Saying the intersection backs up badly during the morning rush, town officials are planning to make a case to the state to create a left-turning lane at Old Stamford and Farm Roads.
Southbound traffic on Old Stamford Road backs up heavily because vehicles waiting to make a left onto Farm make it impossible for those seeking to continue down the state road toward the Merritt Parkway to pass, according to members of an administrative team that fields requests for traffic calming in New Canaan.
The town did request the turning lane once but was “denied based upon the width of the roadway,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann said during a meeting of the Traffic Calming Work Group, held Monday via videoconference.
“We could probably try to circle back given now the problems that we’ll probably anticipate come September, with more people wanting to drive or drop off their children and not take the bus,” Mann said. “So we might have to revisit that as well. We might have to go out there and take some measurements and prove that we can get a turning lane in. But the initial read was we got a ‘no,’ unfortunately.”
Old Stamford Road in New Canaan doubles as state Route 106, and the Connecticut Department of Transportation makes decisions on changes in areas such as signal lights and turning lanes.
The traffic problem at Old Stamford and Farm Roads has come up before, and resurfaced recently after Police Deputy Chief John DiFederico received a complaint, he said.
“There is no doubt that there is a traffic issue there,” he said. “During the school year, particularly in the morning hours when vehicles are trying to get to school and everyone is commuting to work, the traffic that wants to turn onto Farm, particularly the southbound traffic, is waiting for northbound traffic to clear in order to make a left turn, and there is no way for southbound traffic that wants to continue south to get around that traffic.”
He added that from about 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. “pretty much every road in the center of town is jammed up,” including Main Street, Old Norwalk Road and Old Stamford Road.
And now with Covid19, there will be less school bus users and longer traffic lines. While at it, make the left turn signal a long duration signal preferably with road loops. Our signal system is way too ancient.