really like the idea of a trash can at the entrance.

How's the progress on the shelter?

That makes sense Leah. Which shop are you?

So: there is a Chairigami (cardboard, temporary, mobile) bench here, thanks to community fundraising now. City of New Haven, is there any chance that we could morph that into a permanent structure? And get rid of the sharp stump at that bus stop while you're at it? (Said stump has been in residence for going on two years now. Holy cow.)

I work in the building. My understanding is that the sidewalk outside is too narrow for a regular bus shelter. I think someone should be talking to the City about that issue. If it is too narrow, it might be a good idea to explore the idea of moving the bus stop one block up to the "Lot" on Chapel Street. It seems that all the same buses stop at both places. It's also very difficult for the buses to turn left after they pick up people on the corner of Chapel and State St. Just an idea.

I think it's time to give up on this.

I disagree. Putting in a bus "bulb-out" as suggested above can't happen overnight, but it is a worthwhile goal given that from an economic development perspective this is one of the most important intersections in the entire city (and by extension, the entire state).

"can't happen overnight" public improvements happen in "dog years", in New Haven, that is, if it takes one year to do the same thing in a city like Seattle, it takes at least seven years to do the same thing in New Haven, which is why people move out of the city, because they realize that few, if any, improvements will be made in their lifetimes. On the other hand, at least we aren't Hartford or Bridgeport. We're the "cleanest dirty shirt".

Well, it definitely didn't work as a 2012 resolution. The "bulb" would also be useful to stop the speeding through this light, which miraculously hasn't killed anyone to date. If the City wanted to raise money, they could simply use the video from this intersection to give tickets.

Just waiting, there's some truth to that. But are you sure the ratio is 7:1?

For instance, Seattle has installed over 1,000 mini-circles, for instance - each of them done at very low cost by simply adding a curb, in the shape of a circle, in the middle of the street with appropriate plantings. These have virtually eliminated the chance of a collision at each intersection where used, and can dramatically reduce speeds in residential areas. In New Haven we have done a total of roughly one roundabout circle per year, and they have all been the really expensive kind.

Similarly, with the bump out/bulb issue discussed here, the city commonly says that it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take many years at a minimum, or "never happen", when weighed against other priorities. But somehow, in other cities, entire areas the size of New Haven have been traffic calmed within a few years, and hundreds of "temporary" bulbs/bumpouts can be erected in a matter of weeks using methods similar to in-street pedestrian signs.

Frustrating, indeed! If we want to improve street safety and attractiveness, we just need some citywide leadership and vision. We need people who can implement improvements like these at a rate that won't take us 500 years.

Well it won't matter if they put a bus shelter there the people that take the bus will not be able to wait for the bus in the shelter it will be full of the homeless people and there belongings as they sit there drinking just like the bus stop on elm st so we will still be left

New haven for bus travelers installed!

THANK YOU CITY!

Yay

Thanks for fixing this issue!

Thanks for fixing this issue!