Sharraxaadda
On a popular walking route for East Rock residents to get downtown (via Audubon St.), one crosses Trumbull St. at Lincoln Ave. Despite signs saying "yield to pedestrians in crosswalk" I find that not only do drivers not yield, they typically accelerate. From one end they are coming off of I-91 and still going highway speeds, on the other they are trying to make the light at Orange St. I almost get hit by cars here once a week or so. Does anyone else have this problem?
Maybe some blinking lights or a radar sign that tells drivers how fast they are going would help?
26 Faalladas
Brian Tang (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Yes, I've had quite a few similar experiences here. I think efforts to calm traffic might help during off-peak times of the day, but when traffic gets heavy on Trumbull, it really gets heavy. With volumes that high, there's not a lot you can do to help pedestrians safely get across. The only thing I can think of would be a full traffic signal like the one in front of city hall. If it could be well coordinated with the signal at Trumbull and Orange Street, it wouldn't necessarily have too great of an impact on traffic flow. The problem with that idea, unfortunately, is cost. Putting in a signal like that would be unimaginably expensive.
I'm really not sure if there's anything that can be done. It's a shame because it is otherwise a very pleasant walking route. My solution is to just to cross at Orange Street. It's actually more or less the same distance, assuming you are starting at Orange Street in the first place (just a little less pleasant).
MR (Martida)
Brian Tang (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
MR (Martida)
La qiray Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Kam Lasater (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
What about putting in a raised cross walk? It wouldn't change flow for the peak hours on Trumbull but it would mitigate the car bombing off the freeway at 60mph into downtown.
Totally crazy would be to put a traffic circle at the Orange and Trumbull intersection. Might help the number of cars that are waiting to turn left off of 91 as well as the number of cars getting backed up Trumbull.
I live around the corner and walk to work most days so this is an issue close to my heart/hearth.
-Kam
Mike S (Martida)
I know there is a crosswalk at Orange, but not only is it a less pleasant walk, the crosswalk takes an unusually long time to switch to "walk," and traffic is still rather oblivious to pedestrians, so even that isn't ideal.
Either way, since the Lincoln St. crossing is the place we are all drawn to, this must be true for others as well. Even if we all crossed at Orange, that wouldn't hold true for everyone. As long as SOME people cross at Lincoln, it should be able to be accomplished in a safe manner ... brighter lines in the road, blinking yellow lights on the signs, or like Kam said, a raised crosswalk all seem like relatively cheap fixes. I don't know what would be most effective but I'm sure there are people that study that sort of thing.
The little in-road crosswalk sign does help somewhat in the warm months but I feel like we need something more dramatic. Once again today, just an hour ago I found myself playing chicken with a pickup truck. No fun.
I just don't want to have to talk about this again after someone gets hit by a car.
Erin Gustafson (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
resident (Martida)
Traffic calming is desperately needed at this intersection.
Everyone in the neighborhood seems to agree, why can't it happen?
The city should be designed for residents, children and homeowners in our neighborhoods. PERIOD. Not for saving suburban drivers a couple extra minutes of time. If they don't like the queue, they can shift their work schedules by a few minutes.
The relative lack of city and state action on traffic calming throughout our city's most important pedestrian intersections, compared to the amount of urgent demand for such projects, is simply unacceptable.
resident (Martida)
PS those in-street signs (exact same model, not bolted in) are used year-round in other cities in Mass., some of which have double the snowfall totals of new haven.
maybe someone should call around and figure out how they manage to do it.
I want them too but here are the facts (Martida)
Boston: Bolted In-Road Ped Signs
1.) They have installed permanent signs in the South Side
2.) They only install on top of double yellow center lines
3.) Installed 20 ft back from crosswalks to accomodate turning radii of vehicles
4.) They do not install on one lane or with curb parking
5.) Not installed at traffic signals
6.) Only installed with existing crosswalks
7.) Barrels were once used in the city but no longer - liability as they can become an obstruction once hit by vehicles
8.) They do need to be replaced regularly
I want them too but here are the facts (Martida)
Boston: Bolted In-Road Ped Signs
Additionally:
They only install permanent signs that have been requested by community groups, councilpersons, police etc. Not by the public at large.
Brian Tang (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Greg (Martida)
"Popular walking route" is an understatement.
The fact that Lincoln is not as busy as Orange, State, or Prospect is one of the top reasons that I walk here. The cars at Trumbull do not stop for me unless I make a point of being in front of them and staring at the driver - it's not safe at all, and they don't respect the fact that pedestrians have the right of way.
MR (Martida)
Short of a major, $$ infrastructure change (which I would totally support and which I think is warranted by all the schools and businesses in the immediate area there)...would the city ever consider sending out a city official/police officer to ticket cars endangering pedestrians during high foot traffic times? Maybe that would get the message across.
I've had drivers honk and curse at me for being in the crosswalk even when they've had 50-100 feet to see me and slow down/yield to my right of way.
juli (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Erin Gustafson (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
A "fun" fact for pedestrians to keep in mind: it's a $200 fine per car that drives through the crosswalk while you're in it. Unfortunately that money goes almost exclusively to the state, not to New Haven who has to pay for the police time to issue these tickets. (So you begin to see where the system breaks down...)
I've decided to count up how much money could have been collected in one week, based on the number of cars that pass me at just one crosswalk nearby this issue (Orange and Audubon, affected also by highway traffic coming off the Trumbull St exit). Those who cross here at Lincoln should do the same and then send the tally to your State Representatives who are currently debating a proposal to send a larger percentage of traffic fine money to the cities who could use it!
East Rockette (Martida)
We regularly use this crosswalk too, and have had narrow misses several times. Often this happens when one lane of traffic stops, but the other just continues around it. I was closely missed, then honked at and yelled at by one such vehicle while pushing a stroller across the final lane of traffic. I would love to see not just a raised crosswalk, but the whole intersection to be paved and raised, thus continuing the charming Audubon precinct vibe from Lincoln Alley up into Lower East Rock, en route to Romeo's new cafe and beyond.
The problems with crossing on foot at Orange and Trumbull are many-fold. The crossing signal is brief enough that you have to run to make it safely across in time. People coming off I-91 and turning right onto Orange often assume they have the right of way over pedestrians, even on a red light. There is no formal foot-crossing on the east side of the street, and the NE and SW corners of the intersection are very pedestrian-unfriendly. NE is wide but dangerous - shallow enough that cars turning right onto Orange sometimes ride up onto the sidewalk. The cross-signal button at the far end is inaccessible, and the corner is often blocked by snow and ice in the winter. The SW corner, on the other hand, is narrow and treacherous, with visibility impeded by power poles.
I'd love to see this entire Trumbull/Orange intersection redesigned to favour local traffic - foot, bicycle, and car, especially given that Orange St is an official bike lane and a major foot-traffic route. There has to be a better way to safely funnel highway traffic back into city traffic at a proper speed and paying full attention to other road-users.
I notice, by the way, that there are traffic cameras at this intersection, with a live feed to the traffic office at City Hall. It's quite fun standing there waiting to pick up parking tags or whatever, and idly watching people blow through the red lights, with nobody seeming to take any notice. It would be nice to see this data-gathering actually used for tangible improvements...
Anonymous (Martida)
I propose a sign for traffic exiting the highway. "Residential and school zone. Speed limit 15 mph."
The intersection of Trumbull and Orange has very bad signage in general, it's chaotically placed. Same problem further up Trumbull at Whitney and Temple. How about following the examples set in other English speaking countries or in western Europe? Their road signs and traffic lights are always so much easier to read than hours.
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Crosswalk stings have also been proposed. See recent proposals at http://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/45070 (or any number of other spots).
I agree with the above, that the highway off ramp needs to be reconfigured and reduced to a 15 mph design speed coming into the intersection.
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Brian Tang (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
http://bikeportland.org/2010/11/05/beaverton-pd-crosswalk-enforcement-nets-55-tickets-in-five-hours-42245
Why not New Haven?
lucidmike (Martida)
Once again I had a near miss... almost got crushed by a car, the driver of which then got angry at me for being in their way...as I'm standing in a crosswalk.
If they did a sting here, I would sit there in a lawn chair on the corner and watch with a giant grin as drivers got their $200 tickets.
Does anyone know something we can do beyond See Click Fix so that the problem isn't just acknowledged, but something is actually done about it?
I'm getting sick of almost being killed every time I walk to work.
guest (Martida)
Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
MableX (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)