Roads in the West Rock neighborhood of New Haven are getting major improvements to keep pedestrians and bicyclists safe.
Phase I included a new bus stop, new speed bumps and new signs along Wintergreen Avenue and Springside Avenue near Common Ground High School.
“That on its own makes me feel safer every day and makes students feel safer every day,” said Joel Tolman, the director of community engagement at Common Ground High School.
Students at the high school take free city buses to school every day.
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The roads around the school are wooded and narrow. Students and school leaders advocated for pedestrian safety improvements since 2017.
“A member of our staff was riding her bike, coming to campus, and was hit and dragged by a car and is very lucky to have survived. And we've subsequently had another student who was bumped by a car while riding his bicycle. Cars just fly by our campus. Plus, the West Rock neighborhood is beautiful but it's really isolated and spread out,” said Tolman.
So the opportunity to have sidewalks connecting the West Rock neighborhood to Common Ground High School and Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) is a game changer, according to Tolman.
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On Thursday, Justin Elicker, the mayor of New Haven, joined the Department of Transportation Commissioner and other city leaders to discuss the improvements and what is still to come.
“It’s not as large or fancy as some of the other projects that we do, but I think it’s incredibly important that we have this most basic piece of infrastructure for pedestrians, a sidewalk, in this neighborhood,” said Giovanni Zinn, the city engineer.
One of the improvements in the second phase of the project will include a new pedestrian bridge that will run alongside the current bridge, which is narrow and unsafe for people to walk over. Sidewalks will then connect people to SCSU.
“It's so exciting. Like 35 of our students take Southern classes every semester and so the opportunity for them to walk to those classes,” said Tolman.
City and state funds, including a $669,600 Connecticut Community Connectivity Grant from the CT Department of Transportation, made it all possible.
