New Haven: Internal PLUS

(please see https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/college-street-music-hall-new-haven-will-increase-accessibility-comply-ada)

The settlement of the above referenced action by the DOJ resulted in an ADA-complaint sidewalk in front of College St Music Hall. When the City of New Haven made the discriminatory decision to provide able individuals with the protected bike lane on College St. and allow restaurants to encroach upon the path of travel that was barely accessible as it was, it illegally left people who have disabilities with no access to that ADA-compliant sidewalk or that venue.

It would have been easily possible to create a pedestrian travel lane on the roadway where some of that outdoor seating is and more the seating to the slate slabs that pass for a sidewalk, so it seems that this discrimination was intentional.

Pleas provide equal access to College St. Music Hall.

So what's the deal with College Street between Chapel and Crown? The bike lane is useless because it's either filled with double parked cars or dangerous because of cars entering and exiting the illegal parking spots on the west side. Get rid of the flex posts, replace them with permanent barriers, and make it a wide two-way cycletrack removing the parking on the west side so it's actually safe for all users.

NHPA isn't even getting any parking fees from the meters on the west side, and many of the meters are missing from the east side.

CT Rte 122, aka Forest Rd., floods severely and regularly in rainstorms, and the overflow from the street and Hopkins School's hill runs downhill onto private property and causes significant damage to homes and yards.

Normal heavy rain floods the street quickly, so rains as we had from Ida last night flood it instantly and for hours, with many thousands of gallons of water swiftly flowing downhill into homes and yards.

Since most people drive too fast on the street, and there is no advance warning of the flooded area, they zoom into the foot-deep flood zone at 40+ mph, making the powerful downhill flow more like a surge tide, complete with waves. Then the cars stall out or try to turn around in traffic. It's a dangerous mess for drivers.

This has been a problem for at least a decade. While it is a state highway, it is New Haven taxpayers who are suffering the repeated property damage, and paying for mitigation efforts that ought instead to be addressed at the street.

The drainage system on Forest Rd. dates to when it first became a paved road instead of a dirt road, in the early 1900s. The state DOT must, at minimum, keep the antiquated, inadequate, easily overwhelmed drain system on this road clear. Far more appropriate would be to bring it up to modern code and design.

The city needs to work with DOT on the problem, and also to commit to fully or partially closing the road between Edgewood and Chapel in heavy rains to limit, divert, and slow traffic in order to save lives and property.

Injury (lawsuit?) Hazard on Farmington Canal.

The Farmington Canal pedestrian and cycling path has car barriers. Every intersection where the path crosses a city street has multiple metal plates mounted to the ground. Currently many are folded down. The city needs to pop them all up and/ or put reflective tape on them. The Canal isn’t lit and the metal barriers are not apparent after dusk. If someone biked or ran into one, they’d go down hard and fast.

Flash used on the photo featured which also included a background light source for improved identification.