Description
I am hoping we can open a dialogue about Columbia Street. Myself and some friends have traveled down it recently and found even ATTEMPING to enter Main heading towards Shell to be dangerous at best.
1. Since the opening of Target and other retailers downtown, the traffic on Main heading towards Division has gotten much heavier while the road remains only one lane each way. If you are exiting Columbia you have to somehow find an often rare spot to shoot out onto Main when no one is coming from Division and no one is flying down from Big Y. This invites an accident.
2. There is not a good view down Main towards Big Y unless you pull further out than is wise and the speed cars travel from Big Y to Division means you best move quickly when you find an opening.
3. Traffic uses Platt/Columbia as a way to avoid having to travel through the busy intersection of Main and Division where Shell is. One day I counted 10 cars in 15 minutes who did not live in the neighborhood. They came down Platt from Pulaski and instead of continuing down 243 to Division, came racing (yes racing) down Platt to the stop sign and then turned left onto Columbia.
Yes, this is probably faster than waiting at the light at Division and Main but there are plenty of small children on Platt and Columbia and the roads were not designed to be a short cut to Main for anyone wanting to save a minute.
I understand Columbia was two way once upon a time and can see why that stopped but having it a one-way exiting into Main is also dangerous.
Ansonia needs to:
1. Come up with some SAFE way for people to have right of way leaving Columbia so they can enter Main without having to play "chicken" with Main Street traffic.
2. Close Columbia where it meets Main for good. Redirect Columbia so it's one-way towards Platt and force vehicles to reach main via 243 or Hodge... roads designed to handle more traffic which both lead to Main Street via much safer routes.
5 Comments
Planner (Registered User)
Not a solution but the reason Columbia is routed in the direction toward S. Main (and not in the other direction) is to provide emergency dispatch from the Police Station to Main.
There is no easy solution to this other than to ban "Through Traffic" or for the city to place a signal at Columbia & Main. The state will not install a signal there.
Michael Raymond (Registered User)
Thanks!
You're point is valid. I can certainly see that this is a faster way for the police to reach Main Street. Sadly, it is also a faster way for anyone coming down "upper Platt" to get to Main and avoid the signal at 243 and Main creating too much traffic on streets not designed for it and a danger to children.
I agree the state won't install a signal there. I just wish there was a solution to the traffic flow and making it safer to enter Main from there. Of course, a police car can turn on it's light and exit whenever it feels like it.
joey d (Guest)
Michael Raymond (Registered User)
Thank you Joey,
I think perhaps Planner means Columbia was made one-way after the police station moved to it's current location to allow for fast access to Main Street? I GUESS it is true that if there is an emergency downtown or on Division it may be faster to fly down Platt and left onto Columbia knowing no traffic will be oncoming than going another route.
All that said, Columbia is still very dangerous to exit especially at peak times of the day. Main can't handle the traffic generated from Target, Big Y, etc. so that causes a much higher car count to be flowing towards Division than ever before. They also race down Main making trying to get a clear view from Columbia and being able to get out before a car flies by difficult at best.
Closed special treatment (Registered User)