Town Plans for Increased Pedestrian Traffic, Safety at South and Maple [UPDATED]

[Note: This article has been updated to say the pedestrian-activated beacons will run across South Avenue on the south side of the intersection with Maple Street.]

Saying the newly built New Canaan Library is expected to draw even more walkers in the area of South Avenue at Maple Street, town officials last week voted in favor of installing a pedestrian-activated flashing beacon there. The new set of rapid rectangular flashing beacons or “RRFBs” will run across South Avenue on the south side, where there’s an existing crosswalk, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “Given the fact that the library will be opening and some of their people are going to be parking across at St. Aloysius and then St. Aloysius is still using the library as their library, the library becoming more of a hub, we request to upgrade the signage at South and Maple,” Mann told members of the Police Commission during their Jan.

Town Turns Down Request To Remove ‘No Turn on Red’ Sign

Citing safety concerns, officials last week denied a resident’s request to rid one leg of a busy downtown intersection of its “No Turn on Red” designation. Motorists traveling toward town on Heritage Hill Road cannot turn right at the light at Main Street. New Canaan resident David Kirby met with Public Works Director Tiger Mann to ask whether the “No Turn on Red” designation could be removed in order to improve traffic flow. Yet the light helps ensure that motorists turning onto Main Street just below the intersection, from Locust Avenue, are unimpeded as they pass by Heritage Hill Road, officials said at the Jan. 18 Police Commission meeting.

Police: Reports of School Bus Violations Up Steeply in 2022

New Canaan Police are seeing a steep rise this year in the number of reported violations of motorists passing stopped school buses. Police received 31 reports of school bus violations in October, compared to just four in the year-ago month, Chief Leon Krolikowski reported at the Nov. 16 meeting of the Police Commission. Through the first 10 months of 2022, police received 101 school bus violation reports, compared to 39 in the same period last year, according to the chief. 

“We have seen a huge increase in violations and in fact we are working with the [school district’s] transportation coordinator and the bus drivers to try to get them the information they need,” Krolikowski said during the Commission’s regular meeting, held at police headquarters. 

“Because sometimes incidents are reported but they can’t be enforced, because they don’t meet the criteria of the statute,” he said. Krolikowski added, “This is largely bus drivers reporting violations with the cameras on the buses.