Town officials say they’ll ask the state to look at tweaking a traffic light at the intersection of Main and Cherry Streets to ease traffic flow.
Eastbound motorists approaching the intersection (down from St. A’s, library on the right) often have to wait two to three light cycles to make a left onto Main, according to Tiger Mann, assistant director of public works and senior engineer with the New Canaan Department of Public Works.
“We can ask the state to see,” Mann said at a meeting of the Traffic Calming Work Group, held Tuesday at the New Canaan Police Department. “You can never make the turn. It takes two cycles, sometimes three. I know that South and Cherry is very tight on timing and Main and Cherry is the same thing.”
One solution may be to reduce the westbound traffic at the intersection by giving those trying to turn left/north onto Main Street a green arrow (similar to turning left from Elm Street onto Park).
Work Group members Jim Cole, who is chairman of the Police Commission, and police Capt. David Bender, also were in attendance.
Bender said he recently received a complaint from a resident about the intersection, whose corners include a parking lot, library and bank.
Cole offered that motorists who have trouble with the intersection may consider turning onto Main further south, such as at Church Street or Harrison Road. However, Bender noted, many motorists may be coming from areas such as Pine Street, leaving the only viable detour to come through Morse Court—itself accessible by another difficult left, onto South Avenue from Cherry.
Two state roads—Rte. 106 and 124—run concurrently where Main and Cherry intersect downtown, meaning Connecticut Department of Transportation approval is needed to change the traffic light.
For anyone coming from Pine and attempting to make a left on Main, i'd suggest making a left on Park and then a right through the back of Town Hall and a right onto Main.
We all applaud your strict standards for punctuation, grammar, content and interest in this thread and elsewhere on Patch New Canaan. If English is your second language, then your language capabilities are outstanding. We all should aspire to such linguistic heights.
Mike, well stated! That's EXACTLY what I suggested to Rob Mallozzi right after he was elected. All too often I have seen "turning" cars stop in the middle of the intersection, wait for the light to turn red, (it's illegal) and then turn quickly against the light. Yes, in a nutshell, the proposed turned signals at the intersection of Cherry and Main should work like the turn signals at the intersection of Farm and South --- left hand turns from both directions should go at the same time. Thanks for the article and opportunity for comments. Please keep us posted.
I spoke to Tiger Mann yesterday about this (Tiger, if you're reading, thanks for your time). Ultimately the state itself will come down and look at the intersection and decide what is best. One thing to keep in mind in terms of a "double green left arrow" for both directions on Cherry at Main is that there are only 16-17 seconds total in that light. As Tiger said: "There’s not a lot of room in the light." Drivers would be frustrated to wait longer overall because "green only" time has been added, so the best solution likely will work within those 16-17 seconds. As Tiger said: "It might be that there simply is not enough time in that light to do everything." The question becomes: What's the priority? "For me," Tiger said, "the problem is Cherry onto Main northbound [toward town] not southbound." I hope that helps bring some more context to a decision at this intersection. -Mike
NEW CANAAN GETS NEW TRAFFIC LIGHT! MORE DETAILS LATER. REMAIN CALM.