Community Workshop Summary

On Thursday, July 24th, about 50 concerned neighbors came to BEKI in Westville for the Coalition for a Livable Whalley's community workshop on the upper Whalley Ave. reconstruction project. The workshop served as an information session on the project and as an introduction to concepts of traffic calming, with the goal of helping to prepare for the DOT open house/hearing scheduled for Thurs., July 31st at Edgewood School from 5-7:30pm. The evening's events received excellent press coverage from both the New Haven Register and the New Haven Independent.

The group's goals for the project were summarized as such:

• For moving through the area to be safer and more pleasant;
• A livable, walkable environment;
• Safe and consistent sidewalks and pedestrian crossings throughout;
• Safer and better design for public transit and considerations for a bus lane and increased uses of public transit;
• Ability to ride a bicycle safely;
• Design road to achieve existing speed limit of 25 mph;
• Not having to dodge and weave around people turning left into businesses;
• Reconsideration of the “need” for two-lane traffic in each direction;

For a complete summary of the workshop results, including overall impressions of the roadway as well as proposed design considerations for the overall corridor and for each major section of the project (Ramsdell St., Davis Street, Dayton Street, and Emerson St.), e-mail us a request at whalleyavenue@gmail.com.