‘There Has Got To Be a Better Solution’: Town Officials Reject Single-Lane Exit from Saxe at South Avenue

Saying motorists already back up onto South Avenue during busy drop-off and pick-up times at Saxe Middle School, town officials on Thursday night bucked at a recommendation from the state to change the driveway’s two-lane exit to one.

The area of concern. Screenshot from Google Maps

Doing so would exacerbate a problem of traffic and would be “a near impossibility,” Police Commission Chairman Stuart Sawabini said during the group’s regular monthly meeting.

“I am more than in favor of the Saxe expansion and all the rest, but what you are suggesting will create such a huge bottleneck,” Sawabini said during the meeting, held at the New Canaan Police Department. “There has got to be a better solution. My other understanding is that the exiting cars off of the back [of Saxe, on Farm Road] are not allowed because it’s bus time and the gate closes. So you only have South Avenue and I just could not imagine that we would not receive huge, huge resistance from the public if we say, ‘Reduce it to one [lane].’ Maybe saying ‘Reduce it to one’ is really not our domain.”

The recommendation has come down from the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Office of State Traffic Administration, according to Stephen Ulman, a senior project engineer at Glastonbury-based consultancy Benesch. Ulman has studied traffic patterns on South Avenue—which is also state Route 124—with the planned expansion project at Saxe Middle School.

According to Ulman, state officials are trying to address potentially dangerous sightlines for motorists seeking to exit onto South Avenue—for example, if a SUV waiting to turn left blocks the view of northbound traffic for a smaller car that want to turn right toward downtown New Canaan. (The state also wants to move the painted ‘Stop’ line at the end of the Saxe driveway back inside of the pedestrian walkway across it.)

Even so, Ulman said, the state’s recommendation was surprising.

“This came out of the blue” and late in the process with the state, he said. “The driveway as is currently done with two lanes was part of the original certification” for Saxe Middle School.

Ultimately, police commissioners decided to write a letter to the state, saying that they foresee no significant impact to the state highway system (South Avenue) as a result of the Saxe expansion and “are vehemently opposed to driveway change,” Ulman said.

“As long as they have something to trace back,” Ulman said.
Commissioners asked him whether installing a traffic light where the Saxe driveway meets South Avenue was the only alternative (no, it’s too close to the light at Farm Road), whether the state’s recommendation amounted to a directive (not really), whether the area has any history of crashes (no) and whether this disagreement could slow down the Saxe building project (maybe).

“We are not changing the driveway,” Police Commissioner Paul Foley said. “If they want to slow up the project then that’s on them.”

Sawabini said that “if using one lane is the only alternative, then we need to look to find” another existing lane off of the back of the school.