New Canaan is seeking state approval for a crosswalk that would run across Main Street from beside the driveway to the Town Hall parking lot.
Designed to ease foot traffic and improve safety near a hairy downtown intersection, officials are hoping the proposed crosswalk gets a nod from the Connecticut Department of Transportation prior to the newly renovated Town Hall’s reopening next Spring.
Michael Pastore, director of the New Canaan Department of Public Works, said most people cross Main just at that section anyway.
“Most people going to the restaurants and shops cross there, and that [proposed crosswalk] is up in the air, the DOT is having a hard time with it,” he said.
Here's a look down Main Street from about the spot where a crosswalk would be installed, if town officials receive state approval. Credit: Michael Dinan
The state likely requires a fuller traffic plan for the entire area to green light the proposed crosswalk—which would run cross Main from the south side of the Town Hall driveway, Pastore said. State approval is required because that stretch of Main Street is also Route 124.
Town officials are taking a close look at that section of Main Street right now, as the question has arisen of just when to begin work on the Locust Avenue parking lot—where a deck would be installed, increasing the number of available spaces from 150 to about 240.
Plans currently call for work on Locust to wait for Town Hall’s completion, for reasons of parking, among others: New Canaan is losing 60 spaces right now with the municipal building’s renovation underway.
Here’s the area we’re talking about: