This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
11/06/2023 02:20 PMNORTH HAVEN
Police hope the installation of new signs will help address traffic problems at two heavily traveled intersections. The signs were installed at Elm Street and the intersection of Hartford Turnpike and Homewood Avenue on Nov. 2 and 3 to increase motorist and pedestrian safety.
According to North Haven Police Department (NHPD) Sergeant Anthony DePascale, motor vehicle accidents and speeding have been a recognizable issue at the intersection of Hartford Turnpike and Homewood Avenue “for many, many years,” with the most recent residential concern being reported to the Board of Police Commissioners at a meeting on Sept. 26.
Prior to the installation of new signage, only the west and eastbound ends of Homewood Avenue’s intersection with Hartford Turnpike had stop signs. However, that was not enough to guarantee safety for motorists traveling either route.
“For some reason, when cars are trying to pull out of Homewood Avenue, they either misjudge the speeds of the cars that are coming down Hartford Turnpike or don’t see them,” said DePascale.
According to DePascale, 46 accidents have been reported at the intersection since 2010, 19 of which included the injury of at least one person involved in the incident. Prior to last week, a primary road in North Haven like Hartford Turnpike would usually not have to become part of a four-way stop configuration at some point along its route as “one of the major arteries in our town,” said DePascale.
Several efforts to reduce accidents without the need for additional signage have been made in the past whilst cooperating with residents who live at the intersection. This has included sightline work such as cutting back weeds and foliage to make the roads more visible to drivers, bringing Homewood Avenue’s stop signs closer to its connection with the turnpike, and stop bars.
“We had installed four-way intersection alert signs that were probably about 150 to 200 feet away on the north and southbound approach of Hartford Turnpike,” added DePascale.
However, these efforts did not help to reduce accidents as the department had hoped. In response, DePascale said he and Town Engineer Andrew Bevilacqua conducted a traffic study at the intersection, and given the “extenuating circumstances” of incidents, the decision to make a four-way intersection was decided upon.
“We both agreed that something needed to be done there, so we decided to go with the four-way application,” said DePascale.
Automated signs alerting motorists traveling both ends of Hartford Turnpike of the new stop sign will be present around 200 feet from the intersection per state regulations, said DePascale.
“Eventually...there will be street paintings that’ll say, ‘Stop Ahead’ right in that area as well. Then, when you actually get to the intersection, there’s going to be the stop sign,” he said. “There’s going to be the white stop bar, and there’s also going to be a big stop [sign] right at the intersection.”
For motorists traveling Homewood Avenue, which already has a stop sign and bar, they will also be informed of a “Stop Ahead” intersection with street painting before reaching the sign.
Residential concerns from Quail Run Village at 500 Elm Street will also be met with signage indicating the presence of crosswalks on the route. The issue was also raised at the commission’s Sept. 26 meeting, whose minutes read that “The crosswalk had been recently repainted; however, there is still concern of speeding as this is a heavily traveled road with no signs indicating a crosswalk.”
DePascale said without signage, “there was really nothing to alert cars to stop for pedestrians or anything like that. All there was was the crosswalks.”
This lack of signage was particularly concerning for residents of the Quail Run Village apartment complex, such as cars not stopping for crossing residents attending events at the location.
A relatively simpler traffic study followed, and now pedestrians and drivers will see large pedestrian crosswalk signs and an arrow placard alerting of the crosswalks.
Regarding the signs, DePascale said, “It gives guidelines for the cars on where they’re supposed to stop for if there’s a pedestrian that’s looking to cross.”
White Chevron signs, a “universal sign for cars to stop at that location,” will also be installed at the location.
“It gives people a little bit more of an indication that this is the reason for the stop, and it’s another one of those things that stay regulated,” said DePascale.