Description
Drivers are routinely making illegal left turns traveling northwest on Sea St on to Ella Grasso Blvd. Not only does this hold up traffic through the intersection, a driver behind a left-turning vehicle has to stop suddenly when the car in front stops unexpectedly. I have watched several close calls coming from the other direction, and had my own close calls when drivers don't signal their intentions and just stop to wait to make the turn. There needs to be much more enforcement in this dangerous intersection.
10 Comments
Angela (Registered User)
JohnCARLSON (Registered User)
ArchAngel (Registered User)
First to address the original post:
While this intersection is marked to prevent motorist from making a left turn from Sea St. onto Ella Grasso it does add a significant distance of travel for these vehicles coming from Long Warf and the City Point area to backtrack to Kimberly Ave in order to go to West Haven. There is relatively few motorist turning onto Sea St.
West bound Sea St. is already split into two lanes. If only motorist making a left turn on Ella Grasso used the lane there, they could all utilize the existing green light effectively. Then all motorist could switch to the left lane except those making a right turn onto Northbound I-95 (though this could be made easier with an added pre-entrance ramp lane so the through lane doesn’t have to several shifts back and forth). The next group leaving the area are those heading Southbound on I-95. Therefore it would be best if they were the only ones to stay in the left lane. This leaves little reason for anyone coming from the Sea St. to need to turn on Kimberly Ave since most of the traffic needing eastbound Kimberly was had shorter routes at Howard Ave, and there are few businesses between Ella Grasso and Kimbley Ave (at the Marina) and Kimberly Ave and Ella Grasso (at the gas station)
Onto my second point (and calling out my friend Doug at DOT):
Sea St. is a major cycling/pedestrian path of the East Coast Greenway. At Ella Grasso, northbound cyclist generally (and legally should) make a right turn onto the roadway while northbound pedestrian traffic should be crossing the street, but neither the crossing signal nor path is suitable yet. Southbound ECG traffic is much worse. Without the crossing signal there is no visibility or safe crossing time for pedestrian traffic. If it is unsafe for motorist to make a left turn onto Sea St. it is much more dangerous for cyclist to make a left turn onto the cycle path parallel to Sea St. By switching that lane into a left turn lane for Sea St. It gives the cyclist a light controlled safe time to enter the ECG path while motorist making a left turn provide a physical barrier.
As I’ve pointed out, I could adjust the existing infrastructure with as little as two extra lights and have a relatively safe intersection. With the addition of a proper Northbound I-95 entrance and separate bike lane the intersection would be much more user friendly and safer for everyone. This would cost much less than attempting to ticket these motorist whom are just trying to navigate through a system that was designed with a significant amount of backtracking and congestion.
sandy65 (Registered User)
Dan (Registered User)
Tommy (Registered User)
Haha, even the Google Maps Street View driver made the same illegal left turn. You can see it happening here and you can verify the Google driver really did that. Just play around with the navigation interface and you will see this to be true.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.282874,-72.9346006,3a,45y,287.95h,85.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5PgdJ4RP5p1z9QSOqupPfg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
This issue could easily be deterred with today's technology. Traffic cameras could be used to identify and make a record of each vehicle that makes an illegal left turn. There are no state or local laws prohibiting this, but the subject is still very controversial in the U.S. We are at least 15 years behind Japan in terms of utilizing technology to deter crime.
Angela (Registered User)
Again, they need to readjust that traffic light. There should be a green left turn arrow at that light while oncoming traffic is still on red. That way no one has to deal with the Blvd/Kimberly intersection traffic.
Problem solved.
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