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Residents press Old Lyme selectmen for speed humps on narrow Brighton Road
Summary
Brighton Road residents said speeding—especially during the summer beach season—makes their narrow street unsafe; the Roads & Public Safety Committee and the board agreed to collect pricing and consider installing a first seasonal speed hump before Memorial Day, with funding for a second in the next fiscal year.
Greg Fatoma, chair of the town's Roads and Public Safety Committee, told the Board of Selectmen on April 20 that residents of Brighton Road presented a petition asking the town to lower the posted speed limit, install speed humps and add slow-down signage.
Fatoma said the committee measured the road and found Brighton Road is about 16.5 feet wide, considerably narrower than other town streets that already have 15 mph limits, and that the town currently has budgeted funds to pay for one speed hump now. "The petition was signed by basically everyone on the roadway, over 90% of residents," Fatoma said, adding that the committee favors seasonal speed humps that would be installed during the summer months and removed in winter.
Residents who spoke during public comment described repeated dangerous speeding. "People go exceedingly beyond that 40, 45, 50 miles an hour," said Greg Fox, a Brighton Road resident. Paula Duraco said the speed makes it impossible for family members who use wheelchairs to move safely along the street. Jeff Sandman told the board signs alone have not been effective and endorsed speed humps as the most reliable fix.
Fatoma reported he had spoken with a contractor and with local emergency services and that Trooper Derek McGregor and the fire department had not objected to seasonal humps. He provided a vendor estimate of about $1,200 for installation and said the committee could fund one hump now; the committee had requested two.
Board members said an engineered traffic study is typically required for permanent speed-limit changes and that changing signage alone often does not alter driver behavior. One selectman noted the cost-benefit favors humps for temporary traffic increases associated with the beach season. The board directed staff to collect firm pricing from the installer and to report back at the next meeting in two weeks; the chair said he would coordinate additional patrols during the initial weeks after the beach opens.
The board did not take a formal vote to install a speed hump at the April 20 meeting; it instead asked staff and the committee to return with detailed pricing and a proposed installation plan for the upcoming season.
