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Watertown officials weigh traffic studies after neighborhood safety requests
Summary
Two residents asked Watertown commissioners for neighborhood traffic safety measures — a 'children at play' sign and a four-way stop plus replacement of a chain at a boat launch — and the chief and DOT correspondence outlined formal engineering and enforcement steps including counts and dynamic 'your speed' signs.
Two Watertown residents used the commission's public-comment period on June 10 to ask for traffic and park-safety steps and the town's chief explained why traffic calming requires engineering work rather than immediate sign installation.
"I just can't help but ask because…my children's safety," Laura Ramden told the commission, identifying herself as a Hidden Pond Drive resident and asking how to request a "children at play" sign for her street. Later, Bill Zerillo of Caruso Drive presented a petition signed by 20 neighbors asking the town to consider installing a four-way stop at the Caruso Drive/Lake Winnamog Road intersection and to reinstate a chain that formerly secured the public boat launch at night, saying late-night gatherings have left garbage and evidence of fires on a small island.
Chief Berniger responded that state and national guidance require an engineered traffic study before installing stop signs. "Putting up a stop sign is a risky business that has liability associated with it," he said, and the town is working with the Connecticut Transportation Institute and its own public-works engineer to collect vehicle counts and sight-line data before making recommendations.
The chief reported interim counter data from a temporary device deployed at one study intersection: 25,565 vehicles over the monitoring period, an average measured speed near 28 mph and an 85th-percentile speed of 34 mph — about 9 mph over the 25 mph limit used at that location. Those results and a formal traffic study will inform whether additional regulatory signage is warranted, he said.
Separately, the chief read Department of Transportation correspondence about a Route 6 location (near 821 Woodbury Road) in which DOT said operating speeds were "unreasonably high" (westbound ~62 mph and eastbound ~63 mph reported) and recommended enforcement, use of speed-feedback signs and consideration of automated speed-camera programs where permitted. The DOT letter noted that crash data for the examined window showed no crashes at the subject curve but still recommended countermeasures to reduce operating speeds.
Commissioners and staff agreed to continue the engineered studies, move temporary counters to other requested locations and consult with the park department about the boat-launch chain and nighttime enforcement while the studies proceed.
