Government

State, Town Agree To Co-Fund Re-Working of Difficult Locust Avenue-123 Intersection

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The state has agreed to pay for most of the work needed to make one of New Canaan’s most harrowing intersections safer for pedestrians, officials said Tuesday. The Board of Selectmen approved a $7,000 contract with Bridgeport-based Cabezas-DeAngelis Engineers & Surveyors to create a formal design—likely with push-button signals, sidewalks, pedestrian ramps and crosswalks—to help pedestrians cross Route 123 where Locust Avenue and Brushy Ridge Road come in. Brought to the attention of town officials in June by a resident of the area, the complicated intersection at the moment allows for “no pedestrian access across [New Norwalk Road],” Tiger Mann, the assistant director of the Department of Public Works, said at the selectmen’s meeting, held in Town Hall. “The push buttons that are there are behind the guardrail, you can’t get to them, there’s no connectivity as far as where the sidewalk ends on Locust to anything across the street—River Street, Brushy Ridge—and you have several residents trying to cross the street. It’s a busy intersection, it’s got four legs into it.”

Residents in the area have told town officials that awkwardly timed traffic signals are prompting motorists to speed and run red lights at the intersection.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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We’re hearing there’s a town DPW worker who enjoys Kahlúa in the morning. Locust Avenue resident Lauren Cerretani told NewCanaanite.com that she named her 4-year-old rescued Labrador retriever mix ‘Kahlúa’ as soon as she laid eyes on the dog, adopted from the Myrtle Beach, S.C. area at age 13 weeks. (Cerretani’s previous dog was named ‘Bailey.’)

Each morning after 7 a.m., Cerretani walks Kahlúa downtown, and there, during the summer months, she inevitably spots Walt Jaykus of the New Canaan Department of Public Works. Jaykus’ duties include watering the hanging baskets on the lampposts, and he’s had a connection to Kahlúa since the dog moved to New Canaan. “My dog either spots his water cart or Walt himself and she’s pulling me,” Cerretani said.

Around Town

Residents Call for Safety Measures at Complicated Locust Avenue-Route 123 Intersection

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Saying ill-timed traffic signals at Locust Avenue and Route 123 are prompting motorists to speed and run red lights, residents of the area are calling for town officials to boost police enforcement and ensure pedestrian safety. An increased number of families with young kids live in the area—there are five bus stops on Locust alone between Cherry and 123—and cars at peak times back up as far as Cherry Street itself, according to third-generation New Canaanite Lauren Cerretani, of Locust Avenue. “There are more people running red lights and I can stand on the corner and see the close calls,” Cerretani on Thursday told the Traffic Calming Work Group. The administrative team includes members of the police, fire and public works departments, as well as CERT, and fields requests for traffic calming. “It is just very dangerous there,” Cerretani said.