Thomas Breen photos
Crossing Chapel and High, where two-way traffic flow is coming soon.
Chapel-College walkers Bradyn Fleharty and Trent Page: If these changes make it safer to cross, then it's worth it.
Pedestrians at three downtown intersections no longer have to wait for red traffic lights in every direction before getting the white walking signal indicating it’s time to cross.
That’s one of several changes newly in place as the city works to convert a three-block stretch of Chapel Street from one-way to two-way vehicle traffic by the end of this month.
The Yale-adjacent intersections with the new traffic signal setups on Chapel Street are at College, High, and York Streets.
City spokesperson Lenny Speiller and city transportation director Sandeep Aysola told the Independent that the infrastructure work underway at these three intersections is all part of the broader Chapel Street Two-Way Conversion Project.
The city plans to repaint this three-block stretch of Chapel by the end of this month, with the goal of allowing single-lane vehicle traffic to flow in both directions — and not just west, as is the case now — by June 1.
Aysola said that the existing on-street parking spaces on these three blocks of Chapel Street will not be changed by this project.
“The Chapel Street Two-Way Conversion Project is a critical initiative that’s part of the city’s larger and ongoing efforts to increase safety, expand access, and enhance the connectivity of this key corridor for all users, with a particular focus on pedestrians,” Aysola said.
This two-way conversion project is slated to be heard and voted on by the local traffic authority board at its next meeting later this month. It’s also one of several downtown two-way-conversion projects City Hall has been working on for years.
In addition to allowing for two-way vehicle travel, this Chapel Street project will include the following updates to the College, High, and York Street intersections:
• Accessible Pedestrian Signal (APS) and Pedestrian Push Buttons for pedestrians with disabilities. These will include “direction of crossing with speech message, tactile buttons with vibration, and touchless activation with wave function.”
• Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPI) traffic signal timing providing advance walk time for pedestrians.
• High-visibility crosswalks to improve pedestrian safety and visibility.
• Improved signage for vehicles turning left and right, informing them to yield to pedestrians on both the near- and far-sides where allowable.
• Improved signal timing, including an advance protected left turn green arrow indication and improved walk times for pedestrians.
Most of these changes are already in place. Aysola said they went in roughly 10 days ago. Additional pavement striping and the adjustment of parking meters are scheduled for the end of May.
The next phase of the project will be the two-way conversion of Chapel Street between York and Dwight Streets. Aysola said this is currently pending state Department of Transportation approvals.
“In addition, the Chapel Street Two-Way Conversion Project also serves as an enabling project for the much larger Chapel Street Safe Street Project,” Aysola concluded, “which will provide additional critical safety and infrastructure improvements along the 1.6‑mile stretch spanning the Downtown, Dwight, Edgewood and West River neighborhoods.”
The three Chapel intersections with new traffic signal setups, at York ...
... College...
... and High.
One of the new touchless pedestrian-cross-signal buttons, at Chapel and College.