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NORWALK, Conn. – The lane structure on Calf Pasture Beach Road will change soon to accommodate Norwalk's bicyclists, but parents concerned about the safety of their children on the road's sidewalks will have to wait for answers and action.
Shared lanes, or sharrows, were authorized for the road Monday by the Traffic Commission, as expected by the wording of its agenda. The inside lane will be narrowed to 10 feet, and the outside lane will be widened to 14 feet, with painted stencils on the road to indicate bicycle space, Department of Public Works Director Hal Alvord said.
Activists had campaigned for a "road diet," making the road one lane in each direction and using the resulting space for a lane dedicated to cyclists. One of the city's traffic consultants, VHB Engineering, has done a couple of miles of shared roadway in New Haven, Alvord said. "They're working very well, they're just as safe as bike lanes," he said.
Commissioner Pete Torrano detailed research he had done about accidents on the road and attacked comments about the lack of safety as "inflammatory, inaccurate and a disgrace."
Torrano had searched the computerized police records, which date to 1999, for accidents on Beach Road. He found 28; only four involved injuries, and those were minor. None involved excessive speed. (His information, which includes accidents before 1999, is presented in an attachment below.)
Two of four public speakers presented petitions; one contained 500 signatures in favor of a road diet, another contained 700 signatures against it. Mayor Richard Moccia, one of two traffic commissioners at the meeting, said he has gotten many comments from residents on the topic, almost universally against a road diet.
Both petitions agreed on the need for safety on the sidewalks. That issue will begin to be addressed at the Aug. 7 meeting of the Public Works Committee, said Chairman David McCarthy, R-District E.
Alvord gave a hint of the challenges involved. The poles that are in the space of a proposed sidewalk in front of Marvin Elementary School belong both to AT&T and the Third Taxing District. Underground conduits carry utilities from the poles to the school and across the road to the Charles Cove condos.
"It's not as simple as just pulling a pole out of the ground and replanting it someplace," he said. "You've got all the underground utilities that's connected to those poles that would have to be dealt with as well."
Attached: Statistics compiled by Traffic Commissioner Pete Torrano (beach_road_statistics.pdf)
Comments (4)
Why can't a sidewalk be built on the same side as Marvin School, on the school (city) property on the side of the stone wall opposite the roadway? Continue down at the edge of Taylor Farm? The area just north of the school may require a little more time, work and money.
It's better than nothing, for sure. Good first step.
I have to say that the editorialization that is omnipresent these days in Nancy's stories drops in to say hello here. The headline seems to indicate both a conspiracy ("as planned") as well as suggesting that the fact that drivers sharing the roads is somehow a bad thing...what?
Her mention of the agenda as evidence of this conspiracy is silly...agendas always have the thing that is being proposed. The agenda posted references the sharrow plan that was proposed by public works. If they didn't want it, they would have rejected it.
The statements about parents having to "wait for answers and action" is also a little mind-boggling. The question came up, was sent and received a reasonable answer based on facts, in the face of a lot of exaggeration and misleading statements. Trying to make a story out of nothing? If you want to report on somethign, how about reporting a little on that petition with 700 signatures (200 more that the misleading one got) and the people that put that together?
@JonP
With all due respect, I disagree that there's editorializing in this article. It's clear if you read the article why the sharrows can be accomplished much faster than sidewalk improvements. Also I don't see any conspiracy mentioned or implied regarding the agenda so not sure where you're getting that.
I really don't know but I guess the survey lines on the condo side are correct. I always thought, though beautiful, their wall seems much to close to the road and truly makes the sidewalk very narrow.
It's a ton of work and money but the school side of the road looks like it has room to grow wider. Ten feet of sharrow sounds plenty wide but probably isn't when traffic is at it's peak, because you know drivers will weave in and out when they can and cyclist will be the victims of the first accidents.
Seven to five, isn't that telling us something?
I'm happy forn the bikers getting more road, I just hope it isn't a suicide / sharow lane.