Allan Appel Photo
A railroad’s owners put warning signs up at one of New Haven’s most dangerous cycling spots. That only got worried cyclists more upset — and on their bikes to protest.
“This is unacceptable,” said Juli Stupakevich. So she and other angry and worried cyclists Monday evening bestrode the dangerous rails curving bumpily crossing Route One at the entrance to the port just west of Waterfront Street.
After years of documented accidents at the spot due to protruding and curving tracks that topple riders, the tracks’ owners, Providence & Worcester Railroad, came up with a graphic response. It put up signs urging riders to dismount and walk.
A dozen people gathered Monday evening to say that’s not enough — they want the treacherous road filled in. They plan another demonstration is planned for Tuesday at the site. Organizers want temporary structural repairs to the tracks, a bike lane, or steps to a longer-term physical solution before another rider is injured.
“Walking your bike is an insufficient response,” said Lisa Anamasi. She and Stupakevich led the way Monday hailing drivers, and be-ribboning the insufficient signs.
Stupakevich bemoaned even the positioning of the signs, which she said do not give sufficient warning for a cyclist going 20 miles per hour to slow or dismount. A permanent westbound sign is in place, and a temporary is on the eastbound side.
Click here and here for previous stories about the dangers for bicyclists at this passage.
After repeated attempts to reach a railroad official for comments, the company said the only person allowed to speak to the press, Marie Angelini, was on an airplane and unavailable.
The dismounting on the eastbound lane is now fairly impossible, in the view of Matthew Feiner of the Devil’s Gear Shop. The now single lane is narrow, so a dismounting would take place, in effect, in the middle of a stream of cars on the heavily trafficked roadway, he said at Monday’s rally.
Until a sidewalk is re-established, after the I‑95 reconstruction is done, the only way to get safely across in the eastbound lane is to take the lane at its center and, slowing, try to cross the tracks at as much a perpendicular angle as possible.
“Even if you’re a conscientious cyclist taking the lane, the highly aggressive traffic might not yield to you,” Stupakevich said.
Describing herself as a confident and experienced cyclist for the past ten years, she said she’s still nervous crossing these tracks. She’s been using the road more often this summer to play softball in East Shore Park. On a recent crossing, where she took the lane, a car racing behind her stopped within an inch of her wheel, she said.
“I’m very nervous for riders not as confident as I am, for families on their way to the park.”
Jason Stockmann said bicyclists’ preferred temporary solution would be for a speedy installation of flange filler on the protruding tracks. That’s a rubberized compound or insert that would make passage over the tracks smooth, and eliminate the open grooving in which wheels are being caught.
“The compressible rubber inserts allow rail to travel through at low speeds,” Stockmann said.
The proposed solution came up at a recent meeting of the statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board. “P&WRR owns the railroad tracks and has rejected the idea of using rail flange fillers as a solution to this problem,” reported Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) spokesman John Dunham, a member of the board.
Elm City Cycling Board member Mark Abraham (pictured) said the gouged grooves around the tracks, traps for bicycle wheels, looked much worse than at his last look-see.
Stockmann speculated that the heavy truck traffic doing work on I‑95 contributed to the worsening condition.
There was genuine anxiety that another accident was coming soon.
A cyclist approached, and Stupakevich urged her to slow down before the rail tracks, which she did. When the Tomlinson Bridge rose for boat traffic, she shouted explanations to an interested truck driver who pulled up in the westbound lane to listen.
Stupakevich (pictured) called city’s traffic and parking czar Mike Piscitelli an ally in their quest..
“We agree that the warning signs are not acceptable,” Piscitelli wrote in an email message after the rally. “A constructed physical improvement is necessary. As you know, this is a state road. At our request ConnDOT convened a working group in 2009, but there has been no follow-up to date.”
Tuesday’s demonstration begins at 5:30 p.m.. What might next steps be? “Increasing the pressure,” said Stupakevich