Government

New Canaan Eyes Road Safety on God’s Acre [VIDEO]

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via YouTube

[Note: This video was shot during the 9 a.m. drop-off on March 12.]

Prompted by safety concerns from a popular preschool, town officials are contemplating how to slow down motorists zipping along Oenoke Ridge at the turn near God’s Acre. Toddlertime Nursery School operates out of space behind the Congregational Church of New Canaan. At drop-off and pickup times, parents either pull off of Oenoke and park street-side at the top of the hill—in front of the church—or pull into a lot behind the church that lets out onto Oenoke opposite the Historical Society (the lot operates with one-way traffic flow). At the most recent meeting of a group of public works, police and fire officials that fields residents’ requests for traffic calming, Toddlertime co-owner Barbara Davis said the preschool faces two challenges. First, there’s no safe way to walk across Oenoke—for example, if a group of preschoolers are headed for a field trip to the New Canaan Nature Center, or if there’s a parent walking a child across Oenoke from a program at St.

Government

New Canaan to Petition State on Rte. 106 Railroad Overpass

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New Canaan will petition the state to put some warning tape around the Metro-North Railroad overpass on Route 106/Old Stamford Road so that it’s more visible to truckers who continually drive their too-tall vehicles into it. The town already has a system in place to warn those truckers about the overpass and its maximum height. As a truck approaches from either side, if it’s too tall it triggers flashers that say “Low Bridge Ahead.”

And New Canaan can also—on its own—paint “Low Bridge” in the street. Even with all New Canaan has done, “We still get trucks stuck in the bridge, so we said OK what else can we do,” said Tiger Mann, senior engineer for New Canaan and assistant director of the Department of Public Works. Any alteration to the bridge itself must be made by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Around Town

Are Cars Speeding into the S-Curve on White Oak Shade [VIDEO]?

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via YouTube

 [Note: This video was taken on Monday, March 3, 2014.]

Prompted by a speed complaint, town officials are looking into whether motorists are driving too fast into the sharp S-curve on White Oak Shade Road. The curve jags left and then right between Overlook Drive and Putnam Road for motorists traveling south on White Oak Shade. The town likely will start by using sentries to collect data about motorists’ speeds there, according to Tiger Mann, the town’s senior engineer and assistant director of the New Canaan Department of Public Works. In the past, the town has installed “rumble strips” in the roadway there to slow motorists and the approach worked, Mann said. The strips serve as small bumps for cars traveling over them and cause motorists to slow down before entering the S-curve, he said.

Around Town

Seminary Street Residents Seek Stop Sign Enforcement

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By Michael Dinan

via YouTube

[Editor’s Note: The video above was shot on Feb. 12, looking onto Seminary Street from Oenoke Lane and the stop sign encountered by eastbound traffic, or those traveling away from the Food Emporium.]

Concerned about the safety of pedestrians, including children, a group of Seminary Street residents are seeking help from police and other town officials on enforcing the stop signs at the Oenoke Lane intersection. Ann Kozar, who has lived in a house right at the intersection for four years, told town officials Wednesday that she sees multiple cars roll or blow through the stop signs daily. “My main concern is safety,” Kozar said during a meeting of the town’s Traffic Calming Work Group. The panel fields requests for matters such as reducing speed and eliminating cut-thrus on town roads.