NORWALK, Conn. — City officials and engineers walked residents through plans this week to change bus service on Lexington Avenue, a narrow street where two buses can’t currently pass each other.
The Aug. 31 open house outlined a redesign that would let Norwalk Transit District buses run in both directions on Lexington Avenue for the first time. Right now, buses run only southbound because the street is too narrow for two buses to pass safely.
Jim Travers, the city’s director of Transportation, Mobility and Parking, said the project grew out of ridership numbers. Transit officials found that Lexington Avenue has some of the system’s busiest stops, but riders heading to the South Norwalk train station can’t get there directly. Instead, they have to take a long loop through other neighborhoods.
Jack Pavia, Norwalk Transit District Marketing and Community Relations Coordinator, said that loop turns a short trip into a long one for riders trying to reach the train station.
“If you want to actually be dropped off at the train station—not near the train station, at the train station—you are riding almost an hour,” Pavia said of the current service. He said the change would reduce the time to a few minutes.
To make room for two buses to pass, the city plans to narrow the sidewalk on one side of the street to as little as 4 feet, the minimum allowed under federal disability rules. The sidewalk on the other side will stay the same width because of utility poles in the way. Every so often, the narrow sidewalk will widen to 5 feet at driveways to stay compliant with disability access rules.
Travers said engineers used a legal survey of the road to find extra space without touching front yards or removing street parking, which he said matters to the people who live there.
The project also includes a raised intersection at Cardinal Place, designed to slow drivers without the jolt of a regular speed bump. Rectangular rapid flashing beacons, a type of pedestrian crossing light, are planned for crosswalks along the street. Corners will be painted or stamped with pavement markings to mark no-parking zones and make the road feel narrower, which tends to slow traffic.
The city also plans to offer new street trees to homeowners along the corridor who are willing to have one planted on their property, at no cost to them. Homeowners would own the tree once it’s in the ground.
State Sen. Bob Duff, the Senate majority leader, helped the city secure funding for the project through the state’s Community Investment Fund.
“We think we write the best application in the world, but we need someone up in Hartford who advocates for the stuff that we say is important,” Travers said.
Travers said funding for projects like this one usually depends on state and federal money working together, and some federal support has shrunk. He said a federal grant for another Norwalk project, secured earlier with help from U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, was recently cut from $3.5 million to $800,000.
City Council member Darlene Young, who represents the neighborhood, attended the open house and voiced support for the plan.
The design work is being led by the engineering firm GPI. The city has not set a construction timeline.
Leave a Reply
You must Register or Login to post a comment.