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Selectmen discuss Main Street 'road diet' and timing with DOT repaving
Summary
The board discussed a proposed Main Street redesign including diagonal parking and traffic-calming measures; staff said the town should align any changes with an upcoming DOT repaving and noted traffic counts that make a road diet feasible.
Selectmen spent part of their June 17 meeting discussing potential redesign of Main Street to slow traffic, increase parking and improve pedestrian safety.
First Selectman Michael A. Pelton said the town has discussed a road diet with the Department of Transportation and that the timing should align with DOT’s repaving schedule to avoid redoing recent work. Pelton cited traffic counts of about 8,000 cars on Main Street versus 29,000 on Route 66 and described options including diagonal parking, raised crosswalks and other traffic‑calming measures.
Board members said DOT has been supportive of trial configurations before repaving and recommended educating the public about parking and safety tradeoffs. The board noted the POCD (Plan of Conservation and Development) includes related design work and that preliminary renderings are available for review.
Why it matters: Changes to Main Street affect commuters, downtown businesses and pedestrian safety. Coordinating with DOT on timing and design can reduce cost and permit short‑term trials before permanent striping decisions.
Next steps: Staff said DOT is providing preliminary designs and the board plans to continue the discussion at the July meeting when more renderings and timing information will be available.
