The Common Council of Middletown will continue its traffic-calming project on High St., having reached construction compromises with the Middletown Fire Department in response to objections that the department made in September. The concerns revolved around whether or not reducing the street width would prevent fire trucks from easily maneuvering on the road. This seems to signal an approaching end to an effort that began in 2001.
The goal of the Middletown Common Council ordinance that authorized the construction was to reduce the disproportionate amount of speeding and number of tractor-trailers that disturb residents of High St. and the surrounding area. Because High St. is a straight road and excludes tricky intersections such as one on nearby Rt. 9, drivers take it to travel faster and often exceed the local speed limit.
In 2001, Professor of History William Pinch contacted Robert Santagelo, chair of the Common Council’s Public Safety Committee, with these concerns. The Middletown Police Department conducted a test in response to the complaint, confirming that cars typically traveled 40 mph through the 25-mph zone.
When permission to erect a stop sign on High St.—which requires approval at the state level—could not be obtained, the Common Council decided to make use of a relatively new approach to traffic engineering: traffic calming.
“The initial request was for stop signs, which create pollution and aren’t as efficient,” said Gary Daley of the Common Council. “Traffic calming is a more modern project and I’m glad to see it being used.”
Traffic calming discourages drivers from speeding with a set of techniques that make driving conditions appear more complex than they actually are. It prevents the problems that traffic devices cause, such as increasing environmentally harmful gas emissions and creating disturbing noise at night by forcing cars to come to a complete stop. Traffic calming also makes areas safer for pedestrians.
The most dramatic construction undertaken on High St. used curb extension to reduce the width of the road from thirty-seven feet to twenty-two feet, which is significant because drivers are more likely to drive quickly when they feel the comfort of a wide road. Along similar lines was the addition of cobblestone islands to increase navigation complexity.
“It is the trend in traffic because you can’t put up signs everywhere,” Santagelo said of traffic calming. “[Signs] also cause people to stop and pull away. Traffic calming is often just more efficient.”
However, road narrowing has made it difficult for fire trucks, with a 50-ft. ladder and 44-ft. base, to access certain roads. The construction project was stopped temporarily after the fire department raised objections.
On Jan. 22, the Common Council reached a solution that would make the project acceptable to traffic enforcers, residents, and the fire department. The sidewalk at the corner of High and Church streets was moved in so that fire trucks would not cross paths with other vehicles while turning. The cobblestone island on Warwick St. will also be modified. In addition, construction will move back curbs at other select points and make several small changes at other intersections.
“These changes are fairly minor and shouldn’t effect at all the effectiveness of this traffic calming project,” Santagelo said.
Daley is glad to see the completion of the initiative, albeit years after it began.
“I’ve been working with Professor Pinch since the concerns were laid, so I’m glad after six years that the project will finally be completed,” said Daley.
According to the Hartford Courant, several other neighborhoods have also requested that similar changes be made on their streets.
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