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NORWALK, Conn. – The fate of Norwalk's Beach Road is yet to be determined.
About 30 concerned citizens watched as Norwalk's Traffic Authority conducted a meeting which for members was typically short, but with an atypical amount of attention. The controversial item on its agenda: approving wide outside lanes on Calf Pasture Beach Road. Both Commissioner Peter Torrano and Mayor Richard Moccia said they were tabling the measure so they could gather more information. Commissioner Dan O'Connor was not present. There was no public comment. The meeting lasted 10 minutes.
Activists were hoping to speak on a topic near and dear to their hearts: making Calf Pasture Beach Road safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Although many would like to see sidewalk improvements, most think that for practical reasons – the much lower cost – the lanes of the road should be redefined with paint, making a lane dedicated to cyclists and keeping vehicles further from the pedestrians on the sidewalks.
Prior to Moccia's motion to table the item, Torrano read a statement which he specified that he really had written himself, a reference to perceptions that Moccia controls the authority. "There have been studies quoted by those in favor of changing the flow of traffic to and out of the beach and we need to see and understand the studies," he said. "There seems to be much conflicting information regarding the actual safety of the bike lanes and as a result we will be asking for statistics from towns and cities that did install bike lanes to determine if there was a reduction in bike accidents. I am also asking that the police department provide data on how many pedestrians and bike accidents that have occurred on beach road for a period that extends as far as the tracking abilities that the department allows."
Moccia said that Alvord and Councilman David McCarthy would study the issue of unsafe sidewalks. Residents have complained that they have to step into the road because of telephone poles and that a retaining wall makes the sidewalk too narrow. Moccia said it might be possible to use the capital budget to make the sidewalk safer but moving the poles might be more of a challenge, as the Third Taxing District shares them with ATT. The council's Health, Welfare and Safety committee will look into that.
Nevertheless, the Traffic Authority is the sole governing body that can act on the road issue. Torrano promised full disclosure. "This is not going to be buried," Torrano said. "We do intend to look at this, we want to make sure we have all the facts before us. We have an obligation to the citizens of Norwalk, we can't break it down into selected groups. We have to make sure that everybody is heard from."
Correction made, July 28.
Comments (5)
This panel looks really representative of Norwalk (not). I heard the police commission looks like this too...
Same members! They end the Traffic Authority meeting and then wait until 4:15 to begin the Police Authority meeting.
But you knew that.
I question the need for the studies at all. We waste an awful lot of money studying things for small select groups of unhappy people. We live here & drive on the road daily, I walk, drive & bicycle on beach road on a regular basis & have for over 30 years. Every few years somebody thinks they have a new idea & we spend money studying something thats been studied before. The road is fine, people speed on it, but they also speed on Gregory, Cove Ave, First, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th streets. People speed on all our roads & I dont understand why people think a person's saftey on beach road should be more important than anyplace else. For all the whining its pretty rare to read of an accident on Beach road, kids arent being run over, cyclists arent either.
I do think the sidewalks should be addressed. The condos aren't new, but their wall should never have been approved. It definitely blocks a drivers view, the sidewalk on that side is not wide enough either. On the other side the wall should be moved back OR a sidewalk put behind it. Putting a sidewalk behind the wall removed the difficulty of moving the poles, which should not be too hard anyway. Our city has a hard time putting its foot down. Move the pole & give AT&T a time limit to move their wires. Our saftey should certainly outweigh their convenience.
At any rate I think this is a big fuss over a small issue. The BEST way to lessen traffic woes is lessen traffic, STOP promoting East Norwalks parks as destinations for non residents. Or if we must promote them then all these traffic concerns NEED to be dealt with first, and there are many much more important than beach road. The Metro North East Ave bridge comes immediately to mind. That bridge sees MUCH more traffic than the one by the PD and causes more back ups, but you never hear it mentioned. Its a bottleneck both ways & creates a much more dangerous situation for pedestrians & cyclists than beach road ever will. If we care about saftey that bridge should be a priority.
It would appear that the predictions of Matt Miklave and David Watts made at the council meeting have come to pass. I am disappointed that the Traffic Commission has chosen to table this issue without public comment. It appears that there is also a misunderstanding that this is only about bike lanes, and not safety for everyone (including the handicapped).
Why do the studies need further study and research? They have been in hand for quite some time. Why were conclusions not formed, or questions asked when they were first made available? What pressing issues were being addressed that prevented the Traffic Commission from reviewing and acting upon these studies that the city had invested in?
Why is there a resistance to "test and learn"?
@Debora
I agree with you that "test and learn" is a great idea with very little downside. If they're looking for a compromise they could try closing one lane in one direction only, say heading to the beach. Some opponents claim that this will be a massive inconvenience and there's a "silent majority" who want to keep Beach Road Highway as it is, rather than adding a lane for pedestrians and cyclists. If that's true, we'll see traffic issues emerge when "test and learn" is implemented. All the people who are massively inconvenienced will voice their complaints, and the road can be quickly restored to the four-lane limited-access highway that it is right now.
There was a story in the Hour in which Hal Alvord stated that the City's plan was to move Beach Road Highway's centerline to the left by a few feet, and paint sharrows on the right side of the right lane. I think that given the public attention focused on the issue, Mayor Moccia decided to postpone that move so that the Traffic Commission could review all the studies. If there are three studies and none of them recommend sharrows, it's hard to see justification for the sharrows. I hope Mayor Moccia doesn't think that he can simply ignore the matter -- a large group of people feel quite passionately about this and that won't change anytime soon. Some opponents claim that the proposed changes are just for the benefit of cyclists, and that's simply not true - the changes are for pedestrians too. It's a sad day when pedestrians are derided as an insignificant minority and City infrastructure encourages them to drive to the beach rather than walk.