I agree - we need speed-calming humps like they have on Chapel near the park/James St area, like they have on Front Street - it totally fixed the insane speeding that used to happen on Front Street. The change was dramatic. We need a couple on Chapel between Olive and Hamilton, say.Why is no one from city aknowledging/responding to this request? It has been made before. City, please, can Chapel at Wooster Square get a couple speed humps? They really work (as long as they are painted properly)

I agree with the need for more speed bumps but find the "no turn on red" signs pretty useless because they are not enforced and are seen as optional. Frankly, every other city in the US allows pedestrians to cross with traffic except New Haven. One thought might be to have delayed pedestrian signals to give people in crosswalk a few seconds ahead of vehicular traffic to cross first before turning traffic (as they have at several busy intersections in NYC). The trouble is New Haven installs crosswalks but then drivers do not yield to pedestrians (as they do, say, in Massachusetts, where drivers screech on their brakes if somebody enters a crosswalk). It's partly one of culture, partly one of enforcement. Where I disagree is with this notion that somehow "no turn on red" signs make the city more pedestrian friendly. They don't. They just confuse out-of-town pedestrians who are used to crossing with traffic. They also just jam up traffic needlessly.

I have lived in new haven for years and my experience is that no-turn-on-red signs are respected for the most part. Drivers and pedestrians not only in New Haven but in Connecticut are conditioned to them, very aware of them. Some will deliberately ignore them, but most don't,

Changing a tradition, an established method just creates confusion.

crossing with traffic might work in nyc where there is a critical mass of pedestrians crossing, not in new haven where one pedestrian is expected to negotiate with a giant dump truck.

So, I wouldn't want to upend this approach for one that is more dangerous

this issue has not been fixed. if anything it has grown worse (as the pedestrian sign in the chapel st crosswalk by wooster square was removed). in east rock, these signs are on every block. in wooster square, i've only counted one (along olive st). the worst speeding is done along chapel st. strangely, right after hurricane sandy there was brief order to the madness that is new haven driving. why? because there were stop signs rather than stop lights at all the intersections! it was amazing. cars stopped and were waving each other to go first. traffic was calmed along chapel and i never felt in danger of being killed, either as a pedestrian or a cyclist. for about a week, it felt like a normal town. then, of course, the city restored power to the stoplights. once again, driving home at night, the lights didn't work (olive and chapel). cars piled up, unsure whether to just run the light. if we had a 4-way stop sign here, the issue would have resolved itself, traffic would flow smoother and slower, and pedestrians would be safer. what a novel idea.

I think we are going to have to make a much more organized effort. I think neighborhoods can apply to city hall for some kind of safe-streets thing. There is an application process.

Maybe we should get together, and partner with Wooster block watch and management team and just get this done.

I would like to not only see improvements to that cross walk, but I really adamantly want to see speed bumps on Chapel between Olive and Hamilton.

You only have to look at the history of these issues on SCF for Wooster Square area to see we are spinning our wheels. It was good to try but it's clear now that we need to organize and make a much more concerted effort. We are not getting what we want and need, and others are:

There are speed bumps further down Chapel near James.

Speed bumps went into Front Street on the river and totally transformed that street from a racing track into a neighborhood road.

I am tired of risking my life at certain nearby intersections. For me, it is Olive and Chapel, and Brewery at Water St., plus just crossing chapel anywhere in Wooster Square.

Brewery and Water is a joke: the cross walk poll on the Brewery side is actually in the street, not on the sidewalk, so to press the button you actually go in the street.

There is no sign preventing a right turn on red and i know of no intersection in new haven that needs one as badly as this one. No one cares.

sorry pole, not poll

PS:
Another benefit of speed bumps is it would divert commuting traffic from neighborhood streets to the behemoth highways the state DOT and City of New Haven, and YNHH insists on having in the form of route 34 and Frontage roads. The commuters are speeding through our neighborhood treating pedestrians as an annoyance in order to avoid their peers on Frontage Road and get home that much sooner. They are a nuisance. We need to push back with speed bumps, brightly painted crosswalks, and median cones with pedestrian signs on them.

They need to get the message that if they want to tailgate and speed while hanging on their cellphones they can use Frontage Road, which was specifically designed to cater to road warriors. If they want to take Chapel and Olive, they'll have to be forced to relax and chill out.

Indeed the crosswalk at Chapel and DePalma is virtually useless as a safe means of crossing Chapel. And even when in the crosswalk is no guarantee anyone will stop. Last Monday morning I was in the crosswalk and a service truck turning from DePalma onto Chapel almost ran over me and my dog while the driver was trying to look for traffic coming from the East on Chapel, he apparently knows how fast traffic travels on Chapel.

Agreed - the speeding on this section of Chapel Street is completely out of control, and unacceptable. This is a residential neighborhood with a park, farmer's market, and a school. My car was nearly totaled twice while parked on this section of Chapel Street, both times by drivers going too fast and not paying attention. I've taken to parking elsewhere, but who's to say the next victim won't be a replaceable vehicle but rather a child on her way home from school. Enforcement sounds like a pretty easy first step - I have never once seen a police officer pull someone over here.

I volunteer to contact the wooster square/downtown management team and see if we can arrange to get this on the agenda. I also volunteer to go to city hall, or online, and gather the materials necessary to apply for certain changes to the streets, I think it is a "complete streets" application. I will post back here. Thanks.

OK, I volunteered to look into this and am reporting back. I checked with the management team and they have not initiated a complete streets application for our neighborhood and welcome someone taking the lead if interested and bringing it to them for support. I am pulling the guidelines from the city website and will call city hall to see how the budget is doing for fulfilling applications these days.

Now how do I leave my name and contact info without publishing my email address? Hmm. Will figure this out and post back - any suggestions welcome. Maybe the best way is to contact stake-holding groups with my contact info in a couple weeks -- block watch, management team, bicycling group -- and get the word out that way and post any resulting meetings here too?

-- is there interest in an effort to do a complete streets application? Things that are possible: Speed bumps, pedestrian improvements, etc.

Concerned, thank you for pursuing this issue. You may want to look at other examples of complete streets applications, which are now posted at http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Engineering/completestreets.asp. The next Downtown Wooster Square Community Management Team meeting is January 8 at 6pm. You are more than welcome to get on the agenda and discuss this issue. Also feel free to use dwscmt@googlegroups.com to try to recruit interested parties to work on the application with you.

thanks abe.

I will shoot you an email too so you have my email address. You and I know each other already and I think I have your email address.

I've already checked out the website and have been reading other applications.

I volunteer to draft a starting-point complete streets application to kick off the effort. Neighbors, Block watch, local businesses, management team, elm city cycling, the neighborhood schools and a few people in the city who know this stuff well -- I will reach out to them and am willing at some point to go door to door once we have a late draft to gather more input.

Tony, I agree. The Depalma/chapel crosswalk works when the crossing guard is there for the farmer's market. The rest of the time, it is a rare driver that respects it

Sometimes I wish there was a traffic light there just for pedestrians. Not everyone knows this secret but there is a phenomenally cool cross walk in the city at Church St. at the Green, between city hall and the federal court building.

It is for pedestrians only -- it is not an intersection.

As far as I know, it is the only crosswalk in the city where pushing the button causes the yellow caution light to go on immediately, then the red light.

I don't know if this is because it is at city hall or because it is at the courthouse or because it is not a traffic intersection. Probably the latter.

Check it out next time you are crossing Church.

Thank you for spearheading the complete streets application. If you need a show of support from the Block Watch list please email details to woostersqwatch@gmail.com and I will be happy to circulate to the list. It's time to find a solution!

Thanks Erin I just sent an email. And it turns out I do not have Abe's email, but now, Abe, Erin has mine

Hi everyone - I am going to have to back out of spearheading the project to draft a complete streets application at this time. I am over-committed. Thought I could make a stab at it over the holidays but can't get free to get back to the project. I apologize to all. If I I get a block of time, if no one has started it in the meantime, I will try to give it a go.

could I mention a nearby and related problem from a DRIVER's perspective, that the traffic light on Olive and Grand is far too short, meaning that one often has to accelerate through the intersection to make the light.
I agree with everything said about Chapel and Olive (my intersection)--which I've seen run several times. But in my experience (I'm there every day) most drivers there DO respect the no turn on red sign, at that intersection at least.

Hello, this post was just brought to our attention. I see there has already been some talk of submitting a Complete Streets Application. Does anyone know the status of the application? For your reference, below you will find our intro message for the program with the links you will need. If you have any questions about the application, please call our office at (203) 946-6417.

Original Complete Streets Message:

Please submit this issue through New Haven’s “Complete Streets” program. To do this, please visit the Engineering Department’s “Complete Streets” website. Link Below:

http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Engineering/completestreets.asp

There you will find a “Complete Streets Manual” and “Project Request Form”. On October 23, 2008, The New Haven Board of Aldermen unanimously passed an order creating a nine member Complete Streets Steering Committee to guide the development of the following elements for the purpose of addressing the status of city streets: policy document, design manual, public process, educational campaign and traffic enforcement.

A focal point is to include feedback and ideas for street improvements from members of the community. You will also find previously submitted project requests from other community members. Please submit a “Project Request Form” for this issue through the link above. As a resident, you are not required to design anything. Instead, use the "Complete Streets Manual" as a showcase of the different types of traffic calming measures that may be used.

Acknowledged

any update?

TO: Chapel/Olive resident (guest): No, one does not have to accelerate through the intersection to make the light. Just wait. Unless you're an ambulance or fire truck.

@Chapel/Olive Resident: the perceived need to 'accelerate' to get through an intersection instead of waiting at the light is part of the problem. You don't need to speed up, but you decide to.

We are closing this request due to its historic nature. If this concern still requires attention and you still believe SeeClickFix is a viable tool for its resolution the best way for it to be addressed is for you to create a new request including a current description of what is occurring and what solution you hope to see regarding this matter, citing/linking this request in the details. Thank you for your dedication to improving the quality of life in our community.