New Haven Independent

Neighbors Give Thumbs Up To Signal Work

by Leonard J. Honeyman | July 2, 2009 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

“People come flying through this intersection,” Marty Feldman was saying. Just then a dozen cars zoomed through the intersection, oblivious to the flashing yellow light.

Feldman (at center in photo) was one of three parents waiting at Edgewood and Alden Avenues in Westville for their children to be delivered by school bus from camp one afternoon this week as traffic whooshed by on Edgewood.

Two girls passed by and tried to cross Edgewood to the bus stop a few yards farther to the north. Despite the worn set of crosswalk stripes at the intersection, nobody stopped to allow them to cross, although the law was on their side. They waited until no cars were passing, then quickly crossed the street.

It’s been that way for years, but that will soon change. Before those campers go back to school, there will be a full traffic light at that intersection complete with walk signals, city officials said Tuesday. Play video for parents’ reactions.

The intersection is part of 22 Westville-area intersections that will either get new lights or be upgraded, said Mike Piscitelli, the city’s director of transportation, traffic and parking. A Grand Street intersection also will be upgraded, he said.

In a couple of weeks, the Cedar Hill area along State Street will see 14 new or upgraded traffic lights, he said.

Those lights will be connected by fiber optic lines to the city’s traffic department, on the ground floor of the Kennedy Mitchell Hall of Records. Instead of the in-road traffic indicators, which have largely been either dug up by contractors or tarred over, there will be video traffic detectors on poles to show how many cars are using the intersections, said Bijan Notghi, the city traffic engineer in charge of the project.

The city isn’t paying any of the $4.5 million it will cost to do the 22 Westville intersections plus one at Grand and Jefferson, or the $3.3 million for the 14 Cedar intersections, he said. State funds are used for the traffic-signal projects, he said.

The city will pay $1,000 each for pre-emptors that give the green light to fire equipment. The state will pay the other $4,000 per intersections for the devices, which pick up strobe-type lights on the fire trucks and change the lights.

The work is being done by Ducci Electrical Contractors of Torrington. Ducci workers are shown installing fiber optic cable on Fountain Street near the post office.

Some intersections will have cameras that will record traffic on video, but no “red-light” cameras, since the state General Assembly has not approved those for Connecticut, he said.

Last year, a number of intersections, mainly in the Newhallville neighborhood and the areas around Southern Connecticut State University, were done at a cost of about $5 million, Notghi said.

He said the new lights and fiber-optic connections will make it possible to respond more quickly to changing traffic conditions, such as a light going on flash or an accident or weather conditions. The signals can be changed to respond to changing traffic flow, although “we can’t do that every five minutes,” he said.

The parents waiting in Westville for their children were happy to learn about the light project, plus those planned for Fountain Street and McKinley Avenue, plus upgrading of the lights at Fountain Street at Forest Road and Fountain Street at Forest Road. They also spoke of the need for traffic enforcement.

“There is a need to reinforce traffic regulations by enforcement,” said Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen (at left in top photo), another parent waiting for the bus.

Feldman noted the girls having to wait for a pause in traffic to cross the street even though they had the right of way. He compared that situation to street life in Amherst and Northampton, Mass., where “you would be in real trouble if you didn’t stop for pedestrians.”

“The lights are fine, but they won’t make people drive any better,” said Cathy Schwartz (at right in top photo), who’s married to Feldman. “I’ve never seen people drive worse than in New Haven,” she said.

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Posted by: Mark Oppenheimer | July 2, 2009 9:52 AM

What is the status of the cameras the city was talking about getting? I know someone who got busted in NYC for running a red, got a ticket in the mail (with the photo of his license plate), and is now much more careful.

Posted by: William Kurtz | July 2, 2009 11:22 AM

The state legislature failed to approve a red-light camera pilot program for New Haven.

Posted by: nfjanette | July 2, 2009 1:03 PM

The intersection is part of 22 Westville-area intersections that will either get new lights or be upgraded, said Mike Piscitelli, the city's director of transportation, traffic and parking. A Grand Street intersection also will be upgraded, he said.

How can one obtain the list of all planned work on this project? I hope some of the (currently) 2-way stop intersections that seem randomly placed will be changed to 4-way stops.

Posted by: TrueBlueCT | July 2, 2009 4:56 PM

Yes, please slow everyone down. Edgewood Avenue right now is like a highway.

But we're not going to have safe streets until we get better traffic enforcement, meaning State laws have to be changed.

Right now all the ticket revenue goes to the State of Connecticut, and not to our cash-strapped city. The City gets 100% of parking ticket revenue, but just $10 on a moving violation. That's just nuts. A system that's all wrong. In Connecticut's cities traffic enforcement should pay for itself. But it doesn't, and that's why there's a lot of dangerous insane driving going on.

Posted by: Kevin | July 2, 2009 5:17 PM

@truebluect

Posted by: Kevin | July 2, 2009 5:25 PM

@truebluect

Not to defend my friends at the legislature, but the argument against having the towns keep a large share of the traffic fine revenue has been that this would encourage them to set up speed traps to catch drivers from neighboring towns.

Also, the red light camera enforcement bill was voted down by a mix of Republican and big city (primarily black and Hispanic) legislators. Among the arguments that were raised were the prospects of (1) big brother tracking the location of drivers and (2)enforcement being focused in minority neighborhoods.

Posted by: William Kurtz | July 3, 2009 10:02 AM

Thanks for that illumination, Kevin.

I wonder why it's a bad idea for towns to set up speed traps to catch speeding drivers from neighboring towns? In my opinion, anyway, a speed trap on a low-speed residential neighborhood is a great idea, far better than one set up on an interstate highway.

Posted by: ParkStTaxPayer | July 3, 2009 3:26 PM

Between New Haven Police and Yale University Police (who have full police powers within city limits), we have MORE THAN ENOUGH OFFICERS FOR ENFORCEMENT.

Branford, a nearby suburb, has about 8 police officers in cruisers at any given time. My girlfriend got pulled over last weekend for running a YELLOW light. Reason? "I think you had enough time to stop."

New Haven needs enforcement of ALL its laws, not just at the convenience of its officers. ALL streets need to be patrolled, and ALL citizens should know they need to behave.

Driving is a privilidge, as stated on the DMV website, and drivers must operate their vehicles within the laws. In other municipalities, drivers STOP for pedestrians, they YIELD to bicyclists on narrow lanes, they RESPECT other drivers and WAIT THEIR TURN.

Lawless New Haven- where speeders can blow through stop signs, where the rear-view mirror is used to apply one's makeup, where loud mufflers show just how "cool" one is...

and it's no wonder after 5 years of "putting up with it" I finally moved out! Narrow streets, intelligent and law-abiding drivers, enforcement of traffic law, and less drivers on the road will make the streets safer and the people less angry!

Posted by: sadie lambert | July 5, 2009 8:54 PM

WHAT ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF FOUNTAIN AND WHALLEY!? THERE HAS BEEN A BLINKING LIGHT FOR YEARS AND POEPLE ZOOMING DOWN FOUNTAIN DO NOT YIELD, PER THE SIGN. THEY HAVE THE LIGHTS IN PLACE, WHY CAN'T THEY SWITCH THEM ON?

Posted by: Elm City to SoCal | July 6, 2009 3:41 PM

Hallelujah! At last Westville may see some proper traffic management. I grew up in Westville, and back in the early 80s I was one of those little girls waiting for a gap in the traffic to tear across the street. When we finally got a four way stop sign at West Rock and West Elm I thought things might be getting better (remember how much more of a rat run West Rock used to be?). Sad we had to wait until now. Out here in my new town of Burbank, people are much, much better at stopping for pedestrians waiting to cross at painted crosswalks. Why? The Burbank PD is infamous for stopping and ticketing even very minor traffic infractions. There are traffic enforcement vehicles patrolling all times of the day and night, and people know it is more than possible they will get caught -- and fines are stiff. The combination of enforcement and meaningful fines is conducive to better driving behaviour -- and yes, I am talking about driving in the LA area!

Posted by: Jeanne | July 9, 2009 9:03 AM

Can anyone tell me if there has been any consideration for a four way stop at the corners of Central Ave and Willard/Yale Ave?? Many near misses and actual hits have occured. Drivers entering onto Central from Yale or Willard need to pull out to almost the yellow line for a clear sight line of oncoming traffic. I live on that corner and can say that it is like a drag strip to the stop sign at West Elm and to the light at Fountain Street.

Posted by: westvillecairns | July 13, 2009 12:19 PM

And how about a four-way stop at West Rock and Edgewood, at the school corner? We now have those terrific crossing zones, but are they in place to stop the speeding down Edgewood? Because if they are, they are not working.

Neighbors Give Thumbs Up To Signal Work

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