Crosswalk Needed at Church & Center

it could be two lanes each direction with a pedestrian island - this is not that hard of a design problem to overcome with sufficient will to do so

Yes its getting dark so lets encourage people to cross 4 lanes of traffic in the middle of the block with no way of knowing when a car will be coming. It's never going to happen with out a stop light people get over it. Its probably the worst idea I’ve ever heard of. The plan is to make make church 2 lanes in each direction down the road anyway and then it will be like playing froger in real life. Not to mention the fact that there is no curb cut out for wheel chairs on the mall side of the road.

It's getting dark again, with time change coming up soon, and no action has been taken to improve pedestrian visibility. More injuries or fatalities are likely.

Is this being addressed as part of the 2012 Gateway reconstruction plan?

A crosswalk would help here, especially during the dark winter hours. I almost saw another pedestrian run over here this week.

"Streever" made the following comment on the NH Independent today. I agree:

"It comes down to if you think the risk should be death or not. I am a big fan of calculated risk & being responsible for one's own well-being, but I question that the car was going 25 mph here. It'd be one of the few cars on Church street going the speed limit in my experience."

"Again, why not try to mark the road leading up to the crosswalk? I'm sure it could work, and it'd be worth trying. Make the whole section a pedestrian area & put in-road markings before the hill warning people to slow down. Drop the speed limit for that block to 15 mph. Seriously, the most impact that will have on travel time is probably 15 seconds."

http://www.newhavensafestreets.org/2009/10/pedestrian-killed-in-crash-near-new.html

Another pedestrian was killed here. How many more have to die before the city paints these crosswalks?

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/10/homeless_man_ki.php

NP - last I heard, the city planned to do that in time for the opening of Gateway Community College, in 2012.

How about making Church St. two-way, eliminating at least one lane of traffic, and widening the sidewalk - particularly along the eastern side. Eliminating the one-way Church St. is such a no-brainer; why, why, why won't the city do it???

It actually says “, or any portion of a highway distinctly indicated, by lines or other markings on the surface, as a crossing for pedestrians,”

The “or” means that an area of roadway must meet either one of the two conditions in order to be considered a crosswalk. It either must be “the prolongation or connection of the lateral lines of sidewalks at intersections” OR “any portion of a highway distinctly indicated, by lines or other markings on the surface, as a crossing for pedestrians.” The first condition includes both marked and unmarked crosswalks at intersections, while the second condition (to which you referred) is there to include marked mid-block crosswalks.

Legal nonsense aside, I totally agree with you, Josh. The best place to cross in this vicinity is clearly Church and Chapel. The fact that people cross at Church and Center is most likely the result of the placement of the bus stops. The best way to address this issue would be to find some way to make crossing at Church and Chapel the more convenient option for those who currently cross at Church and Center. One way to do this would be to move the bus stop(s).

yea thats my point you can pick the first half of the paragraph and say see that me you have to read the whole thing and it says "with out any portion of a highway distinctly indicated, by lines or other markings on the surface, as a crossing for pedestrians" meaning if nothings painted its not a crosswalk. Listen if you want to get killed cross at center with or without a painted crosswalk its not a safe place to cross the street and thats why there is no crosswalk there. What you should be asking for is fot the bus stop to be moved to church and chappel.

Here's how section 14-297 of the Connecticut State Statutes defines a crosswalk:

“‘Crosswalk’ means that portion of a highway ordinarily included within the prolongation or connection of the lateral lines of sidewalks at intersections, or any portion of a highway distinctly indicated, by lines or other markings on the surface, as a crossing for pedestrians, except such prolonged or connecting lines from an alley across a street;”

The unmarked crosswalk in question falls under the first part of this definition, as it is the area within the prolongation of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on either side of Center Street at the intersection of Center Street and Church Street.

—

For future reference, I have here reproduced subsection (c) of section 14-300 of the Connecticut State Statutes:

“(c) Except as provided in subsection (c) of section 14-300c, at any crosswalk marked as provided in subsection (a) of this section or any unmarked crosswalk, provided such crosswalks are not controlled by police officers or traffic control signals, each operator of a vehicle shall grant the right-of-way, and slow or stop such vehicle if necessary to so grant the right-of-way, to any pedestrian crossing the roadway within such crosswalk, provided such pedestrian steps off the curb or into the crosswalk at the entrance to a crosswalk or is within that half of the roadway upon which such operator of a vehicle is traveling or such pedestrian steps off the curb or into the crosswalk at the entrance to a crosswalk or is crossing the roadway within such crosswalk from that half of the roadway upon which such operator is not traveling. No operator of a vehicle approaching from the rear shall overtake and pass any vehicle the operator of which has stopped at any crosswalk marked as provided in subsection (a) of this section or any unmarked crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway. The operator of any vehicle crossing a sidewalk shall yield the right-of-way to each pedestrian and all other traffic upon such sidewalk.”

Interestingly, two years ago P.A. 07-167 amended Subsec. (c) by replacing “steps to the curb” with “steps off the curb or into the crosswalk.” Why the state legislature enacted this amendment is a mystery to me.

Yes, and the law is consistent across all 50 states on this particular issue.

that site is for portland not new haven. people should cross where its safe to do so, at stop lights.

Hi Josh,

Every intersection is a legal crosswalk. This includes T-intersections. The crosswalk area is legally defined as the continuation of the sidewalk across a street.

This animation from the Animated Traffic Law Center sums it up pretty well:
http://animatedtrafficlaw.org/ror/index.php/RoR:Every_corner_is_a_crosswalk

Let me know if you have any questions.

—Brian

what makes you think its a legal crosswalk?

I disagree. A crosswalk marking should be striped here, since it is already a legal crosswalk.

the crosswalk is at the light where it belongs

A crosswalk is still needed here.

http://animatedtrafficlaw.org/atlc/

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