New Haven Independent

City crews are in the midst this week of putting in “traffic-calming” changes to the road by the harbor. The changes come after a government look at how best to respond to overnight illegal drag races that have drawn up to hundreds of spectators summoned by cellphone. The study took place after a spectator was killed at one such race this August. (Read about the crash here. Read about the traffic-calming plans here.)

At a City Hall press briefing Wednesday afternoon, City Engineer Richard Miller (pictured) described the work taking place.

The main response is construction of what he called a “neckdown.” The idea is to create a sort of obstacle course to slow down potential dragsters along the currently wide-open 40-foot-wide road.

The city’s putting Jersey barriers at either end of the road along a 12 to 14-foot stretch to narrow it. Then it’s painting an island in the center to further narrow each lane. Barrels of sand will be placed inside the island to squeeze drivers into a tighter area.

A sign will alert drivers to the lane shift.

“I can’t guarantee it’s going to stop people from doing stupid things,” Miller said, but it can help.

The city’s also painting a left-hand-turn lane under the highway heading north.

Miller had updates as well on bridge work and bike lanes around town.

The Hillhouse Avenue bridge should be rebuilt and reopened to traffic by the end of November or early December, Miller promised. A pedestrian portion of the span with hardwood decks, designed by architect Cesar Pelli, should be completed by April.

Drivers will have to wait until at least April to start driving again over the Temple Street bridge, also over the Farmington Canal. The city had hoped to finish earlier because it thought it could preserve the abutments. It turned out they were worse condition than envisioned and needed to be replaced.

Once those bridges are all ready, work will begin on another nearby bridge, on Prospect at Trumbull. That $3 million project will include realigning Canal Street to make it safer for pedestrians to cross and to smooth traffic to the new Yale health plan building. Miller said that project should take about a year and a half, and will include some traffic closings.

Meanwhile, he had good news for cyclists: the city has placed a dozen “units” of bike racks along State Street from Trumbull Street to the Mill River.