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NORWALK, Conn. – Mayor Richard Moccia is poised to expose Norwalk to unnecessary liability, according to activists, who have reached out to the city's corporation counsel in an effort to stop a decision that is planned for Monday.
Item three on the agenda for Monday's public meeting of the Traffic Authority, a three-person board appointed and chaired by Moccia, is "Approve the implementation of Wide Outside Lanes (WOL), aka Shared Roadways, aka Sharrows, on Calf Pasture Beach Road from Marvin Street to the entrance to Calf Pasture Beach in accordance with the attached plan." This is in defiance of three studies paid for by and presented to the city of Norwalk, activists say.
There is no plan attached to the online agenda, and a request to the mayor's office for a copy was rejected.
"All three studies recommended a 'road diet' and no study recommended sharrows," said Dr. Peter Libre, a resident of Seaside Place, near the beach. "If something bad happens, don't you think it's possible that a lawyer could say, 'Gee, not one, not two, three studies that you paid for told you not to do this.' Why would you do exactly what they told you not to do? It's dangerous for the cyclists, for the pedestrians, for the teenage drivers and the city's finances, in terms of liability."
Sharrows are traffic lanes marked to indicate that motor vehicles are expected to share the lanes with bicyclists.
Libre calls the half-mile stretch leading to the beach the most dangerous road in the city. "I know of at least six teenage deaths there in the last four decades," he said, a claim he made at Tuesday's council meeting.
"I understand Dr. Libre's concerns about safety," Moccia said Tuesday. "I checked with Chief Rilling, there has been no major accidents or fatalities down there for many years. One is too many, I agree with him."
Council members were addressing the beach road issue, as Democrats had proposed a resolution urging the city to test the "road diet" plan – which calls for making the road one lane in either direction and using the remaining space for a lane dedicated to cyclists and pedestrians – by putting up orange cones in July and August.
Councilman Michelle Maggio (R-District C) objected to the test-and-learn plan because part of the issue is the safety of children walking to Marvin Elementary School. The trial period would come when school is not in session.
Councilman Nick Kydes (R-District C) was offended that the proposed lane would be in the roadway, on the same level as speeding cars, with no curb to protect anyone. "To put children, to put cyclists on a road that is going to be shared with cars is contradictory to the safety issue," he said. "I don't think that's safe. I think this needs to be well thought out."
There was talk of tabling the resolution and sending it to the Traffic Authority. "We'll discuss it," said Moccia, one of three members of the board. "Really, we will." Councilman Matt Miklave (D-District A) objected, saying that the resolution couldn't be sent to the authority, and the council voted to send it to the department of public works committee.
Moccia did not mention Tuesday night that the next meeting of the Traffic Authority would be Monday. Advocates found out when Diane Cece checked the city's website and read the agenda. Libre emphasized that the agenda uses the word "approve" in reference to sharrows.
"The advocacy group lit up the internet when they found out," said Miklave in an e-mail. "They seemed to be pretty mad that the mayor did not say anything about it on Tuesday, as if the Traffic Authority was trying to pull a fast one."
Moccia, who spent much of the week in Orlando at a mayors conference, did not return a request for comment Saturday. The other two members of Traffic Authority are Republican Pete Torrano and Democrat Dan O'Connor, both of whom are appointed by the mayor in accordance with the city charter.
"It’s a little unfair to try to prejudge what the Traffic Authority is going to do," Moccia said Tuesday as council members debated whether to pass the resolution or refer it to the authority. "If it is tabled and referred to us, passed and referred to us, I believe, in talking to Mr. Alvord, I believe we are willing to look at some items that might not be perfect answers for everybody but might be the compromise. I do believe there are some efforts that we can do to at least get some shared lane markings on there, to at least make drivers aware."
"It is interesting, given some of the comments from members about the safety issues created by putting a bike lane next to a vehicle travel lane, that the Traffic Authority is considering putting a bike lane inside of a vehicle travel lane," said Miklave in a Friday email.
Activists say there are three studies that do not recommend sharrows for Beach Road.
The Norwalk Pedestrian and Bikeway Transportation Plan, Recommended Improvement Plan, by Fitzgerald and Halliday, which is dated January 2012, was done for the planning and zoning department. It is available on the city's website, through this link.
"The relevant pages are page 9 (the Tier One Improvement Plan), that does not mention sharrows, page 32 (Calf Pasture Beach Road recommendations) that does not mention sharrows), and page 61 that describes sharrows' appropriate use on low-speed roads where cars and bicycles can mix freely," said Mike Mushak in an e-mail.
Sharrows are recommended in a preliminary draft of the plan, available through this link (listed as Task 2 on the city's website on a lead-in page)
Libre provided chapter two of the Transportation Management Plan, although his copy is labeled a draft, for review purposes only. That was prepared for the department of public works and is attached as a PDF below. Beach Road is section L, on page 49.
Dan Burden prepared the bicycle/pedestrian part of the plan. "I believe that this is the final chapter that I prepared for our team," he said in an e-mail to Libre. "Although I do not have a print copy of the final report, I do not believe anyone made changes to this chapter. I have gone through my files, and I cannot see where there would have been a point where sharrows would have been recommended for Calf Pasture. Even so, the mayor should act upon the final report, not preliminary judgements before all of the information was in. I recall that one of the concerns for Calf Pasture, reflecting the views of people living in the area, is speeding. A road diet is a highly proven and very affordable solution to this problem. Sharrows would have little or no effect to change such behaviors."
Activists say another study was done by the health department but have not provided further specifics.
The meeting of the Traffic Authority is at 4 p.m. Monday at police headquarters, and is open to the public.
"What the mayor is saying is sharrows," Libre said. "Sharrows don't make the road safer for anybody. It's just totally a zero. It just spends maybe $5-$10,000 putting down some paint that probably will be redone when the next administration comes in here and realizes it has to fix this mistake."
Correction made 1:25 P.M.: Resolution was sent to the DPW committee.
Attached: (norwalktmp_report_activetransportationsection_walc-institute_2011-11.2.11.pdf)
Comments (13)
Iwitherspoon is right again. The road is over built for the normal traffic. Anywhere else a divided highway with two lanes in each direction would have much higher speed limits. There are ways to make the lanes narrower, discourage passing, and create bike lanes without spending a lot, but the mayor has other priorities now. He and Chiaramonte seem intent on union busting.
In all the years moccia has been in office has his police commission/traffic authority ever come to any decision other than the one he wanted ?
So very true
I don't recall any children, adults or bicycle riders being involved in motor vehicle accidents on Beach Road in the last 25 years. Chief Rilling is correct. Ample police presence and ticketing has slowed the traffic. Bike riders share the road everywhere and also have to abide by laws. They share the roads everywhere else in Norwalk and I see no problem with sharing Beach Road just the way it is.
You are 100 percent correct.
Well here we go again... the city does what it wants without regard to the community's safety or outside, objective recommendations. THREE seperate studies, THREE times recommended we need a safer way to access the beach for everyone not operating a motor vehicle. The city spent almost a million dolllars to find this out, yet the mayor takes his stubborn anti resident approach to decision making. He's not listening. Of course head to Orlando when your city is falling apart... what is it your learned there beside the best choice of poolside cocktail goes with your nachos. The residents of this city are becoming increasingly mad and frustrated. HOW is a sharrow going to keep the kids safe walking to Marvin? HOW is it going to make parents more comfortable taking their younger ones (or not for that matter) on the bikes to the beach? Or mini golf? The laws are already in place to give bikers a safe berth and that is not even monitored. I am disgusted and am joining the fight for the vehicle free lanes.
FYI, it was mentioned that the DPW Committee would discuss the sidewalk situation.
This issue exemplifies how government waste is created. Two City departments pay hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars to study and create plans to address improving public access and amenities. Instead of implementing the plans, which were created by professional firms who perform this type of work all over the country, and which were reviewed by staff and the volunteer commissions that serve as community representatives we will get input from a panel of three who have no background in street design. The beach road safety group is largely comprised of people who live in the neighborhood. They have organized and documented the support for improvements. Where is the City's documentation?
@jlightfield
As usual you ask an excellent question. If the studies all list something other than sharrows as their top recommendation, the City should have some strong documentation supporting a decision which would ignore those studies in favor of painting a few sharrows.
Maybe the Traffic Commission should consider implementing "Test and Learn" in just one direction. Meaning, temporarily reduce Beach Road to one lane on the beach-bound side only. This way the change is less drastic. Reducing the other side could be done later, or not at all, depending on the results of the test.
@lwitherspoon
Great point about testing in one lane. Considering that Parks & Rec installed speed bumps at the entrance to Calf Pasture Beach should indicate that there may have been documentation about slowing incoming traffic at the gate for safety reasons.
Where will it end? We need a bike lane to get to the beach - ok, let's assume that's true. Then what - will Gregory Blvd need a bike lane too? What about East Avenue? Somehow or other bicyclists will need to get to the beach road.
You are so right..What we need to do is nothing as this is just very very small group that want all the taxpayers to pay for their recreation of bike riding. Beach road is just fine as it is, always has been always will be, We have larger problems in Norwalk to be concerned with other than destroying Beach Road for this very very small group of loud mouths.
@rickaroo
Those arguing in favor of the bike lanes point out that studies concluded that Beach Road doesn't have anywhere near enough traffic to justify being two lanes. Also, the sidewalks for pedestrians are dangerously narrow. That being the case, proponents argue that one lane can be converted for use by pedestrians and cyclists without harming motorists. Nobody can say for certain whether or not proponents are correct, but testing the proposition probably can't hurt, in my view.
Interestingly the speed limit on Beach Road is 25 mph. Since this discussion started, I have driven a number of times on Beach Road at 25 mph, and doing so feels so slow that you're practically walking. The reason is that the two lanes in each direction, plus the dividers, give one the feeling of driving on a limited access highway where a comfortable speed is much higher than 25 mph. Try it yourself and you'll see what I mean. Make sure you do it in the right lane, because the left lane is the passing lane on our Beach Road Highway!
If 25 mph is truly the safe speed limit on Beach Road, something needs to happen so that people don't feel so comfortable driving so much faster than that. Alternately, the speed limit should be raised to reflect the speeds that people actually drive. Either way, sharrows are not the answer, as the studies point out they are not recommended for addressing conditions similar to those on Beach Road. Improving sidewalks would take lots of time and money and wouldn't do anything to slow traffic. I hope the Traffic Commission will find a compromise that involves "Test and Learn" in some way.