Government & Politics
Town Panel Recommends Long List of Safety Improvements for Walkers, Cyclists
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Darien could make its sidewalks and roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists by adopting a series of improvements, initially near schools and train stations, an ad hoc committee told the Board of Selectmen. In a presentation to the board Monday, the Pedestrian Infrastructure Advisory Committee recommended changes that would make roads safer, but Beth Harmon, chair of the panel, said committee members also wanted to make the streets “healthy, more accessible and enjoyable.” The committee suggested that the town make some inexpensive, easier improvements sooner — such as painting new crosswalks at specific spots and adding signs and bicycle lane markers. For the longer term, the committee recommended a long list of improvements, including lighting under bridges, building new sidewalks or extending them, adding “bollards” (posts, to which chains could be added to provide barriers for pedestrians to prevent them from walking on streets at unsafe spots; the word is also used for plastic post-like signs that can be placed temporarily on a street), and other infrastructure improvements. The committee identified a total of 10 “key areas” around town where improvements should be made first — areas within a half-mile distance of the town’s seven schools as well as near four train stations (including two New Canaan Branch train stations — Springdale and Talmadge Hill — just beyond the town borders).
