Haverford Street Gets A Hump

Drivers used to careening at over 75 miles per hour down Haverford Street in Hamden will soon think twice about doing so, or else give their cars’ shocks some serious exercise.

The Hamden Traffic Authority approved a new speed hump on Haverford between Ridge Road and Lansdowne Avenue Wednesday evening after residents agitated for traffic-calming measures for almost two years.

The town will also install a stop sign on Haverford in the eastbound direction at the intersection with Lansdowne, a crosswalk at the intersection, and will paint more lines on the road, all in an effort to slow down drivers.

Haverford is one of Hamden’s East-West corridors. It’s one of the easiest ways to travel between Whitney Avenue and the Hartford Turnpike, which means it sees a large volume of traffic for a small residential street.

A 2018 traffic study showed that on a typical weekday, 700 cars travel the street in the eastbound direction. Though the posted speed limit is 25 miles per hour, the study showed that most drivers travel between 26 and 35 mph, and a significant number drive between 36 and 45 mph. In a six-day period in May and June of 2018, the study also clocked three cars traveling between 56 and 60 mph, and two going over 75 mph.

“This is really a disaster waiting to happen,” said Haverford Street resident Vicki Seitz at Wednesday’s meeting. There’s a young child living across the street, she said, and ​“his feet outrun his smarts.” Plus, she added, ​“there’s little old ladies like us living on the block.”

Seitz was one of 14 residents who spoke, at points tearfully, in favor of speed humps at Wednesday’s meeting. And it was not the first time many had asked the town for traffic-calming measures on the street.

In 2012, Hamden commissioned a traffic study on its East-West corridors in Spring Glen and Whitneyville. The study recommended placing two speed humps on Haverford — one on the block between Lansdowne and Ridge, and one between Lansdowne and Whitney. The town did not install the humps.

In 2015, Sarah Clark moved to Spring Glen from West Woods to be near her grandchildren. ​“I realized the street is very busy, and because of the grandkids, I was concerned,” she said. As she told the Traffic Authority on Wednesday, 23 children live on her block, most of them under 10. She spoke with other residents, and learned that they had asked for traffic calming in the past.

In November 2017, she obtained the signatures of 54 residents on a petition for traffic calming on the street and delivered it to Thomas Wydra, who was police chief at the time. The town installed a traffic-speed monitor on the street in February of 2018, which, in addition to showing drivers their speeds, can record those speeds. When the data from the monitor came out, residents were concerned that it was not accurate, said Clark, and they asked for a professional traffic study. The town hired Traffic Engineer Morteza Hayatgheybi, who prepared the study that came out in July of 2018, which recommended a speed hump.

Clark said she asked members of the Traffic Authority what they thought about the study. They responded that they would need to know what residents think about traffic calming measures. Clark made an online survey and presented it to the commission, which said it would need to conduct its own survey.

In October of 2018, the commission approved a speed hump on the street on the condition that at least 66 percent of respondents to the town’s survey wanted a speed hump. At that point, it was too late to install a hump before winter, so the survey did not take place until spring of 2019.

Marcia Romanansky, a volunteer whom the Traffic Authority frequently enlists to gather traffic information, helped conduct the survey and prepared a report, which she presented at Wednesday’s meeting. 66.15 percent of the 65 respondents wanted a speed hump.

The commission’s vote on Wednesday approved a hump for installation this fall, and also added a stop sign, a crosswalk, and more painted lines. The stop sign, said Clark, was a welcome addition, because people traveling East on Haverford don’t have any reason to stop when they get to the intersection with Lansdowne and then they accelerate because they see the hill in front of them.

The town’s Traffic Department will consult with Hayatgheybi and Town Engineer Mark Austin in the coming weeks to determine where exactly to place the hump. It will need to be installed before it gets too cold to lay asphalt.