The owner of three contiguous properties near the eastern end of Frogtown Road is asking town officials to help reduce the speed of motorists at the sharp bend there, down the hill from the intersection at Weed Street.
Looking up Frogtown Road toward Weed Street. Possibly 1930s. Robert Corry photo, courtesy of the New Canaan Historical Society.
Limited visibility creates a safety hazard at the curve that slopes down from Weed, and additional signage or speed bumps would help, according to a letter filed with the Traffic Calming Work Group by the owner of 96, 112 and 138 Frogtown—parcels that total about six acres on the south side of the road.
Yet there are “not a lot more signs that you can put out there” beyond the multiple warning signs and reflecting arrow signs in place, Police Capt. John DiFederico said during the group’s most recent meeting.
“We will continue to monitor it, with [officers] enforcing the speed limit,” DiFederico said during the Dec. 15 meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.
He added: “He has speed bumps here [as a suggestion] but that is not a road you can put speed bumps on anyway.”
Narrow, windy and heavily used as a connection between Weed Street and Ponus Ridge that lets out conveniently close to New Canaan’s business district, Frogtown Road at its eastern end is also hilly: Eastbound motorists travel over two hillcrests and then come into the sharp curve that leads toward Weed.
Tiger Mann, assistant director of the New Canaan Department of Public Works, said another resident along that stretch had requested that town officials “cut the hill out and drop the hill” and re-configure driveways so that they’re located further down the road.
Fire Chief Jack Hennessey said the more recent resident complaint may have been prompted by an accident about two weeks earlier that involved a truck attempting to back out of a driveway on that eastern stretch of Frogtown Road.