Thomas Breen file photo
The deadly Ella T. Graso-Columbus-Davenport-Orange Avenue intersection.
As another pedestrian death reminded New Haven of the perils of walking on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, plans to make that state-owned roadway safer have been pushed back yet again.
That’s the latest with the perilous intersections of Rt. 1 (Orange Avenue and Columbus Avenue), Rt. 10 (Ella T. Grasso Boulevard), and Davenport Avenue in the Hill near the West Haven border.
That intersection and the adjacent blocks of the state-owned Ella T. Grasso Boulevard have long been a hotspot of concern for neighbors, safe streets advocates, and city transportation officials. Four pedestrians were killed by cars on a single 0.4‑mile stretch near that intersection in 2020. Staff and residents from the nearby Columbus House homeless shelter are regularly bedeviled by Boulevard drag racing, as reported in late October by the New Haven Register’s Mark Zaretsky. And on Saturday night, a 68-year-old New Havener named Damaso Rosario Luna became the road’s latest pedestrian victim after being struck and killed by a vehicle roughly 1.3 miles down Ella T. Grasso Boulevard at Plymouth Street.
The state Department of Transportation (DOT), which owns Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, has long planned on making the Orange-Columbus-Boulevard intersection safer by adding pedestrian ramps, pedestrian push buttons, and pedestrian crossing signals where none currently exist.
Back in January 2021, the now-former state DOT spokesperson told the Independent that construction on that work would begin in April 2022.
Earlier this week, current state DOT spokesperson Josh Morgan confirmed for the Independent that construction has still yet to start on any of those Boulevard intersection improvements.
He said that construction likely won’t begin until April 2023, and the upgrades likely won’t be complete until October 2023, which is when the state’s contract with the firm NY CONN Corp wraps up for a host of traffic safety improvements slated for the region.
“The Route 10 at Route 1 and Davenport Avenue traffic signals are currently being upgraded as part of a larger project across Southwestern Connecticut,” Morgan wrote in a Monday email comment. “The improvements for ramps, push buttons, and crossing signals will include the latest safety enhancement features, such as crossing countdown timers, audible tones, and ADA-accessible curb ramps.”
Why hasn’t construction on this work started already?
The contractor “needed to go back and revise the design of the mast arm,” Morgan told the Independent in a Tuesday phone interview. The mast arm is the pole from which the traffic signals hang.
“Given that we’re in November now, likely work won’t start that intersection until the early spring,” Morgan said. He noted that the state’s contract with NY Conn Corp runs through October 2023. The firm has to wrap up all of its contract-detailed work — including the Ella T. Grasso Boulevard intersection improvements — by then.
Morgan declined to comment on the specific Ella T. Grasso Boulevard crash that left Luna dead on Saturday, as it’s still under police investigation.
Asked to comment more generally on the safety of that state-owned roadway, he wrote in a Monday email: “Driving is an enormous responsibility – one that everyone must take seriously. 2022 continues to be the deadliest year on Connecticut roadways in recent memory. People are driving recklessly and impaired, traveling too fast, and not paying attention behind the wheel. We need motorists to slow down, pay attention, and drive sober.”
In Tuesday’s phone interview, he added: “People should feel safe walking in their communities. … We’re going to do what we can do to increase safety and mobility for pedestrians and cyclists. What we’ve seen in the past couple years driven by the pandemic is that the behavior of drivers has gotten unacceptably poor with the speeding, the distractions, and the impaired driving.” Walking in one’s own community “shouldn’t be a death sentence,” he said.
So the state’s engineers are going to try to improve the roadway to make it safer to cross. And drivers need to “do their part” by driving responsibly.
New Sidewalk Still En Route
Thomas Breen file photo
Sidewalk coming soon?
City Engineer Zinn: Project bid out, in process of awarding contract.
The traffic signal improvements to the state-owned intersection aren’t the only pedestrian safety upgrades long slated for this stretch of the Boulevard.
The city has also for years planned on putting in a new sidewalk on the east side of the street by St. Bernadette Cemetery with the help of a $317,085 state Community Connectivity Grant that the city was awarded in 2018.
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn told the Independent on Wednesday morning that the city has received all the different necessary permissions from the state DOT for the sidewalk plan.
He said the city “bid out the project” in August, and is now in the process of awarding it.
“Depending on the exact time of the paperwork, we will see if we can get it in before the winter,” he said about the planned new sidewalk. If not, he said, the new sidewalk will go in “first thing in the spring.”
“We’re working very closely with the state DOT on other things to continue to work on pedestrian safety” on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, Zinn added. “I think we’re making good progress” on those yet-to-be-disclosed plans, and “I’m hopeful we’ll see more changes” soon.
I don’t think sidewalks will help with the fatality risk much, but they should definitely be put in for other reasons. The main issue is the design speed, geometry, and width of the road. There is no major city in the world that would design an urban street like this in the year 2022. ConnDOT is living in the Stone Age.