Pain Points in Trumbull, from a pedestrian's view

this list of pedestrian pain points was an addendum to my Open Letter to the Trumbull, CT Police Commission. If you have others I would encourage you to contact the police and highway departments.

Pain Points in Trumbull, from a pedestrian's view

Some random thoughts from my pedestrian travels through town.

Speed Limits

One of the greatest threats to pedestrians is the speed differential they face with vehicular traffic. The town speed limit is 35 mph and for many drivers, 35 means traffic travels at 45 mph. The speed along most of our arteries, the routes to our pedestrian centers, is often 40 mph. At 45 mph a pedestrian crash is 90% fatal while at 25 mph a crash is fatal only 10% of the time.
Recommendation: Lower the town speed limit to 25mph. At 25 drivers have more time to react. If the LTA is unwilling to lower the speed limit to a pedestrian-friendly speed town-wide they should at least establish pedestrian corridors near each of the economic / neighborhood centers and lower speed limits there.

1. Madison Village
2. Long Hill Green
3. Trumbull Center
4. Town Hall Green / library / Old Church Hill Road area
5. Nichols

Church Hill Road and Tait Road

The threat to a greater number of pedestrians due to the proximity to the PRVT trail, the current traffic volume and anticipated volume of the trail completion, warrants special consideration for this location.
The current PED Xing signs are sited on the oncoming traffic side of the crosswalks, meaning that they obstruct a drivers visibility of pedestrians and require those waiting to cross to lean out into traffic to determine if cars are coming and/or are stopping. This intersection will see increased pedestrian traffic crossing after the planned strip mall is built at 968 White Plains Road (this increase in PED volume was not discussed in the traffic study submitted by the developer). Traveling downhill at 35 mph (or often faster) or accelerating uphill, traffic rarely stops for pedestrians. I have stood at the crossing while 10, 15 and 20 cars have passed, not stopping. This crossing would greatly benefit from a pedestrian activated Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacon (RRFB). As previously noted, traffic through this area should be moving at 25 mph.
The road striping here is very dangerous for pedestrians as well and would greatly benefit from restriping to accommodate a turn lane for either direction (into Tait) and a through lane. This restriping would also accommodate a dedicated turning lane into Edison and a trough lane to continue up Church Hill, reducing driver merging and conflict.
My own (again, unscientific) observation is that 95% of drivers stop for pedestrians coming out of the front doors of Stop & Shop. Just down Church Hill Road, at the Grandview Drive / Tait Road crossing I have stood in the crosswalk waiting to cross while 10, 15, 20 cars drive past. Why are drivers so much more likely to stop, as required by law, for pedestrians at Stop & Shop?

1. Drivers are traveling slowly enough that stopping is effortless.
2. Pedestrians have a clear place (the crosswalk) and drivers expect to see people walk out of Stop & Shop.
3. There is a hard-to-miss placard in the middle of the road that reminds drivers they need to stop for pedestrians.

This suggests all three ingredients are needed for high pedestrian volume areas in and around town:

1. Drivers have to be traveling slowly enough to anticipate, see, react and stop safely (see note on speed limits)
2. Pedestrians need their own dedicated places (crosswalks and bike lanes) where drivers expect to see them. Those spaces need to be clearly marked and signed. Crosswalks should be explicitly painted where high volume places pedestrians at risk and especially at unmarked crosswalks (i.e. from the north east corner of the intersection of CT127 and Daniels Farm Road, crossing to the western side of 127 in front of 968 White Plains Road.) So many of our intersections are not completely striped for crosswalks. Church Hill Road at Middlebrooks was recently restriped but only for three of the four crossings. A Park Lane crosswalk near my house, a 5 minute walk to Jane Ryan School, was removed (painted over).
3. Drivers need to be reminded that pedestrians in a crosswalk have the right of way and that Connecticut law requires drivers to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. Avoid the mixed message of "yield to pedestrians" on signage. Add signs indicating cyclists may use the full lane and reminding drivers of the 3-foot passing law.

Long Hill Green

There are no crosswalks at the green. The speed limit is 40mph along that stretch. The sidewalks dump walkers into the street with no warning to drivers. Reducing the speed limit to 25 mph and installing stop signs at Main Street and Whitney Ave would allow for crosswalks without impeding traffic flows. It would also ease traffic turning from Whitney onto Main Street making that area much safer. Long Hill Green area could also benefit from other traffic calming measures like lane diets and bike lanes.

Trail crossing at Whitney Ave

Recent improvements at this location have made this crossing much safer. This would also be a good location for RRFBs placed far enough away to let drivers stop. A sign to the effect of "trail crossing, heavy pedestrian area, be prepared to stop" would improve the crossing, too.

Route 111 PRVT / Indian Ledge Park

This crossing is four lanes of 40 mph traffic and, with an ADT of 23k it is the second most heavily trafficked place in town in town. The danger pedestrians face here is imminent and real. Many families turn around rather than try to cross the road. There is increased foot traffic from the gym as people exercising there often run on the trail, too. The current flashing yellow light is insufficient to warn drivers of their legal obligation to stop for pedestrians. Frequently one lane will stop while another will not, creating obstructions that worsen visibility for crossing pedestrians and raise their risk.
As the LTA "accepting" ConnDOT's stonewalling is just not an option. This is a prime location for a HAWK (or similar) beacon. Their use in CT and by ConnDOT are not unprecedented.

Madison Village

There are no crosswalks at Madison Village. There is insufficient parking already, meaning that drivers to the area park across Madison Avenue, a wide, relatively straight and fast road. Lane diets along all of Madison would complement a reduced 25 mph traffic speed and provide room for bike lanes (or sidewalks) and make pedestrian crossings safer. Signage for pedestrian crossings would let drivers know to expect pedestrians and prepare to stop.

Trumbull Center

Trumbull Center does not provide enough crosswalks As pedestrian traffic follows development there will be increased street crossings. White Plains Road needs additional crossings so drivers know where to expect pedestrians. The intersection at Daniels Farm Road should be striped on all four legs.
The recently revealed PRVT plan does not include bike lanes through town. Either the sidewalk needs to be widened to 10 feet to accommodate all trail users or there needs to be dedicated space on White Plains Road (possible with lane diets) for bicycle traffic. Signage advising drivers that bikes may use the whole lane would educate drivers and alleviate some pressure on cyclists.

Open Letter to the Trumbull, CT Police Commission

January 10, 2017

Chief Michael Lombardo
Trumbull Police Department
158 Edison Rd
Trumbull, CT 06611

Dear Chief Lombardo,

Last month I addressed the Police Commission and they encouraged me to share my comments with you directly. I am a runner and a cyclist but I can't do either as much as I would like because I regularly feel threatened by the drivers in our town. Not wanting to die on the streets of Trumbull keeps me from enjoying my right to use our roads.

During the week I run a 3 mile loop through my neighborhood. On the weekends I occasionally run (or ride) to the Pequonnock trail, run along the trail and then run back to my house. Not a run (or ride) goes by that I do not feel threatened by a driver speeding past me or drifting toward one side of the road or another, unyielding and seemingly oblivious to my right to be on the road. I often have to literally jump out of the way to avoid being killed by my fellow residents. Every morning on my way to work I pass other vulnerable users: dog walkers, students walking to their bus stop or (occasionally) to school, runners and walkers out for exercise, and cyclists heading to work. Add to that list the people who use the trail but have to drive there and you will see I am not the only pedestrian in our town.

I am also not alone in feeling unsafe on our streets. Last fall I ran a (very unscientific) poll on a local social media site, asking who had walked or cycled to one of our new pedestrian-oriented villages, Madison Village or Long Hill Green. The response was nearly unanimous: no one had walked or cycled to either place, and all responses included remarks about being too dangerous or unsafe (one exception: a woman remarked her husband walked to Madison Village once. Although, according to her, he was "crazy"). Not one person would allow their children to go to either destination. A P&Z commissioner commented in a public meeting that crossing Madison from the overflow parking lot at Best Edibles was "impossible." We don't allow our children to walk to school because it is "too dangerous."

If there was a place in town where residents were afraid to leave their homes in pursuit of legal activities because they were afraid of another neighbor's threatening actions, we would reasonably expect the police to intervene and return safety and order to that neighborhood. Trumbull has pedestrian-oriented areas where the residents are afraid to be pedestrians. This is a problem that requires police intervention to ensure the safety of all legal road users, including and especially, vulnerable users.

If residents don't feel safe walking or biking to reach these economic and social neighborhood centers, they will either have to drive a car, exacerbating traffic and congestion, or they won't go at all. Neither of these results align with the vision for those locations. This is not what our citizens want, this is not the image the town wants, and this is not sustainable.

The danger is not just in our imaginations. After years of steady national decline, 2015 saw a 10% increase in pedestrian fatalities (13% for cyclists). 2016 estimates are ranging from 12 to 15 percent higher than 2015 because there are more distracted drivers driving more miles, conflicting with more people exercising their legal rights to be pedestrians. While we have been fortunate in Trumbull, the clash between automobile traffic and pedestrians is likely to get worse in 2017 with the completion of the Pequonnock River Valley Trail (PRVT) through Trumbull and planned extensions of the trail to the Long Hill Green, the Town Hall area and through Trumbull Center. As the local traffic authority it is your responsibility to provide infrastructure that both protects and encourages pedestrians.

But the reason to act is not just because pedestrians need protecting. I encourage you to act because vulnerable users are good for our community and we want to encourage more of them. They represent healthy citizens, provide the foot traffic our stores need to be successful, make our town sustainable and in the long run increase the value of our homes and businesses.

I offered a short list of actionable items at the meeting. Deputy Chief Kirby suggested I enumerate those (see attached). Thank you for your attention to this matter. Should you have any questions or need clarifications please do not hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely,

Shelby LeVino