2‑Way Chapel Street? Not So Fast …

City traffic commissioners pumped the brakes on the two-way conversion of a stretch of Chapel Street downtown — after criticizing New Haven’s transportation department for moving too fast to implement the project, without first getting the board’s approval.

The Traffic Authority — whose members also make up the city’s Board of Police Commissioners — made that decision Tuesday night during its latest monthly online meeting.

The commissioners voted unanimously to table a request by the Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking (TT&P) to rescind one-way westbound vehicular traffic operation and establish two-way traffic operation on Chapel Street between College and York Streets.

They did so in part because TT&P had begun the work of converting these three Yale-adjacent blocks to two-way traffic before getting the formal approval of the Traffic Authority, which must sign off on such projects before they can officially take place. 

City transportation director Sandeep Aysola told the Independent in this article that the three-block conversion should be done by June 1. Signs installed by the city earlier this month indicated that two-way traffic would begin May 26.

The traffic authority technically gets a say on this project because it involves a change to a regulation that this same commission, many decades ago, voted on — that is, to convert what was a default two-way traffic operation to one-way.

“I’m just really not comfortable with the way this is happening,” commission Chair Evelise Ribeiro said Tuesday about the one-way to two-way changeup. ​“I don’t feel like people have had enough notice to adapt to potential changes” on these three Chapel Street blocks. Plus, she said, ​“I’m not comfortable with how it was brought to this authority.”

“We will make sure this won’t happen again and you don’t have to read it in the newspaper,” TT&P Deputy Director Bijan Nochti said at the start of his presentation on the project. ​“It’s very embarrassing, and I apologize for our shortcoming in this matter.”

Nochti said that this two-way conversion of Chapel Street dates back to 2013, when a city-hired consultant picked ten different corridors, including Chapel, to convert from one-way to two-way traffic.

“This has been a request of the administration for several years,” said city Traffic Operations Engineer Bruce Fischer. ​“We finally moved forward with the first phase of converting Chapel Street to a two-way operation.” 

These three blocks between College and York will cost around $550,000 in state funds to complete, Nochti said. This is part of a larger, $11 million project that will see Chapel Street converted from one-way to two-way traffic all the way out to Ella T. Grasso Boulevard. It’s also one of several downtown two-way-conversion projects City Hall has been working on for years.

In addition to going from one-way to two-way traffic, this three-block Chapel stretch will get upgraded traffic signal heads, with 12 inch instead of 8 inch lenses; new ​“fancier push buttons” that include touch-less options and that audibly announce which street one is crossing; new pavement markings; a new center line; new stop bars; and other new ADA-compliant improvements.

These traffic signals are from the 1950s, Nochti said. ​“They are super-duper old structures.” And these intersections will have Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI), giving walkers a three-second head start to cross the intersection at the same time and in the same direction as car traffic.

Ultimately, Nochti and Fischer said, this is all about slowing cars and improving pedestrians safety, reversing the initial 1950s one-way-ification of downtown streets to allow for speeding traffic flow in and out of the suburbs.

Is there evidence showing that two-way traffic is safer than one-way for pedestrians? commissioner Tracey Meares asked. ​“I would be concerned about voting to rescind [one-way traffic] if it makes it less safe.”

Yes, Nochti replied, ​“there are many studies” showing that ​“two-way is safer for pedestrians.” One reason is that, with the current setup of two travel lanes both heading westbound, drivers can say, ​“Hey, I have room” with the extra lane, so they can move from lane to lane and speed up. When you only have one travel lane in each direction, as will be the case here, ​“you have to slow down because you don’t the luxury to go as fast as you can.”

What’s going to happen with the parking spaces that currently exist on both sides of this three-block stretch of Chapel? asked Commissioner Darrell Brooks.

“Parking is staying as is,” Nochti said. He said the city can’t and won’t be widening the road, as that would require taking away some of the existing sidewalk. And the city won’t be adding a dedicated bike lane, as that would take away existing parking. ​“We have to keep the parking for the retail,” Fischer said about the shops on that stretch of Chapel. ​“It’s just too valuable in this section to eliminate” parking spaces.

“How was the public informed of this?” Ribeiro asked. This is a busy stretch of Chapel, with all of the retailers, the Yale population, buses coming to and from the Green; it’s a ​“passageway to many parts of the city.” How was outreach done? she asked again. Because ​“we certainly have not heard much of anything.”

Nochti noted the signs that have been installed near the three affected Chapel intersections that went up two weeks ago, and will stay up for another month, ​“even after the road goes two-way,” letting drivers know about the change. He said the city has also contacted Yale property management, and plans on putting up signs at each traffic signal in the affected intersections, letting pedestrians know about the coming change. And it’s posted a notice to the city website, indicating that Chapel between College and York will convert to a two-way street on May 28.

That’s just not enough, Ribeiro pushed back. ​“This is a major, major change.” 

“I appreciate the apologies,” she continued, referencing the opening of Nochti’s presentation. ​“They’re accepted.” But, she said, ​“I’m not comfortable at this moment” with approving the two-way conversion.

Meares agreed, and stressed her dissatisfaction with the transportation department acting as if this project were already approved before the relevant commission had actually granted that approval. ​“If it’s going to happen, why am I spending 40 minutes of my time tonight voting on this?’ she asked. ​“It’s actually feels a little bit unfair, and maybe a little disrespectful.”

Ribeiro and Meares both said they want to feel extra confident that public input has been solicited by the city before this project moves ahead. And they said they want to understand exactly how this three-block conversion will fit into a broader conversion of Chapel between College and Ella T. Grasso Boulevard.

“You guys are loud and clear,” Nochti said in response to the commissioners’ criticism. ​“We [will] do [a] much, much, much better job next time.”

“We’re just not comfortable at the 11th hour voting on this,” Ribeiro concluded before she and her colleagues voted unanimously to table the matter. ​“It’s not going to be a fast no, it’s going to be a slow yes” on this.

Timeline Impact? TBD

So. How does Tuesday’s vote affect when the two-way conversion of these three Chapel blocks will actually take place?

“The proposed two-way conversation of Chapel Street between College and York Streets is an important project to improve pedestrian safety and the flow of traffic along one of the city’s busiest corridors — and it’s part of the city’s larger initiative to convert all of Chapel Street from a one-way to a two-way street over time,” city spokesperson Lenny Speiller told the Independent.

“That said, we recognize this is a major change to Chapel Street, and the Traffic Authority had thoughtful comments and questions about the proposal.”

He said that, ​“due to scheduling conflicts,” not everyone on the city’s transportation team was able to attend Tuesday’s meeting and answer all of the commissioners’ questions, and ​“we look forward to scheduling a follow-up meeting in the near future to discuss the proposal further and to answer any outstanding questions from the commissioners.

“Depending on when the meeting is scheduled and the final vote of Traffic Authority, we will then be able to assess whether the May 26th conversion is achievable.”

Traffic Authority's Authority Explained

Tuesday’s two-way-conversion debate also served as a reminder of what exactly the Traffic Authority has control over, and what it doesn’t.

The commission’s purview was made most clear during a discussion earlier in the meeting about a city proposal to replace a stop sign with a yield sign at the intersection of Dean and Burr streets in Morris Cove. That’s where the city is in the works of installing a roundabout and a new exit for Tweed Airport, in a bid to redirect some airport traffic away from Fort Hale Road and towards Townsend Avenue.

Traffic commissioner Mike Lawlor asked why the commission was charged with reviewing and voting on the stop sign-to-yield sign change, but not on the roundabout itself. City Engineer Giovanni Zinn replied that that’s because the roundabout is a change to the ​“geometric layout” of the roadway, as opposed to a change to a ​“traffic control device.”

“What we vote on here is lawful regulations,” Fischer explained. Generally speaking, ​“if you can get a ticket for it, then you have to come here” to the traffic authority for approval.

During the Chapel Street two-way-conversion discussion, Lawlor asked city staff to explain why the authority had purview over this matter while they didn’t have a say on, for example, the Dean-Burr roundabout. Is it because, after the two-way conversion, it would be a violation to drive the wrong way on Chapel?

That’s right, Fischer said. The current ​“one-way street [configuration] is a regulation,” he said. And ​“we’re rescinding the one way.”