Connecticut is one of three states selected to participate in Smart Growth America’s Complete Streets Academy with the Cities of Bristol, Middletown, and Waterbury.
NVCOG staff, along with the cities of Bristol and Waterbury, have been participating in Smart Growth America’s Complete Streets Academy, a program designed to teach “about Complete Street best practices, improve cross-jurisdictional coordination, and plan and implement “quick-build” temporary demonstration projects on state-owned roads.”*
Each city will be installing a temporary project in the coming weeks to collect data and feedback about complete streets installations on key state owned routes near their respective Downtowns. This data will be used to inform future designs and improvements to these and similar streets to enhance safety, comfort, and pedestrian/bicycle access.
*Smart Growth America, https://smartgrowthamerica.org/three-states-selected-for-the-2022-complete-streets-leadership-academies/
Bristol
Waterbury
The City of Bristol is looking to improve pedestrian safety along West Street (Route 69) adjacent to downtown. This project will reduce roadway width and add visual complexity through alternate side parking, paint, and improved crosswalks near the Boys and Girls Club to better alert drivers to pedestrian activity. Narrowed travel lanes, along with shorter crossing distances, will reduce the amount of time that pedestrians are exposed to traffic, encourage drivers to travel at safe speeds, and bring better visibility to pedestrians s they prepare to cross.
The City of Waterbury will use this program to pilot reduced roadway width on Grand Street (State Route 847) through Downtown. The block adjacent to the post office, home to local businesses, several mid-block crosswalks, and one of the City’s major parking structures, currently is extremely wide, making it difficult for pedestrians to cross and allowing for excessive speeds. The project will shrink the two mid-block crosswalks to reduce the amount of time pedestrians are exposed to traffic, narrow lanes to encourage drivers to travel at safe speeds, and bring better visibility to pedestrians as they prepare to cross.