New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Dangerous Westville intersection gets a ‘peanut’ to boost safety
NEW HAVEN — Westville gets a peanut, but in the form of a roundabout.
Following two months of construction, the city reopened one of its most dangerous intersections with a new traffic calming measure; city officials said there had been more than 50 crashes, though no fatality, within a three-year period.
The intersection of Chapel Street and Yale Avenue meets at different angles, with only two stop signs on Yale Avenue, but not on Chapel Street. It contributed to the already-poor visibility if a driver were to come from Yale Avenue, given speeding cars and parked cars on Chapel Street.
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn said the intersection had “really bad geometry” with expansive pavement that people didn't really know where to go. The roundabout also cut the pedestrian crossing distance from more than 140 feet down to two sections of 12-15 feet each.
“It's a lot shorter and a lot safer,” Zinn said. “It's the first one in Connecticut, we think.”
Zinn added that it's also clear and self-explanatory for cars to navigate through the peanutshaped intersection, noting the city hopes to see a “drastic reduction of crashes.” “What is a split-second decision at 45 miles an hour is something you have a lot more time to react to and deal with in a much more orderly fashion at 20 miles an hour,” he said. “It sends the message to the drivers that you have to drive the speed limit.”
Within yards of Yale Bowl, Westville Music Bowl and Edgewood Park, Alder Adam Marchand said the roundabout is a way to welcome people to the neighborhood. “This is a heavily trafficked intersection and we just have made it safer for everybody who comes to this neighborhood to partake in many events that happen here,” Marchand said.
Mayor Justin Elicker said the roundabout is a part of citywide traffic calming initiatives, which he broke down into three main efforts: education, engineering and enforcement.
Besides the infrastructure revamp, Elicker said police have increased the number of people on the enforcement team, noting the city already saw a significant uptick in ticketing at the beginning of the year. “We want to make it clear that if you drive in New Haven and you're speeding or you run a red light, you'll get caught,” he said.