Paul Bass Photo
One of 50 crashes in recent years at Chapel and Yale.
City of New Haven
Planned new design for Yale Avenue by Edgewood School
A plan to remake a crash-prone stretch of Yale Avenue between West Rock and Edgewood Avenues has won final approval, with the aim of making the road safer for cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers.
The approval came Tuesday night during a Zoom meeting of the Traffic Authority, which unanimously approved a request for a two-way cycle track on the east side of Yale Avenue between Derby Avenue and Central Avenue.
The request was made by the city Department of Transportation, Traffic, and Parking in hopes that the changes would resolve concerns about speeding and traffic in the area. The approval now paves the way for the city to finish paving the area of Yale Avenue between West Rock and Edgewood Avenues in coming weeks. The cycletrack will then be striped; due to neighbors’ aesthetic concerns about delineators, there won’t be any physical barriers.
Plan for Yale Avenue-West Elm St. crossing
The Traffic Authority also approved a mid-block raised pedestrian crosswalk at the north edge of Edgewood School, the extension and addition of parking restrictions during school pick-up hours. And the city plans to add a speed hump on Yale Avenue between the school and West Elm Street, which didn’t need approval. A neighbor, attorney Anthony Wallace, has filed a motion in Superior Court seeking an injunction to stop plans to add another raised crosswalk at West Elm and Yale.
“What we’re trying to do is reorganize the roadway so that the cycle traffic is on one side and reduce the width of the road to the motorists — because that’s one technique for traffic calming,” said City Engineer Giovanni Zinn.
Plan for new unprotected cycletrack.
Zinn explained that because the street is flat and there is a park on one side, drivers tend to gather a fair amount of speed when they go through the intersection. He said that there is substantial public support for the project and that the city intends to work as much as it can with neighbors to enhance the safety of the construction.
Planned peanut-shaped intersection.
Some of the changes apply to an intersection on Yale Avenue near the Westville Bowl, Yale Bowl, and Edgewood Park where more than 50 crashes have occurred in the past four to five years. A design for a peanut-shaped roundabout is being drawn up for the intersection, and a yield sign will be added.
During the Traffic Authority meeting, Karla Lindquist acting director of the Transportation, Traffic & Parking department, said that letters of support for the changes were provided by Westville Alders Adam Marchand and Darryl Brackeen Jr.