A push for a safer intersection in New Haven. City leaders and residents in the East Rock neighborhood looked into the issue Wednesday and provided some potential solutions going forward.
A push for a safer intersection in New Haven. City leaders and residents in the East Rock neighborhood looked into the issue Wednesday and provided some potential solutions going forward.
“I’ve almost gotten hit a few times crossing the street here,” Charlotte Herzog, of New Haven, said.
“Cars go very fast and yeah, it’s quite stressful,” Eluned Li, of New Haven, said.
There’s anxiety for neighbors getting through the intersection of Willow and Nicoll streets in New Haven.
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They say the area is busy and prone to close calls and crashes. City leaders say they’ve heard the concerns, especially after 28 crashes in five years.
“Over the fall, we collected about 200 signatures from neighbors requesting the city to invest in enhancements to make this intersection safer,” Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith said.
It’s why the nonprofit Strong Towns, which aims for safe, livable cities, held a virtual study session Wednesday to look at possible solutions.
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The study found speeding on Willow Street to be a major factor in crashes with vehicles coming from a nearby freeway off-ramp.
Smith said solutions should include ways to slow down drivers.
“It could be everything from things like a four-way stop to more imaginative solutions like a speed table or sidewalk bump outs,” she said.
While all recent crashes have resulted in no deaths, Smith said the same urgency remains to act.
“We don’t want to wait for something really tragic to happen to really take action,” she said.
Strong Towns plans to have two more sessions like this on different intersections in New Haven in the future.
