News

Old Studio Road at 106: ‘The Crosswalks That Lead to Nowhere’

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Prompted by a request for a crossing guard that would help get kids cross Route 106/Old Stamford Road from the area of Old Studio Road, toward South, Saxe and the high school, town officials are trying to answer a bigger question about how whether there’s a way to create a safe pedestrian walkway along that stretch of Route 106 itself. The difficulty is that, although there are crosswalks there—for example, at the southern end of the Old Studio Road horseshoe—there’s no safe route for pedestrians once they’ve landed on the eastern side of the state road. “They are kind of crosswalks that lead to nowhere,” New Canaan Police Capt. John DiFederico said Tuesday during a meeting of the Traffic Calming Work Group. Composed of police, fire, CERT/emergency preparedness and DPW officials, the work group fields requests for traffic calming measures. At least one parent from the west side of Route 106 there (Old Studio Road, Richards Lane) and South School officials had inquired about the possibility of putting in a crossing guard at the crosswalks, DiFederico said.

Around Town

Town Weighs Fix for Awkward Traffic Island at Canoe Hill and Laurel

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If the geometry works, town officials may recommend enlarging the traffic island where Canoe Hill and Laurel Roads meet, so as to avoid confusion about what path cars should take, and when. Signs posted on the small island instruct motorists to stay to the right, and those coming from Laurel Road must yield. As it is, motorists traveling down (east, toward 123) Canoe Hill face the non-intuitive prospect of going around the traffic island, which sweeps cars slightly to the right (toward Laurel) in order to continue on that road, which then jogs left. The road also feels wide enough to motorists on that approach that it should accommodate two-way traffic on the left-hand side of the island. “It’s just unnatural to go around it, the way it is,” Police Capt. John DiFederico said Tuesday at a meeting of the Traffic Calming Work Group.