New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Detour woes: Improper turns vex city officials
NEW HAVEN — Drivers using the detour off South Frontage Road to get onto the interstate highways are making an improper turn, potentially causing a safety problem, according to the city’s Downtown Crossing consultant.
In order to raise South Frontage
Road for future construction of a bridge connecting Temple Street and Congress Avenue, a detour was set up in June. Drivers coming down South Frontage must turn right onto College Street, then left onto Congress Avenue and right onto Lafayette Street.
Lafayette was turned into a one-way street from Congress Avenue to Church Street South temporarily to create the detour.
It’s at the next intersection where the problem lies. When Lafayette Street meets Church Street South, vehicles in the left lane have a left-turn arrow. They then must weave a lane or two to the right to be able to turn right onto South Frontage Road and access the ramps to the interstates.
Drivers in the right lane on Lafayette have an arrow in the roadway and a sign directing them to turn right onto Church Street South or go straight onto
Tower Parkway (there is a traffic signal at the intersection, as well).
However, many drivers have been turning left from the right lane of Lafayette, making it tricky for drivers in the left lane to turn right onto South Frontage. If the traffic is heavy and drivers aren’t accommodating, those following the proper traffic pattern could have to continue straight onto Church Street.
The drivers turning left from the right lane of Lafayette
Street “are not obeying the street signs and the street markings,” said Anna Mariotti of HNTB Corp., the city’s consultant on the Downtown
Crossing project. “That can cause issues for the people who are following the driving rules.”
Mariotti said she had not heard of any accidents at the intersection because of wrongway turns, but “any time drivers do not follow street signals, lanes, etc., it can potentially cause a safety issue.”
She said Manafort, the contractor for that part of the project, has agreed to hire extra-duty police officers for that and other intersections, but there apparently are not enough available every day.
“They order them every day, but it’s when officers are available, so it does not happen every day,” Mariotti said. Officers also are hired to monitor South Frontage Road’s intersections with York Street and College
Street, as well as College Street and Congress Avenue.
Karla Lindquist, acting director of the city Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking, said in an email,
“This intersection has all the proper traffic control devices. For the safety of everyone who uses the road, we urge everyone to obey all traffic laws and indicators.
“Traffic safety includes both infrastructure and enforcement and our team works with the New Haven Police Department on enforcement in this area, just as we do throughout the city,” she said.
Drivers also have lost a shortcut that avoided the detour. An entryway off South Frontage Road into the Air Rights Garage leads to the service drive between South
Frontage and Martin Luther King Boulevard or into the garage.
The south service drive has been closed because of construction of 101 College St. and the north service drive has been made into a two-way road, said Robert Ellis of the city Engineering Department, project manager for 101 College.
“That’s controlled by a flag person during the day” and a rolling gate at night, Ellis said, in order to “limit public access during construction.”
The city wanted to limit the volume of traffic on the lower level of the garage and prevent additional traffic because of drivers using it to avoid the detour, he said.