The newly formed White Street Task Force held its first meeting on Thursday afternoon on WestConn’s campus, just over a week after a fatal hit-and-run that took a student’s life.
“Dr. Schmotter and Mayor Boughton talked about it Monday morning and devised the idea,” said Paul Steinmetz, Director of University Relations. “The general goal is to figure out ways to make living, working and going to school on White Street safer.”
The task force is comprised of some of the top officials of Western Connecticut State University (WestConn) and the city of Danbury. The members include: Wayne Shepperd, the mayor’s chief of staff; City Engineer FaridKhouri; Dr. Walter Bernstein, vice president of Student Affairs; Paul Reis, vice president of Finance and Administration; Peter Visentin, director of Planning and Engineering; and Steven G. Rosentel, president of Leahy’s Fuels. Also present as a guest of Sheppard was City Traffic Engineer Abdul Mohammed.
The meeting on Thursday was set to be an organizational and introductory meeting to establish the members and the basis of the agenda. The task force members explained who they were and what they were able to bring to the table.
“I think the importance [of the task force] is that we address the concerns that anybody might have about the safety in the greater White Street area, and I think we took some very nice first steps [at the meeting] and we’re making strides forward quickly,” said Sheppard.
The task force discussed the major issues regarding White Street. Such issues included the recent widening of the road, the amount of added foot traffic due to the new restaurants, the speeding of cars, location of the crosswalks, pedestrians, and jaywalking. The location of the entrance and exit of the resident garage is also a concern. Some of the ideas suggested were adding fences or landscaping that funnel students toward the crosswalks, raising the crosswalks, adding street lights, and finding other ways to slow the traffic down.
“It’s going to be a combination of pedestrian and traffic control,” said Mohammed, the City Traffic Engineer. Since White Street is part of an alternate route of Interstate 84 between Newtown, Conn. and New York, it is important to retain a consistent flow of traffic on the road for when the highway gets backed up. White Street is also a major connector for emergency vehicles to get to and from Danbury Hospital, he explained.
“[White Street] is one of the bedrock roads to the community, which is why it was re-done a year or two ago and it’s very important to us to flow cars through at an appropriate pace,” said Shepperd.
“The whole corridor needs to be looked at, not just between 5th Avenue and 8th Avenue,” said Khouri, city engineer. He also explained that the original design for the resident garage should be revisited, since the entrance and exit setup was supposed to be used differently than it is now.
Rosentel’s business, Leahy’s Fuels Inc., lies just beyond the Danbury Courthouse, across from the New Holiday Diner.
“The three lanes of traffic is fundamentally dangerous to pedestrians,” he said. He also explained that he sees people from the courthouse having trouble crossing White Street all of the time. “My hope here is that we can come up with better solutions.”
Another solution included adding islands in the road to give pedestrians safety spots in-between lanes. But all of this will require space, energy and research. The next agenda of the task force is to collect data about where people are walking, when they are walking and pulling together past studies to evaluate their next move.
“It’s a complicated issue. How are we going to solve the problem of people paying attention when they are driving and pedestrians that need to pay attention when they are going across the street? There is no simple answer with that,” said Steinmetz.
The White Street Task Force will be holding an open forum at the beginning of the spring semester to give students and community members a chance to come suggest ideas. They would have held it this semester, except they felt that students would be too busy with finals and end of the year assignments to make the meeting on such short notice.
“Something certainly needs to be done so that it is safer for students to cross White Street,” said President of the Student Government Association (SGA) Kevin Freyer. “The SGA will do everything and anything it can to support the White Street Task Force and its endeavors to make crossing White Street safer for our students.”
For now Bernstein wants to remind students that the pedestrian bridge is the safest way to cross White Street and to contact him for things related to the task force since he is serving as a representative of the student body.
“The main focus is to make the street safer,” Bernstein said. “If we could make it a legacy for Dong Lin to have a safer road, then let’s do it.”
Staff Writer
I don’t see what is so difficult with crossing White Street from ANY area, not the least from the Courthouse. When I served jury duty, I often had to cross White Street. All any intelligent person needs to do is WAIT.
WAIT for a break in the traffic, don’t just step out and expect every driver to stop on a dime when they catch up to you.
WAIT for a clear lane, don’t jump into the road (as many people do) and again, expect oncoming traffic to come to a screeching halt.
WAIT (patiently) for any oncoming drivers to notice you in the crosswalk before proceeding.
Oh, and be sure to wear light colored clothing if you are planning to be walking in the dark. And it would be helpful to wear a reflective band or button in addition to carrying a flashlight. These things aren’t only for Halloween trick-or-treaters, you know; they could save your life!