Danbury Starts Work on New White Street Crosswalks

New poles for warning lights were installed on White Street Thursday as part of an effort to make it safer for people walking across White Street near Western Connecticut State University.

The work is expected to take roughly two weeks, said Tom Hughes, superintendent of Construction Services for Danbury. Hughes was on White Street with Abdul Mohammed, the city's traffic engineer, and representatives of NYCONN Corp., the electrical contractor.

This step in the process will include installing two new crosswalks and button-controlled flashing lights that pedestrians will use to alert drivers they're crossing the street.

In a second phase, the university will install a fence on both sides of the street with openings at each crosswalk. The openings will funnel pedestrians to the three crosswalks with the warning lights. The third crosswalk is the existing crosswalk at the White Street parking garage.

This effort is designed to make crossing White Street safer. A Western student, Dong Lin, was killed walking across the street in 2011.