Mayor Phillips and public works staff briefed the Norwalk City Council on Thursday on four street corridors where rising development and school traffic are creating capacity problems and could require multi-year corridor projects.

The presentation, delivered by a staff member identified as Wayne, said Orchard Hills Drive, North Avenue East (near the high school), Beardsley Street West and a north-south connector west of Highway 28 are showing early signs of capacity strain and will likely need corridor improvements rather than spot fixes. "These are projects that I see on the 5 year radar that are capacity related projects," Wayne said.

Wayne told the council the issues are driven by growth and turning movements that overload existing rural two-lane sections. He said recommended designs include three-lane sections with a center two-way left-turn lane and, at some intersections, roundabouts. He cited a February 2023 study for North Avenue East that found the westbound leg of the high-school intersection was operating at level-of-service D and said the study recommended a three-lane section between intersections. "You talk about getting more traffic out there, it's just gonna completely fail," Wayne said of adding traffic without changes.

The staff presentation described tradeoffs between roundabouts and signals: roundabouts can operate at a higher level of service but require more right-of-way and can force property acquisition; signals may be less efficient but fit smaller footprints. Wayne noted designers make curb radii mountable so delivery trucks and buses can navigate roundabouts.

Council members and Wayne discussed practical constraints: available right-of-way, acquiring corner properties (Wayne said the city acquired one house to accommodate a proposed roundabout), the time needed for design, surveys, utility relocations and potential property acquisition. Wayne recommended beginning design work soon so Norwalk can apply for safety or capacity grants; he said typical timelines mean a project started today would likely be one to three years from start of construction. "Design takes a while, survey, we have utility relocations. If we have to acquire property, all that takes a lot of time," Wayne said.

Wayne said the city will bring corridor concepts into the capital-improvements-program (CIP) process and urged councilors to weigh corridor sequencing to avoid having multiple nearby corridors torn up at once: "I can't have North Avenue West and Beardsley West torn up at the same time because if one's under construction, people are using the other one." He recommended starting design on North Avenue East near the high school immediately to be competitive for safety grant funding, and noted grant award timelines cited in the presentation can place funding availability several years out.

No formal action was requested or taken; Wayne characterized the briefing as informational and said he will bring corridor projects forward through the CIP process for council prioritization and funding decisions.

The council did not hold public comment on the presentation and no vote occurred. The staff presentation included maps of affected corridors and named nearby developments (Maple Heights, Saddle Ridge, Signature Companies, Hackney Hills) that are contributing traffic patterns.

Council members asked for follow-up on sequencing, grant opportunities and detailed cost estimates as staff advances designs.