I"ll copy this and give to the Police/Traffic Commission tomorrow night at their meeting. Feel free to attend and bring it up at their public session. Meeting is at 5:00, May 6, City Hall's Erlingheuser Room. I can't commit to tracking this issue. Recommend those interested follow the meeting minutes for the next couple of months to see what the conversation is in regards to this, however, keep in mind, Main St (RTE 115) is a state road and it is ultimately up to the state to make the call. Meeting Minutes get posted on City of Ansonia web site.
Alderman Pat Henri, 6th Ward

Ward 6,

THANK YOU! I have wondered about this crazy signal also. However, like most residents I roll my eyes, assume city employees certainly can see (and suffer) with the same problem and are asking around. WRONG!

The fact there is a signal a few hundred feet from the Big Y one already makes no sense, forget that this one has no purpose. It also loves to turn red just as the Big Y one has gone green, causing traffic to almost always have to stop twice heading towards Spector Furniture... for no known reason other than someone felt like hanging a signal there.

True, it is a state highway, but someone was able to finally get a left turn arrow installed on the signal further down beyond Crave where it was dangerous as heck to make a left hand turn before (over the bridge, forget the street name). Perhaps the state will listen to this too.. IF the City presents it.

I'd even be willing to hear the logic for the signal to be there discussed. Can someone thing of one? A reason why it doesn't have a sensor for the bank exit?

We want people visiting downtown. Making people stop/start every few hundred feet makes them go around... not travel down Main and see and perhaps visit the businesses. Signals are needed at logical places.. that isn't one of them. It's bad enough one got added for Target (although I give them there was little way around it without making Target exit at the same intersection as Big Y.)

Having a business a hundred feet away from this signal, you gain a different perspective. When the lights at Bridge and Tremont are green, Main street becomes an expressway. I've seen fully loaded tractor trailers flying at 40+ Try crossing the street at one of these moments. There IS a logic for this light. It SLOWS traffic down. Exactly the thing that annoys you. This is a 25 MPH zone. If drivers had any common sense, they would drive the speed limit and it would not be necessary. That will unfortunately, never happen.

William Luneski
L2 Innovate Computers & Technology
334 Main Street
Ansonia, Ct 06401

I agree with Bill on this one, furthermore it takes an act of congress or a pedestrian death to get a light signal changed, even an adjustment to a light signal. First of all the city traffic comission has to notify the state, and they can override anything the city asks for. Has anyone ever see that much traffic on Main St., so, if one has to wait for a light for a few seconds, what's the difference?

In short- Police commission discussed. Many options. Will be discussed again next month after commissioners observe intersection. Recommendations to change will have to be approved by state. Commissioners interested in a resolution to this issue, whatever that may be. Stay tuned.
Pat Henri
Alderman, 6th Ward

The more traffic lights the better. It gives outside visitors an improved stopping vista of the immediate sights and Business cliental in the area which profiles the elite economic viability of the city's structure. Economic magnets include My Sisters Place for socio economic support, A River Valley Church & "Iglesia Cristiana Rosa De Saron" for a sign of faith & hope, Salvage Alley, Ansonia Housing Authority and the crumbling, massive Farrel Corp façade? . One cannot drive fast enough to escape such a beautification process in progress.

I actually created a complaint here several YEARS ago... 161458... still open... as follows:

a) traffic light changes whether a car is in the bank exit or not
b) the light is longer for the bank exit than the main road
c) the road across from the bank is a one way road and does not use the traffic light
d) the Target entrance down the street has the same setup (no oncoming traffic from across the street) but has the OPPOSITE problem (takes up to 60 seconds to get the green light from the main street)

The state says that they are NOT responsible for it, and referred me to the traffic commission in town. I left a message for them and got a rather gruff 1 sentence response on my answering machine stating that there was nothing wrong with it, with no explanation then, or to my followup request. If I recall correctly, the state did offer to look into it and the Target light anyway, but needed the plans for the light, which apparently City Hall could not find. it's been quite the runaround.

I believe that someone else had another complaint posted here that was closed by a responder. Someone mentioned the cost of having the light ownership abandoned... all this so they can make it more logical?

I myself would be happy just to change the light timing... or perhaps the light trigger in the bank is broken, who would fix that?

Someone mentioned that the light also has a walk cycle, and so is needed; maybe so, but clearly not on this timing. Yes, maybe it's slowing down traffic... then maybe change it to a stop sign? Maybe assign a police officer there, if it's that big an issue? Not to mention the gas wasted by as many as a dozen cars for no other vehicles... and that continual pollution cannot be helping downtown.

BTW, thank you to Ward 6 for actually reading and responding to these... it is appreciated.

William Luneski ,

You sir, have expressed EXACTLY why so many downtowns are dying. Motorists do NOT want to travel on a street that makes them stop every couple hundred feet. They want to reach their destination.

Ansonia has a busy downtown, but also has a major danger to the entire downtown business district.. EAST MAIN. Unlike many cities, East Main provides a clear detour around downtown from nearly start to finish without pesky signals every block or at the end of bank exits where they don't belong.

If drivers find Main Street slow to navigate, all they need so it use East Main and no lights, no pedestrians to pause for and NOT even seeing the businesses on Main to get where they need to go.. forget about stopping at one!

No Main Street should not be a highway, people should not speed down it.. but it's signals have to be logical and setup in a way that stops a expressway but makes traveling through the area a pleasure, not pain. If lights had sensors to turn red WHEN NEEDED this would allow much smoother traffic flow.

The one at Treemont is just a waste...

Not every downtown has a "bypass street" that threatens to kill off potential customers. Ansonia does and that is why it (and cities whose downtowns are laid out like it) need to be very careful with how they restrict traffic flow.. or they'll have empty storefronts.

(Let us not forget West Main, which does the same thing... but won't detour all the way. Yet another way to skip a signal or two on Main.

Be careful what you wish for...

c