YMCA Exit Onto South Avenue To Become Single-Lane

The New Canaan YMCA’s exit onto South Avenue soon will change from two lanes to one, following a recommendation from state transportation officials.

This 24-foot-wide, 2-lane driveway for cars exiting the YMCA parking lot onto South Avenue soon will become a single, 18-foot-wide lane, following a recommendation from state transportation officials. Credit: Michael Dinan

A consulting firm that’s conducted a traffic study of the driveways and parking lots in the expanding facility will install shoulders and stripe the exit lane so that it’s 18 feet wide, “removing the signing that goes with two lanes—left-turn and right-turn only,” according to Michael Galante, executive vice president of Fairfield’s Frederick P. Clark Associates Inc.

“And that is accommodating their [Connecticut Department of Transportation officials’] concerns,” Galante told the Police Commission at its Feb. 25 meeting, held at the New Canaan Police Department. “The state looks at it like this: They would rather have the cars waiting longer in the driveway, rather than have the cars processing more traffic on two lanes.”

The change arises as the YMCA undergoes an expansion and Galante’s firm studies motor vehicle volumes in its driveways to determine the project’s impact on traffic. State officials recommended a similar change from two lanes to one at for the exit driveway at Saxe Middle School, which is set to undergo a rather large capital project next door. Police commissioners flagged new traffic concerns that would arise from that suggestion.

The three-member Police Commission voted 2-0 in favor of the change, and a letter soon will go to the state DOT backing up the change.

The DOT’s Office of State Traffic Administration also is requesting that the stop bar for cars exiting the YMCA’s driveway be moved before the pedestrian crosswalk that runs alongside South Avenue just there, effectively forcing motorists to stop twice prior to pulling into the state road (Route 124).

Commissioners asked Galante whether there would be an advantage to making the “left lane” on South Avenue for southbound motorists approaching YMCA entrance a true left-turn-only lane (the DOT prefers adding a bypass lane into the shoulder on the right), what are the sightlines before the crosswalk (virtually none) and whether the crosswalk itself will be raised (slightly).

According to Galante, the YMCA “is generating a fair amount of traffic.”

“We are anticipating that it could add some more traffic with the expansion of the building itself. We don’t expect membership to change with the expansion of the building itself—the programming is remaining the same, but it might change the scheduling around. It’s always been an issue as far as monitoring traffic and the parking needs—to change the scheduling to minimize the demand for parking on the campus.”

Galante conceded that even though on paper, the new configuration will create a single lane of traffic exiting the YMCA, “in reality, someone will sneak by the guy waiting to make the left turn there out of the driveway.”