New Haven Independent

Congress Avenue “SuperPave” On Tap

by Thomas MacMillan | November 18, 2009 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

A new curb “bump-out” on Congress Avenue would make crossing guard Linda Snow’s job easier — and might keep speedy drivers from creaming her warning sign again.

Right now, even with a crossing guard and a warning sign in road, cars whip by the John C. Daniels School, where Linda Snow helps to usher students safely across Congress Avenue every afternoon. The sign has been a casualty of aggressive drivers in the past, Snow said.

When the avenue’s potholes are eliminated by a planned half-million-dollar repaving project, cars might be able to go even faster. But the plan also includes at least one traffic-calming measure designed to slow cars down.

Planners are looking into narrowing Congress Avenue with a curb “bump-out” in front of the elementary school. The bump-out would reduce the distance students have to cross when they’re leaving school. It would also provide drivers with a visual cue to slow down.

The proposal to repave Congress Avenue will come before two city boards this week. The project has already been green-lighted for federal stimulus money.

On Wednesday, the City Plan Commission will vote on whether the city should receive the federal money. On Thursday, the Board of Aldermen’s City Services and Environmental Policy Committee will take up the matter. The project will have to be approved by the full Board of Aldermen.

The Congress Avenue redo was originally intended to be part of the recent improvement of Whitney and Derby Avenues. But when costs mounted, the Congress Avenue project was separated out, City Engineer Dick Miller said Tuesday.

When the American Reinvestment and Revitalization Act was passed, the city submitted the Congress Avenue plan as a “shovel-ready” project, and won full funding, Miller said. The plan is expected to cost $562,900.

“It’s essentially curb-to-curb milling and paving,” Miller said. The road will be milled to a depth of three to four inches and then coated with two layers of “superpave.”

“It should last 20 years,” Miller said.

The street hasn’t been resurfaced for two decades, he said. A visit to Congress Avenue on Tuesday found a large number of patches and potholes.

The project is scheduled to be completed in less than two months, starting in the spring. It will include some sidewalk repair and will extend from Ward Street west to the intersection of Congress and Davenport Avenues.

The city is “looking to include bump-outs by Daniels School” as part of the Complete Streets program, the city’s traffic-calming initiative, Miller said. The bump-outs are likely to be included in the Congress Avenue redo, he said.

“We’ll need to look at the bus-turning radii,” said Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts. Bump-outs will not be possible if they prevent buses from turning onto the street.

While bump-outs are not definite, “It is our intention to include some sort of traffic-calming measure,” Smuts said. Bike lanes are also a possibility, depending on traffic lane width, Smuts said.

Traffic-calming would be welcome at the Daniels school, said Principal Gina Wells on Tuesday afternoon. Traffic on Congress Avenue is “tremendous,” she said. “It’s fast.”

At dismissal time at Daniels on Tuesday, crossing guard Snow was at her appointed spot at the intersection of Congress Avenue, Hallock Street, and Baldwin Street.

Snow, who’s coming up on her fifth year as a crossing guard, said bump-outs seem like a good idea. People drive too fast on Congress, she said. One driver recently took out the “School Crossing” sign she puts out when she shows up every afternoon.

“He just ran right over it,” she said. “He was going too fast.”

When the school buses line up on Congress Avenue outside the school, Snow has to step out into the street to see around them. “There’s a big blind spot,” she said.

“We have a hard time crossing here,” said Saquana Barrow after stepping onto the curb, pushing her toddler in a stroller. She was at the school to pick up her other two kids, who are in pre-K and first grade at Daniels.

If the crossing guard weren’t out here, “there’d be dozens of kids getting hit,” she said.

Barrow described her family’s street-crossing technique. “Oh my god. It’s like we all have to grab hold of each other,” she said. The family then edges into the street, making themselves as visible as possible, she said. “We have had cars come really close to us.”

Sylvie Rivetta, who was meeting her first and third graders at Daniel, said the problem is drivers use Congress Avenue as a traffic-light-free shortcut from West Haven. “I’m worried about kids on this street,” she said.

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Posted by: streever | November 18, 2009 7:51 AM

Kudos to Dick Miller for embracing the bump-out! A really simple & excellent way to improve this type of street.

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. The bike lane comment is worrisome: I don't see that as a viable traffic calming step. I'm not really a big fan of bike lanes. They can be useful but they are ultimately just a paint stripe. Raised crosswalks & bump-outs pack a lot more punch.

Posted by: Ned | November 18, 2009 8:12 AM

A bike lane on Congress would be a death trap. Assuming one made it down Congress, without getting ... run over, where is one supposed to go at the bike/pedestrian hell at the intersection of Congress/Davenport and the Boulevard?

Posted by: juli | November 18, 2009 9:12 AM

as much as i want our infrastructure to be safer for bicyclists in new haven, i completely agree with streever and ned.

slapping down random unattached bicycle lanes to nowhere puts cyclists more at risk. it also can give drivers the false suggestion that those are literally the ONLY roads bicycles are allowed on.
(i've been told that by many drivers i've talked to after they nearly blew me off the road on congress ave. and we end up at the same red light...it goes something like me: "hey, did you know that its state law to give three feet while passing a cyclist, and if you can't then you wait until it is safe to pass?" them: "uh, i don't see no bike lanes- you're supposed to be on the sidewalk". if i had a dollar for every time i had that little chat, i could pay for a bike lane to my grandmothers house striped with gold.)

Posted by: Our Town | November 18, 2009 11:27 AM

To all of you NHI urban planners:

Show me a study that shows that bump outs slow traffic. This is myth you all are deluding yourselves with. They shorten the crossing distance. That's the only real benefit.

Posted by: anon | November 18, 2009 4:44 PM

Bump outs are great.

Could the city post the plans here? There's a world of difference between a bit of extra curbing that someone calls a bump out, and a real bump out (combined with other measures) that will make this street actually safe and comfortable for the little kids to cross.

The primary benefit of a bike lane would be to narrow the travel lane width so that speeds are reduced. I agree with Streever that raised crosswalks and bumpouts can be more effective at that (if they are properly designed), and are also very much needed, but they would also be more expensive.

I think the city is thinking along the right lines when they propose to add a narrow lane paint stripe, whether they call it a bike lane or not.

Hopefully that asphalt isn't really permanent for 20 years -- because it is unlikely that residents in dense urban areas like these are going to stop fighting for more walkable neighborhoods on every block. If it is, well, luckily temporary bump outs and traffic calming is just as effective and probably cheaper than the permanent stuff.

To this point, it seems that almost 100% of the city administration and state DOT drives to work every day, whereas well over half of New Haven city residents do not (usually because of their age, income, employment status or other factors) -- that's probably one reason why our most recent road projects, like Whitney Avenue, have been nowhere near adequate and more indirectly, why excitement about "superpaving" is lost on the ears of most residents.

People wonder why voter turnout is so low in New Haven and many other cities -- these disconnects in dialogue, policy and action are the reasons why. Don't take anonymous commenters' word for it, study the mountains of research available from similar cities -- some of it even conducted by transportation departments to figure out why nobody shows up to their planning sessions -- and figure out the reasons for yourself.

Citizens feel "ignored" by government - in fact, it is easy to understand the view that some of the kids at this school may have. They recently took out radar guns and clocked government vehicles passing their school at 50 miles per hour -- and what do they get in return? A superpave.

Posted by: streever | November 18, 2009 10:12 PM

Our Town:

"They shorten the crossing distance. That's the only real benefit."

Frankly that is good enough for me. Anything that makes road crossings safer is a good thing. The bump out is cheap, inconveniences no one, and improves crossing at crosswalks, a worthy goal.

What do you dislike about the bump out?

Posted by: streever | November 18, 2009 10:15 PM

"clocked government vehicles passing their school at 50 miles per hour" I'd love to see this data: it's a real problem. One house hold in East Rock covered in Mayor DeStefano signs belongs to a BOE employee who routinely speeds, parks on the sidewalks, and cuts off cyclists. Guy clearly feels invincible. I've never seen him stop for a pedestrian crossing the road--even with in-road signage.

This is why Alderman Lemar opposed adding the Street Smarts magnet to all city vehicles by default. He understood that the magic of street smarts is when people voluntarily agree to follow rules & be held accountable.

Posted by: Our Town | November 19, 2009 12:39 PM

Streever...

I don't dislike the bump out...I object to the unsubstantiated dissemination of information. There is no data to show that bump outs will cause traffic to move slower, as this misinformation is constantly perpetrated on this site. I am just waiting for documentation of these theories that bike lanes, bump outs, etc. slow traffic.

Posted by: anon | November 19, 2009 3:17 PM

Our Town - as I said above, it depends if it is a "bump" out that moves the curb a few inches, or a real, effective bump out. Can we see the plans? Both measures assist pedestrian movements to a significant degree by reducing crossing widths and impacting corner turning radii, but only the more aggressive bump outs (like those used in hundreds of cities and towns around the globe) have been proven by the ITE to significantly calm traffic in all instances.

I am not sure that the City has shown any willingness to use the latter -- perhaps because a) no city officials live in or send their children to schools within the neighborhoods typically affected and b) all city officials own cars and most often drive to work, even though the majority of city residents do not (for reasons listed above).

This is by no means a unique phenomenon to the City of New Haven, it is the norm everywhere -- so just something to be aware of when considering who is and who is not participating in local governance.

Posted by: Our Town | November 19, 2009 4:32 PM

ANON,

As usual, you talk a good game, but don't back it up with any verifiable study. Show me a study that says vehicular speeds are lowered. This is all empirical hypothesis that you spew out over and over.

Don't just throw out ITE...refer to an accredited study.

Posted by: Norton Street | November 19, 2009 10:32 PM

Our town,
One function of the bump out that it helps decrease traffic speeds. This is accomplished by narrowing the total width of the street at intersections, which forces/encourages people turning onto side streets to slow down because of the decreased turning radius of the street. Wide streets have large turning radii which allows drivers to take the turn at high speeds. A bump out would cause the driver to slow down before the turn which then would cause the people traveling behind this person to also slow down.
There are also other indirect ways that cause cars to slow down that has to do with increased pedestrian activity and variations in the visual appearance of the road.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs031.snc3/11855_1175451821557_1085910074_30450050_25746_n.jpg

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs011.snc3/11855_1175451781556_1085910074_30450049_6878477_n.jpg

Posted by: Our Town | November 20, 2009 9:26 AM

NS...

You, as ANON continues to do, say things that are opinions, not fact. Show me a recognized study that validates your conjecture.

You are entitled to your opinion, but you cannot state them as facts without proof.

Posted by: Norton Street | November 20, 2009 2:16 PM

To understand why narrower turning radii on streets decrease the speeds of turning cars at intersections, all you need is a 9th grader's geometry book.
The studies that I'm aware of have been conducted on increasing turning radii, widening streets, and construction highways in order to allow cars to move faster. Look at 1-95, for example, the turns one has to make are very gradual and slight, allowing one to make the turn without decreasing one's speed. Another example is the intersection of Webster, Sperry and Goffe in the Dixwell neighborhood. Originally, Sperry and Webster were offset, but during urban renewal the turning radius of Webster was drastically altered to allow the streets to align, which would in turn allow cars to make the turn at high speeds during green lights. Another example is at the intersection of Derby and Chapel in West River. People traveling on Chapel must slow down to turn onto Hotchkiss, because of the narrow turning radius, while people turning onto Derby from Chapel do not have to. If increasing the turning radii allows for higher turning speeds, then the opposite is also true; so decreasing the turning radius requires a lower speed to navigate the turn.
Bump outs decrease the width of streets, thus decreasing the turning radius of the street, thus slowing the speeds of cars that are turning, thus requiring all cars behind the turning car to slow down at the intersection where children would be crossing.
I do not know if bump outs decrease the general speed of traffic that is not turning. However, one can observe that average speeds in places with high pedestrian activity, narrow streets and visually complex surroundings are much lower than average speeds in places that are not pedestrian rich, have wide roads, and are absent of visual stimuli.
If we assume that traffic that is not turning travels at the same speed with bump outs as it does without bump outs, then we can safely say that the average speeds traveled on the street will decrease with added bump outs because turning car speeds will slow, which then reduces the total average of all car speeds for that street.

I personally am not the biggest fan of bump outs or other traffic calming measures that are implemented without simultaneously addressing the issues of continuing a car dependent culture, but I have the required basic understanding of what bump out's benefits are to see their importance in certain situations.

Posted by: Our Town | November 20, 2009 3:59 PM

NS�

Anyone who has taken 9th grade geometry also knows that theorems are built on factual logic. Just because your observations appear to lead you to a conclusion, you still are only stating conjecture. The question here is:

Do Bumps Out = Lower Speed? If so, prove it.

I was in Manhattan recently where the streets were much, much wider than New Haven�s. and the speeds were much lower. Does that prove that wider streets have slower speeds?

Might I make a case for the fact that we do not have enough cars in New Haven?

Posted by: Norton Street | November 21, 2009 7:43 PM

Not enough cars, or completely different conditions that are nearly incomparable.

The comparison cannot be made between New York Streets and New Haven Streets, the comparison must be made between a specific street/corner prior to bump outs and post bump outs.

Bump outs=lower speeds for people turning at intersections as compared to same street minus bump outs.

Bumps outs=lower average speed for the street as compared to same street minus the bump out.

I don't know if bump out lower speed for non-turning traffic.

I guess to prove this to you, we'd have to implement the bump outs on Congress Ave and do the study.

Congress Avenue “SuperPave” On Tap

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