Funny how DPW is all for installing sidewalks on Strawberry Hill yet does not do its job of enforcing clear and unobstrucuted sidewalks in the rest of Norwalk. From The Hour:
A new traffic light, more striped crosswalks, bicycle lanes, upgrades to school zone signs, and wider sidewalks are part of plan engineered by the Department of Public Works for Strawberry Hill Avenue.
Public works officials hope to have the plan approved by the state Department of Transportation shortly, put it out to bid in springtime, and tap a $300,000 federal Safe Routes to Schools grant to start construction.“(Sidewalks) are about three-feet (wide) now. We’d like to make them four to five feet. Right now, they’re footpaths. They’ll actually be sidewalks,” said Michael Yeosock, senior civil engineer in the city’s public works department. “We’re going to put in a new traffic signal at Strawberry Hill and Tierney.”
For years, East Norwalk residents have asked the city to curb speeding on Strawberry Hill Avenue, a busy north-south thoroughfare. The area also is home to Norwalk High, Naramake Elementary and Nathan Hale Middle schools.
Reducing speeding requires education, enforcement and engineering, according to city officials. And while the Safe Routes to Schools isn’t a traffic-calming project, the improvements could result in motorists taking their feet off from the accelerator.
“It works as traffic calming in that signage hopefully makes people more aware that they’re in a school zone … and we will interconnect all the signals,” said Richard P. Linnartz, principal engineer of design in the public works department. “The person going 50 mph on Strawberry Hill at Norden Place is going to trip a sensor that’s going to stop them up a Tierney Street.”
The improvements, estimated to cost $504,767, are planned for a roughly mile-and-a-half stretch of Strawberry Hill Avenue, from Fitch Street to Westport Avenue. Yeosock said the department will supplement the grant money with city dollars to pay for the work. The proposed traffic light at Tierney Street and Strawberry Hill Avenue, an often treacherous intersection anchored by a triangular median, is the most expensive portion of the project. It is expected to run at least $75,000, according to the public works department.The DOT is reviewing the preliminary design, as drawn up by city engineers.
source: The Hour Protecting pedestrians Safening Strawberry Hill Ave., January 7, 2008
