Description
It's rare when i actually see a driver come to a complete stop--nay, even slow to under 25 mph before blowing through this set of stop signs, usually going along alston towards edgewood or fountain. There are many younger children who live on woodbridge ave and the nearby streets who ride their bikes and scooters...needless to say, it's extremely dangerous for children and adult pedestrians alike. We need to have the City enforce these stop signs for the safety of all our neighbors.
9 Comments
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
I completely agree and will provide some rationale below.
But first, have you considered working with your local Aldermen & neighbors to submit a "Complete Streets Request Form"? They are available at http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Engineering/completestreets.asp. New Haven's Complete Streets manual has been widely recognized as one of the best in the country, but requires ongoing public pressure -- I believe that getting these types of public requests on the official record, alongside similar requests from the many other neighborhoods within New Haven, will help provide an impetus for the city improve the safety of roadways over time. The requests will be documented in annual reports and implementation (or lack of) can be tracked each year. If you need help completing the form itself you may want to contact your local alderperson, some of the folks at New Haven Safe Streets at newhavensafestreets at gmail.com or folks at Elm City Cycling, a bike/pedestrian advocacy group at elmcitycycling.org.
We do need a strategy to lower the speeds here. This street, as well as all other residential side streets throughout New Haven, should be posted at 15 or 20 miles per hour. Within residential sections of other Connecticut towns and cities, posted speeds of 15 or 20, and sometimes even 10, are common. New York City is implementing 20MPH speed limits within 75 neighborhoods starting this year. Speeds of more than 15 or 20MPH are completely unacceptable in residential areas because they create noise and lead to numerous pedestrian injuries, and sometimes fatalities of young children. Are New Haven's children worth less than the children of other towns and cities in the state?
I would start by lowering the speeds using an MUTCD area speed limit, but in the longer-term, narrowing the street down by deploying changes to the physical condition and/or the visual perception of it, would be by far the most effective way to create a more "livable" street.
There are dozens of options for doing this, ranging from more costly to less costly:
-New curbs, bump outs, shorter curb to curb crossing distances, chicanes, physically narrow streets
-Raised crosswalks at intersections, such as http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/edwards_st._raises_the_bar/
-Alternative Painting and striping techniques, additional speed limit indications on roadway or other progressive roadway markings
-Many types of so-called "temporary" (in reality, semi-permanent) traffic calming measures that the city has largely ignored up to this date, even though they cost almost nothing to install and are extremely effective.
- Traffic circles: Very cheap, and the City of Seattle has installed over 1,000 of these, see http://www.usroads.com/journals/rmej/9801/rm980102.htm to see exactly how effective they have been.
E (Registered User)
Elaine (Guest)
Greg Dildine (former Ward 25 Alderman) (Registered User)
Please see my blog related to this:
http://dildine25.blogspot.com/p/westville-complete-streets-project-list.html
scroll down to see traffic engineering standards for 4-way stops and most recent warrant study results for Alden & Willard
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
Without the more specific data on traffic enforcement from the NHPD, it will be extremely difficult to request action and track progress on speeding or stop sign enforcement at a neighborhood level. All of the neighborhood management teams throughout New Haven, as well as more than 30 elected officials, have been requesting this since 2008, but progress was more or less nonexistent between 2008 and 2010 (with the exception of a dozen or so neighborhood speeding ticket reports from our police spokesperson over the course of those three years). Continued discussion is now being held up because our traffic division currently has no staff. See http://www.newhavensafestreets.org/2011/09/coalition-receives-response-from-mayor.html for details.
Bottom line is that the community currently has very little idea of what is going on - without ongoing high-quality information, there's no way to solve this issue.
Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking (Registered User)
Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking (Registered User)
Closed City of New Haven (Verified Official)
Due to the age of this post, it will be closed. NHPD is now monitoring these posts, but they need to be able to distinguish information that is current. If this issue is a continuing problem, please report as a new post in this category to clearly identify it as a current problem. You can reference this post, which will stay archived on the website accessible to NHPD District Managers. Any immediate public safety issue should be called into 9-1-1, however.
You can also contact the NHPD District Manager directly. To determine who to contact, follow this link: http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Police/index.asp and click on the Patrol Bureau - Community Policing tab. Thank you.
Elaine (Guest)