19 locations for red light and speed cameras.
New Haven is still looking to be among the first municipalities in Connecticut to install cameras to catch and automatically fine red-light runners and speeding drivers, as the city works through state feedback and plans to submit a revised proposal to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) within the next month.
City spokesperson Lenny Speiller provided those updates Wednesday in regards to an automatic-enforcement traffic safety plan that the Elicker administration first proposed back in March 2024. The Board of Alders signed off on the plan in May 2024, and the city submitted a so-called Automated Traffic Enforcement Safety Devices (ATESD) plan to the state DOT in early December.
If approved by the state, the plan will see the city install such cameras at 19 intersections across the city, including outside nine schools. The cameras will record images of offending vehicles’ license plates. Then, after review of that footage by a city-contracted vendor and by a city transit employee, the city will send a ticket worth $50 to $75 to the vehicle’s owner.
The state DOT’s website indicates that the state has approved red-light and speed camera programs for the Connecticut municipalities of Marlborough and Washington, but is still reviewing municipal plans for Greenwich, Middletown, New Haven, Stamford, Stratford, and Wethersfield.
The city’s transportation director told the Independent in December that New Haven anticipated launching the program in Spring 2025, pending DOT approvals and a number of other factors, including procurement, supply-chain, permitting, and installment timelines.
So. What’s the hold up?
Speiller wrote that, after the city submitted its plan to the state DOT last December, the state agency has reviewed the city’s plan, provided feedback, and requested additional information.
Since then, he continued, the city’s transportation department “has been working in close coordination with the Office of State Traffic Administration (OSTA) to update the city’s plan, including the collection of supplemental data required by CT DOT, such as traffic volume and speeds, roadway geometry, and land use information.”
Speiller said the city anticipates submitting a revised plan to the state within the next month. Once the plan is submitted, the state DOT has up to 60 days to review the plan. (State DOT spokesperson Josh Morgan also confirmed that his agency provided comments to the city earlier this year, and that a revised plan has not yet been resubmitted.)
“We remain committed to being among the first municipalities in the state to utilize red light and speed safety cameras,” Mayor Justin Elicker said in a comment provided to the Independent for this article. “These cameras are a critically important enforcement tool — and, more importantly, a deterrent — to ensure that motorists are driving safely and obeying our traffic laws near our schools and on our streets.”
Elicker noted that, in addition to revising the plan in response to state DOT feedback, New Haven has also been “doing advance planning to help accelerate and operationalize this initiative once we get the green light from CT DOT. It’s a lot of steps, a lot of moving parts, and a lot of work, but we’re committed to making it happen — and, ultimately, to making our streets and roadways safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.”
Speiller wrote that the city has developed a request for proposal (RFP) to procure a vendor/operator to install and implement the camera program. He said the city is “now working to finalize negotiations with a prospective vendor.” That vendor contract will then be submitted to the Board of Alders for review and a final vote.
The city is also working to hire two approved positions for this program, a traffic safety engineer and traffic systems technician.
And, he said, the city is also “updating the ATESD Working Group on the statue of the program and next steps.”