The construction on High Street is aimed at reducing traffic speed, although the project itself hit a speed bump when the Middletown Fire Department raised concerns of whether fire trucks would fit down the redesigned road.
The project, which focuses on the stretch between Church Street and South Main Street, calls for narrowing the roadway by moving some curbs into car lanes and building raised traffic islands. The Fire Department objected to the traffic islands, which will no longer be raised in a new plan that is still in the works.
“We like the [original] design [and] we don’t want to see it compromised, but we understand there are realities,” said Professor of History William Pinch, who is a member of the High Street Traffic Calming Committee, the neighborhood organization who has advocated the changes.
The initiative to redesign the segment of High Street began at least five years ago amid neighborhood complaints about cars barreling through at excessive speeds in the 25 mile-per-hour zone. A study cited in the Hartford Courant confirmed that many cars sped at an excess of 15 miles-per-hour over the limit.
“It’s not the volume of traffic, it’s the speed,” Pinch said, adding that his neighbors continue to experience problems with cars veering into their properties.
According to Pinch, in one three-year period, there were 34 vehicle-related accidents, not including those that took place at the intersections.
In response to the problem, residents organized the High Street Traffic Calming Committee and initially petitioned the city for stop signs, which were refused. However, after the Middletown Police Department completed a study of the traffic patterns on High Street and said changes had to be enacted, the city’s Common Council acted and passed a traffic ordinance.
“The Common Council, in my view, was very courageous to pass that ordinance,” he said.
The ordinance required that a road redesign be approved by set percentages of the residents of the affected area. Out of the 80 percent approval required from High St. residents, the High Street Traffic Calming Committee was able to acquire 84 percent.
The ordinance also required the permission of 50 percent of residents living on side streets to which High Street was the only point of egress. On Lawn Ave. and Huber Ave., nearly 100 percent consent was obtained—mostly from the University, which owns 18 out of 20 properties on Lawn Ave. and four out of seven on Huber Ave.
This was a pattern largely repeated on another side street, Mansfield Ave., where the University owns three out of ten properties. All the Mansfield Ave. property owners consented to the design.
On the other side street involved in the plan, Loveland Street, devoid of University property, there was a substantially lower level of consent—11 out of 19, or 58 percent, agreed. Pinch notes the non-signatories were mostly non-resident landlords who never responded to repeated attempts to get in touch.
Pinch credits the project’s implementation to local residents who organized the committee and participated in the neighborhood drive for signatures.
“There seems to be an impression out there that this is Wesleyan’s doing, and that is certainly not the case,” Pinch said. “This is not Wesleyan telling the city what to do.”
This is a sentiment shared by the University administration.
“As a courtesy, the city shared its engineering plan with the University’s facilities staff,” said Vice President for Public Affairs Justin Harmon. “In general, we do support measures to calm traffic, and we understand that the city is adapting its plan to facilitate access for fire equipment.”
After years of dealing with this issue, Pinch is hopeful that the project will proceed smoothly onwards.
“I would like to think [the city administrators] have a lot invested and want it to succeed,” Pinch said. “Even what they’ve done [so far] has made a difference.”
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