West Hartford’s mayor and town manager provided an update about short- and long-term actions that are being taken to make the town’s roadways safer.

By Ronni Newton

Two years ago, in December 2022, a series of tragedies on West Hartford’s roads prompted a response by the town that, while a reaction to the incidents, is more than just throwing out a series of quick fixes to see what works.

At the urging of Mayor Shari Cantor, the town moved quickly to explore the launch of a Vision Zero initiative, and forming a task force that included town staff and members of the community.

Plans to convene that task force were announced on Christmas Day in 2022, just hours after a two-car crash on Simsbury Road at 6:49 a.m. resulted in the death of three occupants of the vehicles despite lifesaving efforts by emergency responders. In just over a week during December 2022, a total of five people had lost their lives as a result of several unrelated motor vehicle collisions in West Hartford, and another person was seriously injured. An incident in June 2022 had resulted in the death of a pedestrian in West Hartford Center, bringing the total number of traffic fatalities in West Hartford for 2022 to six.

By the first week of January 2023, plans to launch Vision Zero were moving ahead, and throughout 2023 an Action Plan was being created with the ultimate goal of completely eliminating fatalities and severe injuries within a 10-year period.

“We carefully crafted a plan with community input that works, it works worldwide,” Town Manager Rick Ledwith told We-Ha.com in an interview last week.

While there were certainly car crashes and incidents involving pedestrians or bicycles and vehicles during 2023, none were fatal and none resulted in serious injury according to town records. But the community was not as fortunate in 2024, and a pedestrian David Goldberg was fatally struck crossing Albany Avenue in January, and then there were two incidents in November where pedestrians were struck and killed.

“We need to move faster certainly. We will move as fast as we can,” Ledwith said, but while there are dozens of action items that can be – and have been – implemented quickly to address road safety issues, Vision Zero is a long-term, 10-year plan to eliminate serious and fatal traffic incidents. It’s data-driven, based on several fundamental premises that include “deaths and serious injuries caused by traffic crashes are preventable” and “human error is inevitable and transportation systems should be forgiving.” The plan requires systemic changes in behavior, and that can’t happen overnight.

“Tragic incidents like these underscore our commitment to preventing future losses,” Ledwith said regarding what happened in 2024.

“We are literally gutted by this,” Cantor said.

What actions has the town taken?

“We are the first community in the state to adopt a Vision Zero Action Plan,” Cantor said. The Town Council adopted the plan in February 2024, but the 10-year timeframe began when the work began, in January 2023.

As part of that plan, there were close to 80 “quick implementation” action items that had been identified and were completed during the 2024 construction season. “We are always looking for things we can do quickly,” Cantor said, but some measures take time.

Ledwith said the town has been working closely with the state on items that can’t be effected on the municipal level without approval, and some of the projects require compliance with bidding requirements before hiring contractors.

The town designs the raised crosswalks, Ledwith said, but an outside contractor builds them. Three have been built thus far, all in areas where there are a significant number of children walking to school daily – on Tunxis Road at Spring Lane, on Boulevard at Wardwell, and on Fern Street at Walbridge Road.

There have also been 11 Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) installed throughout town, and five or six more that are being installed by the Public Works Department in the next several weeks, Ledwith said. The RRFBs utilize high-intensity lighting, and are accompanied by high visibility signs on either side of the crosswalk. The Connecticut Department of Transportation considers them a proven safety countermeasure effective in preventing serious incidents, and Ledwith said they are a “game changer.”

During a meeting of the town’s Pedestrian Bicycle Commission on Dec. 9, Ledwith and Town Engineer Greg Sommer highlighted the progress thus far, which also includes the addition of wider roadway edge lines with retroreflective pavement markings, enhanced delineation of curves with pavement markings and chevrons, backplates on traffic signals with retroreflective borders, and brighter street lighting.

“We have done a lot in a short period of time, but there have been accidents and they are unacceptable,” said Cantor.

She said that some residents have been lobbying for adding pylons at corners to slow down turning traffic. There are pros and cons, she said, including that the pylons create challenges for buses.

“We’re really trying to be thoughtful and have long-lasting change,” Cantor said, behavioral and structural change.

What are the next steps?

Construction season is over, and any projects that involve laying asphalt, such as additional raised crosswalks, will have to wait until the weather warms up. Nevertheless, there will be work done over the winter.

Staff will be working on the ordinances that the Town Council must adopt in order to implement both speed enforcement and red light cameras. Included in the ordinances will be the fees associated with getting a ticket. “There is a lot of work with the state to approve a plan,” she said.

“There’s a tremendous amount of data to provide to the state,” Ledwith added, and that includes the draft ordinances. The locations of both speed enforcement cameras and red light cameras have to be submitted to and approved by the the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Office of State Traffic Administration.

West Hartford has received grants for both types of “Automated Traffic Enforcement Safety Devices” (ATESD) camera programs, and both should be installed during 2025. The speed enforcement cameras – at 15 locations – will come first, Ledwith said, and that program is being funded through a grant the town received in 2023.

The town received a second Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant this year, and that in part will be used to fund the ATESD red-light enforcement program.

Also during the winter, “we will identify the next set of projects that will be undertaken in year two,” Ledwith said, and begin an education program in the community.

Plans are to have members of the community sign a Vision Zero pledge, Ledwith said, and perhaps in return receive something that is visible evidence of the commitment. The Vision Zero task force has already distributed 5,000 reflective arm bands, but is also looking into obtaining reflective vests for pedestrians.

There are many members of the community who are already concerned about road safety and engaged in the process, but Vision Zero needs the buy-in of the rest of the community. “How do we reach the people we need to reach?” Ledwith said, and that’s something the committee will be working on.

Cantor said she is also speaking with the Capital Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) and the state because road safety is not just a West Hartford problem, and can’t be fixed in a vacuum, plus not everyone who drives, bikes, or walks in West Hartford is a resident who will be receiving information from the town. “We need partnerships here,” she said.

The tragic incidents are a sharp reminder of the need to make West Hartford’s roadways safer for all users, but the problem far from being isolated to West Hartford. Nationally, there were more than 7,500 pedestrians and 1,100 bicyclists fatally struck in 2022, and one of the most dangerous roadways in the country is in Philadelphia, where a wide boulevard that prioritizes driving speed is referred to as the “corridor of death,” where Vox reported that 24 pedestrians were killed or seriously injured on that roadway along in 2022.

Long-term fixes are what will make Vision Zero effective, “but we do need to react, too,” Ledwith said.

Each time a serious incident occurs, there is a crash response team that analyzes what occurred and contributing factors, and they also may recommend changes. A recommendation was made to increase the wattage in the streetlights on Oakwood Avenue following the incident that resulted in the death of 87-year-old Patricia Brulotte on Nov. 8.

Re-lamping to provide higher wattage lighting on roadways identified as on the High Injury Network was already a Vision Zero action item before Brulotte was struck, but the replacement of 15-watt, 25-watt, and 32-watt lights with 46-watt lights will now be accelerated, Ledwith said. Brighter lamps were already installed on Oakwood Avenue, and make a dramatic difference in the visibility of the crosswalk at the intersection of Oakwood Avenue and St. James Street. That intersection was already slated for a RRFB,

It will take two years, and significant investment, to replace all of the lamps, Ledwith said. Lamps on Sedgwick Road are in the process of being replaced now, including those in the area where Anne Rapkin was struck and killed, along with her dog, on Nov. 27.

Road Safety Audits – a formal examination of the safety and infrastructure on a stretch of roadway by a multidisciplinary team – have already been completed on Park Road, Albany Avenue, Sedgwick Road, Prospect Avenue, and New Park Avenue. The report following the undertaking of an RSA recommends immediate, short-, and long-term recommendations.

Some of the situations create unique challenges. While a RRFB at the Albany Avenue crosswalk at Mohegan Drive – where Goldberg was fatally struck in January as he returned from synagogue – will make that area safer, Orthodox Jews would not be able to manually activate it during the sabbath.

Looking at all of the factors, including cultural considerations, is part of the process.

“It is a priority. We are committed to changing the way people drive in our community,” Cantor said.

Enforcement

“We are looking at speed limit adjustments across town,” Cantor said. Several years ago the legislature granted municipalities more flexibility in setting speed limits on local roads, and one idea that has been discussed is setting the speed limit in West Hartford at 25mph on all non-state roads without a double yellow line.

Adding rules won’t make a difference on its own. Enforcement needs to be a part of any efforts to curb speeding as well as running red lights and stop signs. “We need to do both,” Cantor said. “It doesn’t do anything if we’re not enforcing.”

West Hartford Police are making more traffic stops than ever. In 2022, there were 4,681 motor vehicle stops, Ledwith said.

According to a recent report from West Hartford Police Chief Vernon Riddick, for the 11-month period Jan. 1, 2023 through Nov. 30, 2023, police conducted 6,743 motor vehicle stops. For the same date range this year, 7,387 traffic stops were conducted.

In addition, there have been 471 “selective enforcement details” throughout town in 2024, at locations determined by crash data as well as citizen complaints, the chief said.

The West Hartford Police Department is close to full staffing with just four vacancies as of early December, Assistant Chief Rob Riccobon reported at the Town Council’s Public Safety Committee on Dec. 4.

Once the town has the speed enforcement and red light camera programs implemented, Ledwith said, that will free up Traffic Division officers for enforcement in other locations. “It will really have that double impact in terms of safety” throughout town, he said.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Commission

West Hartford’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Commission, along with the nonprofit Bike West Hartford, are instrumental in calling for roadway safety, and in helping with a campaign to educate the community.

“We all have a shared responsibility to be safe,” Ledwith said, and that includes urging pedestrians and bicyclists to make themselves as visible as possible and engage in safe behavior.

Ed Pawlak, chair of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Commission, a member of the original Vision Zero Task Force, and a member of the Vision Zero Advisory Committee also spoke with We-Ha.com last week following a meeting of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Commission on Dec. 9. While the Commission doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with town officials, there are many positive things the town has been doing – but they haven’t done a good enough job highlighting or taking credit for some of the projects that will have a major impact on the town’s roadways.

He cited the road diet recently implemented by the state on New Britain Avenue a few months ago. “It just happened,” Pawlak said, and now there is a safer route from South Street in West Hartford into a largely residential area along New Britain Avenue in Hartford, that includes a bike lane. He’s hopeful that it will spur West Hartford to adding a safe connection to the future cycle track on New Park Avenue, that also will connect to Trout Brook Trail. Other major road projects that are in the works, and that will increase pedestrian and bike safety include the New Park Avenue Complete Streets plan that should begin in 2025, updates to West Hartford Center infrastructure which will also begin next year, and improvements planned to Park Road for 2025 that will include bike lanes, raised crosswalks, and improved lighting. There is also a plan – a few more years out – to improve the Bishops Corner intersection of North Main Street and Albany Avenue.

“I participated in five Road Safety Audits,” Pawlak said, some led by the town along with consultant FHI, and others that also involved the state DOT. They are not only a tool for identifying issues, but they also help facilitate improvements. “Those reports become the evidence, the argument, for obtaining grant funding,” he noted.

Automated traffic enforcement and use of countermeasures like RRFBs and raised crosswalks are supported by the Commission. At the Dec. 9 meeting, “We pressed for the town … to roll out lots and lots more,” Pawlak said. “We want to see more of them throughout town, ideally at every mid-block crosswalk.”

Other measures that Pawlak and the Commission favor include greater intersection accessibility, including audible pedestrian messages, and improved street lighting. “What we pressed [Town Manager] Rick [Ledwith] and [Town Engineer] Greg [Sommer] for on Monday night is a town-led study of those mid-block crosswalks,” Pawlak said, to take a holistic look at solving problems town-wide.

Pawlak said he would also like to see green paint used for the “cat tracks” at intersections that are also bike lane crossings. Currently they are white, and while green paint is more expensive, it’s also much more visible.

There is a great need for educating the community, Pawlak said, and there really has been no concerted effort since Vision Zero was adopted. The advisory committee will be meeting in January to begin that roll out, he said.

“There is so much going on, but so much more to do,” Pawlak said.

A large crowd attended the most recent Pedestrian and Bicycle Commission meeting, in part because of media attention following the vigil for Anne Rapkin the previous week, and Pawlak said it’s important to hear the “lived experience about their neighborhoods” from residents. The Commission has an important role as a conduit to funnel those concerns to town officials, he said.

The education initiative must be multi-disciplinary, Pawlak said. The town will be “asking residents to sign. pledge to follow the rules of the road when they’re driving, walking, biking,” he said. “But if it just ends there, there’s no evidence that they’re committing.”

Pawlak said his church previously handed out bumper stickers with a message that those who signed a pledge were “driving gently for our planet and the community,” and something like that could be utilized by the town.

“My aspiration is to have a critical mass of drivers” take the Vision Zero pledge and put bumper stickers on their cars (he agreed that magnets could be an also-visible alternative that more vehicle owners might find acceptable). “Even if it’s 10%, that will start changing the culture, and you’re enforcing the rules of the road.” The public needs to agree to be part of the solution.

“We need to start making it happen. I think a lot of people are mad as hell,” Pawlak said.

Moving forward

Statewide, Cantor said, “We stand alone in the progress that we have made.” Changes that will continue to be made through Vision Zero are thoughtful and intentional, although she does with it could be faster.

“This is the most dangerous time of the year,” Cantor added, with the least amount of daylight. The bustle of holiday shopping adds to the danger, too.

As for the funding, the town has received $1 million in state funds for Vision Zero, as well as roughly $4 million in SS4A grants to improve safety for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians, Ledwith said. In addition, revenue received from tickets given through the speed enforcement or red-light camera programs stays with the town and funds the continuation of those programs.

“Economics won’t get in the way of safety,” Ledwith said. “This is all about making our town safer.”

Sometimes strategic placement of a planter to slow traffic is effective, Cantor said, but the priority is “long-term structural change to improve safety town wide.”

It’s not about assigning blame, Pawlak said. And he said the essential message should not have to wait for an education subcommittee.

“I agree that our roads should not be unsafe, but we all have a responsibility,” Pawlak said. That includes pedestrians and bicyclists making sure they are visible. “If you’re going out after dark, there are things you should be doing.”

Reaching everyone will be of critical importance as the town moves forward. “We all have a shared responsibility to be safe,” Ledwith said.

The town’s Vision Zero Action Plan has been included below as a PDF, and is also visible online on the Town of West Hartford website.

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