Thomas MacMillan File Photo
Alderman Yusuf Shah arrived by bus and planned to carpool home. Alderman Justin Elicker rode his bike. Despite a recent collision, Alderman Carl Goldfield planned to cycle, too, but had to change his plans.
They all ended up at the same destination with the same result: at City Hall, voting for a plan to make New Haven road travel safer for people who avoid driving cars.
Shah, Elicker, and Goldfield joined a unanimous Board of Aldermen vote to establish the city’s new “Complete Streets” policy. The vote Tuesday night marked the culmination of a legislative process that began over two years ago.
In September 2008, then Fair Haven Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale teamed up with East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar to put forward an ordinance amendment calling for a comprehensive plan to make New Haven’s streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. That proposal was the result of two years of public brainstorming and deliberation on traffic-calming growing out of concern about fatal and near-fatal collisions around town.
The resulting document, “City of New Haven Complete Streets Design Manual,” was unveiled in July at a meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s City Services and Environmental Policy Committee. On Tuesday it came up for approval by the full board, which voted unanimously to adopt it.
The 113-page manual is a comprehensive guide to road design that includes a slew of tools, like sharrows (pictured) and roundabouts, designed to make streets more walkable and bikeable. The City Plan and engineering departments will use the manual when evaluating and approving public and private development projects of all kinds.
Thomas MacMillan File Photo
East Rock’s Alderman Elicker (pictured) introduced the manual to the board on Tuesday night with words of praise for Sturgis-Pascale. It was a theme picked up by Alderman Lemar, who also hailed the former alderwoman’s tireless dedication to making city streets safer. “This really was one person’s passion,” he said.
“Unfortunately it was pushed forward by a few tragedies,” Lemar said. He referred to the death of 11-year-old Gabrielle Lee, who was run down while crossing Whalley Avenue. Her death galvanized the traffic-calming movement. The new manual will transform neighborhoods throughout the city, Lemar said.
The item passed unanimously.
Getting There
Conversations with three alderman revealed several methods of getting around the city and a preference for avoiding travel by car.
Before the vote, West River’s Alderman Shah said he traveled to the Board of Alderman via the “My Ride” service for seniors and the disabled. He planned to return home by carpooling with another alderman.
As an insulin-dependent diabetic, Shah said, he has trouble feeling his feet sometimes. “I don’t feel up to driving right now with my feet feeling the way they are.”
Shah said he no longer owns a car. He praised My Ride as a convenient and cheap way to get around. It costs him $2.50 per trip.
Elicker said he biked to the meeting. He doesn’t own a car either. “I believe in cycling as a way to reduce energy use,” he said.
Elicker said he’s biked in many different cities, including Taipei, Taiwan; “New Haven is the worst city I’ve ever ridden in.” New Haven drivers are the most dangerous he’s encountered, he said.
Beaver Hill’s Alderman Goldfield (pictured) experienced that danger firsthand a month ago. He was heading in to his downtown law office one morning when a Dodge 4x4 pickup sideswiped him at the corner of County and Goffe Streets.
“I went flying into the intersection,” Goldfield said.
Fortunately, County is a one-way street at that point, and no cars were coming.
“I got scraped up,” Goldfield said. He pointed out the scars on his knuckles. “Your typical road rash,” he said. “I realized why riding a motorcycle is completely insane if you’re not wearing leathers.”
Several people stopped to see if he was OK, Goldfield said. But the truck never slowed down. A “good Samaritan” followed it to Whalley Avenue and got a plate number, which led to the arrest of the driver, Goldfield said. “Obviously he didn’t care if I was in the road.”
Goldfield said he’s still riding his bike, although he’s now “totally paranoid” about it. On Tuesday night, he had to drive to the Board of Aldermen because he’d had to meet a client, Goldfield said. But otherwise his bike is his main means of transport.
He said he’s in support of the new Complete Streets legislation, but he cautioned that some streets are set up in a way that little can be done to create room for cyclists, short of making them one-way. Things will be better with the new manual, but change will take a long time, he said.