Maya McFadden Photo
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn talks Valley Street improvements with neighbors at the Shack.
City of New Haven
Reconstruction plans to sharpen up Valley Street’s wide curves and slow down drivers have come into focus — and met with agreement from West Hills neighbors at a community meeting.
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn presented the design plans for the reconstruction of the entirety of Valley Street to neighbors at a meeting at The Shack at 333 Valley St.
At a previous input session in March, neighbors had raised concerns about speed on the roadway, lack of crossing opportunities for pedestrians, and wide curved side streets that make it difficult to turn onto Valley. (Read more about that here.)
The Valley Street project is part of a “Complete Streets” plan undertaken by the city’s Engineering and the Transportation, Traffic & Parking departments with state funds to improve safety infrastructure on high-traffic roads around town.
The major corridors project will tackle the engineering leg of the three traffic safety “E“s: education, enforcement, and engineering.
Click here to read the plan Zinn presented at the meeting with neighbors at the Shack this past Wednesday night.
Zinn’s plan envisions a series of raised intersections and tables to keep drivers from speeding up throughout the span of the entire roadway. Starting on the side of Valley Street nearest to Pond Lily Avenue, the first raised intersection is at the Valley Street and Harper Avenue intersection.
A speed table is planned for the Mountain Road and Valley Street intersection.
The dispersed raised structures will slow drivers down by making it “uncomfortable to go over 25 miles per hour,” Zinn said.
Several “piano key” crosswalks will be painted throughout the roadway and on the raised structures to make pedestrians more visible when crossing.
During reconstruction, the entire street will be milled and paved, Zinn added. In response to sidewalk concerns on Valley, Zinn said, the plan is to repave sidewalks and repair curbs.
One concern raised by neighbors was parking on the road. Zinn’s plans don’t propose major changes to the parking on both sides of the street. A few spots will be eliminated due to the sharpening of side street corners.
Zinn presents plans at meeting at The Shack.
To address neighbors’ concerns about drivers struggling to see oncoming traffic when coming out of side streets, Zinn proposed several curb bumpouts to offer clear lines of sight. “The raised elements will help in that case, too, because drivers won’t be going 40 or 45 miles per hour on Valley anymore,” Zinn said.
The intersection of East Ramsdell Street and Valley Street will include bumpouts and raised crosswalks.
To address side streets with “wide sweeping curves” like Victory Drive, Zinn’s plan proposes to “T‑up” the intersection by making its corners closer to 90-degree angles.
This also includes the “sweeping curves” of Valley Place North and South.
A raised intersection will be built at the Strong Street and the Emerson Street intersections.
More prominent crosswalks will be put throughout the roadway, including at the West Hills Road intersection.
One neighbor asked how the roadway changes will affect plow jobs in the winter. Zinn said with the re-shaping of the “wide curves,” snow plows will be able to pile snow in more areas.
The plan also proposes a curbed island between the roadway’s two opposing traffic lanes just past Emerson Street, heading toward the New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing at 105 Valley St. Zinn said due to the sharp turn, cars often swerve into the other lane.
For drivers turning onto Valley from Blake Street, a speed table is proposed to give them little time to start speeding on the road. A second speed table is planned for the end of the road’s curve just before arriving at the garden of healing.
Zinn said his goal is to finish the design plans by January, then soon after to submit the approval to the state and begin bidding for contractors next spring. The tentative timeline for construction to begin is July 2022 until around November 2022. Closure of Valley Street will be avoided during construction, Zinn said.
Nice improvements, but it seems that nothing is being done here to address the Blake/Valley pedestrian death trap.
Drivers often speed from Blake onto Valley regardless of what the traffic signals show, making it almost impossible for pedestrians to feel safe crossing at that intersection. There's a wide turn, making it easy for people to speed through the turn at 40 miles per hour.