A new curb “bump-out” on Congress Avenue would make crossing guard Linda Snow’s job easier — and might keep speedy drivers from creaming her warning sign again.
Right now, even with a crossing guard and a warning sign in road, cars whip by the John C. Daniels School, where Linda Snow helps to usher students safely across Congress Avenue every afternoon. The sign has been a casualty of aggressive drivers in the past, Snow said.
When the avenue’s potholes are eliminated by a planned half-million-dollar repaving project, cars might be able to go even faster. But the plan also includes at least one traffic-calming measure designed to slow cars down.
Planners are looking into narrowing Congress Avenue with a curb “bump-out” in front of the elementary school. The bump-out would reduce the distance students have to cross when they’re leaving school. It would also provide drivers with a visual cue to slow down.
The proposal to repave Congress Avenue will come before two city boards this week. The project has already been green-lighted for federal stimulus money.
On Wednesday, the City Plan Commission will vote on whether the city should receive the federal money. On Thursday, the Board of Aldermen’s City Services and Environmental Policy Committee will take up the matter. The project will have to be approved by the full Board of Aldermen.
The Congress Avenue redo was originally intended to be part of the recent improvement of Whitney and Derby Avenues. But when costs mounted, the Congress Avenue project was separated out, City Engineer Dick Miller said Tuesday.
When the American Reinvestment and Revitalization Act was passed, the city submitted the Congress Avenue plan as a “shovel-ready” project, and won full funding, Miller said. The plan is expected to cost $562,900.
“It’s essentially curb-to-curb milling and paving,” Miller said. The road will be milled to a depth of three to four inches and then coated with two layers of “superpave.”
“It should last 20 years,” Miller said.
The street hasn’t been resurfaced for two decades, he said. A visit to Congress Avenue on Tuesday found a large number of patches and potholes.
The project is scheduled to be completed in less than two months, starting in the spring. It will include some sidewalk repair and will extend from Ward Street west to the intersection of Congress and Davenport Avenues.
The city is “looking to include bump-outs by Daniels School” as part of the Complete Streets program, the city’s traffic-calming initiative, Miller said. The bump-outs are likely to be included in the Congress Avenue redo, he said.
“We’ll need to look at the bus-turning radii,” said Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts. Bump-outs will not be possible if they prevent buses from turning onto the street.
While bump-outs are not definite, “It is our intention to include some sort of traffic-calming measure,” Smuts said. Bike lanes are also a possibility, depending on traffic lane width, Smuts said.
Traffic-calming would be welcome at the Daniels school, said Principal Gina Wells on Tuesday afternoon. Traffic on Congress Avenue is “tremendous,” she said. “It’s fast.”
At dismissal time at Daniels on Tuesday, crossing guard Snow was at her appointed spot at the intersection of Congress Avenue, Hallock Street, and Baldwin Street.
Snow, who’s coming up on her fifth year as a crossing guard, said bump-outs seem like a good idea. People drive too fast on Congress, she said. One driver recently took out the “School Crossing” sign she puts out when she shows up every afternoon.
“He just ran right over it,” she said. “He was going too fast.”
When the school buses line up on Congress Avenue outside the school, Snow has to step out into the street to see around them. “There’s a big blind spot,” she said.
“We have a hard time crossing here,” said Saquana Barrow after stepping onto the curb, pushing her toddler in a stroller. She was at the school to pick up her other two kids, who are in pre‑K and first grade at Daniels.
If the crossing guard weren’t out here, “there’d be dozens of kids getting hit,” she said.
Barrow described her family’s street-crossing technique. “Oh my god. It’s like we all have to grab hold of each other,” she said. The family then edges into the street, making themselves as visible as possible, she said. “We have had cars come really close to us.”
Sylvie Rivetta, who was meeting her first and third graders at Daniel, said the problem is drivers use Congress Avenue as a traffic-light-free shortcut from West Haven. “I’m worried about kids on this street,” she said.
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Kudos to Dick Miller for embracing the bump-out! A really simple & excellent way to improve this type of street.
I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. The bike lane comment is worrisome: I don't see that as a viable traffic calming step. I'm not really a big fan of bike lanes. They can be useful but they are ultimately just a paint stripe. Raised crosswalks & bump-outs pack a lot more punch.