Traffic Calming Sessions Coming Up June 08

Comment sought on traffic woes
By Angela Carella Stamford Advocate 05/31/2008

STAMFORD - Residents concerned about traffic in their neighborhoods may talk about it with city engineers in meetings that begin Monday.

Engineers have been meeting with residents for help in creating a master plan for solving traffic problems citywide. City Traffic Engineer Mani Poola said they have been working on the plan for about 18 months.

They divided Stamford into 16 areas and scheduled opening and closing meetings in each to discuss how traffic-calming devices could alleviate problems, Poola said.

The opening meeting for North Stamford residents is Monday; the closing meeting for Newfield is Tuesday; the closing meeting for Roxbury, Cedar Heights and Castlewood is Wednesday; and the closing meeting for downtown residents is Thursday.

The following week, Bull's Head residents meet Tuesday, June 10; Hubbard Heights and West Side residents meet Wednesday, June 11; and the closing meeting for North Stamford is Thursday, June 12.

Few people are attending the meetings, even though many are concerned about speeding and other problems, Poola said.

"We have had some good responses, but we would like to see greater participation. Some meetings have only 15 or 20 people," Poola said. "If we get a large crowd, we will get a lot of input, and that will help us work it out properly."

After engineers hear from residents at the meetings, they go into the neighborhoods to observe traffic and determine what type of traffic-calming device will help, Poola said. Devices include roundabouts, bump-outs, striping, curb extensions and textured pavement. But the most common is speed humps.

"We have been trying to do traffic calming for six or seven years," Poola said. "Most of the devices we installed are speed humps. There are more than 100" citywide.

As the devices were installed in one area, however, new traffic problems developed in adjoining areas, he said.

"Instead of doing it piecemeal, we decided to go for a larger-scale program" and create a master plan, Poola said.

The June 12 meeting is the last. After that, engineers will finish the master plan, which will set project priorities in each neighborhood. Then, depending on how much money is budgeted, "we will leave it to city representatives and the neighborhoods to decide which ones to do," Poola said. "We want to make sure it's done in a democratic way."

The meetings are called charrettes, or interactive neighborhood gatherings, and begin with a slideshow to introduce the types of traffic-calming devices, followed by a discussion of problems in the neighborhood. Residents then are asked to vote for the most urgent problems.

After that, participants break into groups to come up with solutions, and the ones that are mentioned most are investigated by engineers to see if they will work. Engineers then recommend final projects and present them to residents before they are incorporated into the master plan.

At last year's meeting in Westover, for example, residents identified their most pressing problems: blind spots and speeding on Skyview Drive; young drivers and bus traffic around Westhill High School; motorists running stop signs at Skyview Drive and Westwood Road; motorists using Brodwood Drive and Bartina Lanes as short-cuts; and speeding on Westover and Roxbury roads.

Residents suggested installing roundabouts, road stripes, sidewalks and signs, and raising the pavement at intersections where motorists often run stop signs.

"A lot of citizens don't participate in the process, then when it's implemented, they protest," Poola said. "This is a time to participate."

Car talk

City engineers will meet with the following neighborhoods in the next two weeks to hear traffic problems:

* North Stamford (opening meeting): 7 p.m. Monday, June 2, in the cafeteria of Scofield Magnet Middle School, 641 Scofieldtown Road.

* Newfield (closing meeting): 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 3 in the media center at Turn of River Middle School, 117 Vine Road.

* Roxbury-Cedar Heights-Castlewood (closing): 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 4 in the faculty cafeteria at Westhill High School, 125 Roxbury Road.

* Downtown (closing): 7 p.m. Thursday, June 5 in the fourth-floor cafeteria of the Stamford Government Center, 888 Washington Blvd.

* Bulls Head (closing): 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 10 at Cloonan Middle School, 11 W. North St.

Hubbard Heights-West Side (closing): 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 11 in the media center at Westover Elementary School, 412 Stillwater Ave.

North Stamford (closing meeting): 7 p.m. Thursday, June 12 in the cafeteria of Scofield Magnet Middle School, 641 Scofieldtown Road.

For information, visit www.stamfordtrafficcalming.com.