FILE PHOTO
In this still photo from a Valley Indy 2011 video interview, a SUV can be seen illegally entering a crosswalk after a mom and her three kids had entered.
DERBY — The members of the Derby Police Commission are reaching out to state lawmakers in Hartford to see if more can be done to address long-held safety concerns about a Route 34 crosswalk used by hundreds of children in the summer months.
Route 34, also known locally as Roosevelt Drive, is a state-owned road.
The crosswalk provides access to The Recreation Camp, a private, nonprofit summer camp, that has been on the Housatonic River in west Derby for more than 100 years.
In that time Roosevelt Drive/Route 34 has become a major traffic artery carrying thousands of vehicles a day.
Twice a day in the summer, parents park along Lakeside Terrace, then walk across Roosevelt Drive/Route 34 to the camp. There are no parking spaces on the camp’s side of Roosevelt Drive.
It’s a dangerous situation each season, because vehicles easily reach up to 60 mph on Roosevelt Drive, twice the legal limit. The state installed rumble strips on a nearby portion of the road because there were so many head-on crashes.
The Valley Indy first wrote a story about the hair-raising crossing in 2011.
A video interview from then shows 24 cars entering the crosswalk in 56 seconds. The video also shows a vehicle not yielding to two children and their mother carrying a toddler (about 51 seconds into the video).
The issue came up again at a recent meeting of the Derby Police Commission. Chairman Thomas Lenart Sr. said he recently talked to lawmakers at an event and asked if they could ask the state DOT to address the situation.
Derby Police Department Deputy Chief Scott Todd said he was contacted by a person from the DOT last month who said the state agency had received a complaint about the Recreation Camp crossing.
“Complaints regarding that crosswalk, as all of us know, have gone back for decades,” Todd said.
This image was showed during an online meeting of the Derby Police Commission. It shows flashing pedestrian signals. Neither the city nor the state have the money needed to install the devices.
The deputy chief then went on to talk about the city’s history with the DOT over the crossing.
Todd said he and Chief Gerald Narowski met with DOT officials about five or six years ago to talk about the problem.
More signs were put up alerting motorists of the crossing, and brush was cleared away from the side of the road.
At the time, the DOT recommended the City of Derby consider installing what Scott called “rectangular flashing beacons.”
The “rapid flashing” beacons are operated by pedestrians, who push a button to activate the lights, which warn vehicles there’s a crossing even though there’s no traditional traffic light.
Three such devices were recommended by the DOT, Todd said.
But the devices were never installed.
Why?
“We discussed it with the city at the time, and the ballpark estimate at the time was roughly six to seven thousand dollars per sign,” Todd said. “But the bigger problem was running electricity to those signs. That’s where it got very expensive.”
Solar-operated signs were considered at the time, too, Todd said.
“But, again, my recollection is the city balked at the expense of even purchasing the signs, so that was never done,” Todd told the police commission.
The state DOT also did not want to spend the money.
“As far as the state goes, they flat out told us they had no interest and would not even think about helping us to fund the signs,” Todd said.
In his most recent conversation with the DOT, an official from the agency asked whether Derby was going to install the signs, the deputy chief said.
Todd said he pointed out Route 34/Roosevelt Drive is a state-owned road, and that perhaps the state should make the improvement, given the expense.
The deputy chief said the DOT is planning to upgrade some of the existing signs in the area of the crossing.
“That’s where we stand,” Todd said. “We’ve looked at just about every conceivable option for that crosswalk. Unfortunately it’s just in a horrible location. Absent spending a great deal of money … we’re very limited in what we can do because it is a state road, and the state won’t allow much.”
Derby Police Chief Narowski pointed out the DOT put flashing beacons outside Ansonia High School on Pulaski Highway, and the devices are coming to Route 115 in Derby next to the Catholic War Veterans property (where there are currently stop signs) sometime next year.
Narowski recommended the police commission continue to talk to the DOT, and consider talking to lawmakers and the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments for help.
“That is a state road. I don’t think we should be doing any improvements on it, or footing the bill for it,” Narowski said. “That is definitely a pedestrian safety issue and that’s not something we created. It pre-exists all of us.”
Todd noted he and Narowski tried the “political route” five or six years ago and had assistance from the area lawmakers who represent Derby in Hartford.
“One of the big ones behind it at the time was (former state) Sen. (Joe) Crisco, and they weren’t able to get DOT to budge on this issue,” Todd said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t get something done this time around, but I can guarantee you on the police department level and the police commission level, you are going to hit a stone wall. The DOT, just like any state agency, is of the opinion that if we do it for you, we have to do it for everyone.”
