Safer Routes to School in Southwest Connecticut
Stamford, Norwalk, and Greenwich are implementing traffic safety measures near schools to try and make the roads there safer.
Across southwest Connecticut, each day hundreds of students walk, get a ride, or take the bus to and from school. But the roads around some of the schools can be some of the most dangerous in the area.
For example, the Safe Streets Greenwich Initiative found that the are “disproportionately more fatal and severe crashes near schools” in town. In fact, 22% of all fatal crashes and 15% of all pedestrian-involved crashes that resulted in a death or serious injury took place within 100 feet of school zones—even though school zones make up just 5% of Greenwich’s roads.
That’s part of why officials around the region are investing in and prioritizing projects that aim to make the streets around schools safer.
New Roundabout Coming to Norwalk
In Norwalk, the City Council voted this week to approve the Phase 1 work to install a roundabout near the South Norwalk Elementary School, which is located near the intersection of South Main Street, Meadow Street, and Wilson Avenue, one of the most dangerous—and complicated intersections in the city.
“This is something that the community has asked for for a long time, improvements to this somewhat confusing, somewhat dangerous intersection,” Benjamin Yeung, a senior traffic engineer, told the Economic and Community Development Committee earlier this month.
The council approved allocating about $850,000 for phase one of the work which involves removing an old rail spur and concrete wall located at the intersection.
Yeung said that the plan is to have a contractor excavate the soil and the ledge/rock that’s there. This work will allow them to “realign South Main Street” and “also benefit the construction phasing and staging overall.”
The goal is to do this work in the spring and then construct the roundabout over the summer while the students are out of school, officials said. However, Yeung did note that if there are delays in the excavation or with CTDOT approvals “we may not get it as far as we want under construction this year.”
“Our goal is to get this project done as soon as possible so the traffic flow can be safer for drivers and also for pedestrians and people biking to and from the school,” Yeung said.
The city has about $3 million in grant funds for the project, in addition to $1 million from local capital funds for this project.
“There’s no doubt that a roundabout is safer than what is currently there,” said Council President Josh Goldstein.
The city is hosting an open house on Monday, February 2 at the South Norwalk Elementary School where residents can learn more about the project.
Stamford, Greenwich Add Speed Cameras in School Zones
Stamford is working to add 14 speed cameras near seven school locations in an effort to make the school zones safer for pedestrians and drivers, city officials said.
“Speed cameras are a proven safety countermeasure; they've been shown to reduce crashes and injury crashes,” Luke Buttenwieser, a city transportation planner, told the Board of Finance in January. “Any way we’re able to reduce vehicle speeds, you can really improve safety.”
The plans, which were approved by the state of Connecticut, call for adding cameras on:
- West North Street near Cloonan Middle School and Hart Magnet Elementary School
- Toms Road near Dolan Middle School
- Cove Road near KT Murphy School
- Hope Street near Springdale Elementary School
- Strawberry Hill Avenue near Stamford High School and near Strawberry Hill School
- Glenbrook Road near Julia A. Stark Elementary School
Earlier this month, the Board of Finance approved a $336,000 contract with a company called Sitestream that will install, maintain, and manage the cameras. Buttenwieser said the plan is for the cameras to pay for themselves through citations issued.
The first citation would be a $50 fine and a $15 processing fee, however for the first 30 days the program is in operation, only warning tickets would be issued.
“Speeding is probably the number one complaint we receive as a department,” Buttenwieser said. “First and foremost this is a safety program.”
Buttenwieser noted that the cameras will be in use 24/7, 365 days a year as the schools are often in use outside of traditional school hours.
“Safety is important to us at our schools,” he said.
Stamford is following in the path of Greenwich, which installed speed cameras in November and December at:
- North St School
- Eagle Hill School on Glenville Road
- Brunswick Lower School on King Street
- Greenwich Academy on North Maple Avenue
- Central MS on Orchard Street
- Central MS on Indian Rock Lane
- Glenville School on Riversville Road
- Greenwich High School on Hillside Road
- Greenwich High School on East Putnam Avenue
- Parkway School on Lower Cross Road
Greenwich officials said the goal of the program is to “prioritize the safety of our youngest residents at school while helping positively influence long-term driving behavior across the county for the safety of all residents.”
Greenwich found that in a week 223,109 drivers drove through the school zones of which 44,208 were speeding. The town found that 28,416 were speeding between 11-14 mph over the speed limit, 13,152 were speeding between 15-20 mph over the speed limit, and 1,940 were going more than 21+ mph over the posted speed limit.
Citations officially started earlier this month.
