Around Town

Diverting Cut-Through Traffic, Town Installs Barricade on Conrad Road

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The town on Wednesday temporarily closed a heavily trafficked cut-through road near Exit 37 of the Merritt Parkway, as officials try to figure out how to control motor vehicle volume and speeds there. The Police Commission discussed the possibility during its Oct. 18 meeting of closing Conrad Road so that motorists cannot use it to quickly access South Avenue and the Merritt. The appointed body did not vote on the measure. Nevertheless, the town has put up barricades on Conrad where it juts west toward South Avenue (before Whiffle Tree Lane), and they will remain in place for five weeks, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.

Government

Town Pursuing Traffic-Calming Measures on Conrad Road

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Responding to traffic and safety concerns from the neighborhood, town officials say they’re asking the state for permission to make changes in the area of Conrad Road. Officials are asking the state Department of Transportation whether Conrad—a cut-through between Gerdes Road and South Avenue for motor vehicles seeking to get onto the Merritt Parkway at Exit 37—could be designated as a “no thru traffic” street, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The town also can ask the state whether the timing of the light at Gerdes Road and South Avenue could be adjusted in order to release more motor vehicles from Gerdes onto the Merritt, Mann said, though that “would be very difficult to enforce.”

“We would just be shifting it back to Gerdes one way or another,” Mann said during the Police Commission’s July 19 meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference. The DOT’s Office of State Traffic Administration or OSTA “might not have a problem because it would be intra-town not inter-town, but it might be a problem with enforcement,” he added. In addition, the state’s “primary concern all the time is traffic on their road,” Route 124/South Avenue, Mann said.

Government

Police Commission Approves New Traffic-Calming Measures for Silvermine Road

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The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Carriage Barn Arts Center. Town officials this month approved several new traffic-calming measures in Silvermine. During its July 19 meeting, members of the Police Commission voted in favor of striping on the side of Silvermine Road—reducing the amount of drivable space, forcing drivers to slow down—a new crosswalk near the Mill Road intersection and a solar-powered “speed sentry,” a speed monitoring device. Police Deputy Chief Andrew Walsh recommended that the striping on Silvermine run from the “intersection at Valley Road to the intersection at Comstock Hill Road.” 

Walsh said police have observed large amounts of foot traffic near the intersection at Mill Road. “It’s definitely highly traversed as a pedestrian, we think it would be safe to have that,” he said during the meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference.

Arthur Conley

Silvermine Residents Call for New Traffic-Calming Measures

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The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Carriage Barn Arts Center. Residents of Silvermine said last week that additional traffic-calming measures are needed in their neighborhood, as frequent speeding in the area creates a public safety issue. In 2017, the speed limit on Silvermine Road was reduced from 30 to 25 mph. However, residents such as Mark Thorsheim say it is not enforced frequently enough. Motorists speed and even pass each other on the narrow roadway, creating a hazard for the area’s many pedestrians, Thorsheim told members of the Police Commission at their June 21 meeting.

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Commission Approves Crosswalk for Elm Street at New BOE Offices

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Officials this month approved a midblock crosswalk downtown to ease pedestrian passage between the new Board of Education offices and a local business. The Police Commission during its May 18 meeting voted 3-0 in favor of installing a crosswalk at 220 Elm St., connecting the New Canaan Public Schools offices to Walter Stewart’s Market. Some students who attend programs at the Board of Ed also work at Walter Stewart’s, prompting the superintendent of schools to request a crosswalk for safe pedestrian passage, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “They have a kind of a working relationship,” Mann said at the meeting, held at New Canaan Police Department headquarters and via videoconference. Commission Chair Jim McLaughlin, Secretary Shekaiba Bennett and member Paul Foley voted to approve the crosswalk.