Newtown Turnpike Under Scrutiny in Redding

Though residents of Newtown Turnpike haven't yet gotten their wish to have speed bumps installed on their road to combat speeding, Chief Douglas Fuchs reported Monday the department had increased its law enforcement there.

With about three hours of enforcement each day for six days (last Tuesday through Sunday), the department had stopped 40 motor vehicles on Newtown Turnpike. Of the 40 cars stopped, only one was ticketed — and that was for a non-speeding violation, Fuchs said.

The department’s issued “not one speeding ticket on Newtown Turnpike,” Fuchs said. “We have stopped a lot of vehicles, the vast majority for minor speeding violations" where drivers were issued verbal or written warnings. "We set our tolerances very low and have been issuing numerous warnings, and [we’ll be] continuing that for at least next week.”

At the Board of Selectmen meeting last Monday, residents presented First Selectman Natalie Ketcham with a petition signed by 57 percent of Reddingers requesting a speed bump be installed on Newtown Turnpike, between Cross Highway and Black Rock Turnpike. In order for the petition to be considered, Ketcham said, it must contain 60 percent of Redding residents’ signatures.

Daniel Mulvihill, who lives on Newtown Turnpike, presented the petition to Ketcham, adding that 100 percent of the residents of Newtown Turnpike had signed it. He said residents were most concerned about children along the road in the morning commute hours when they’re waiting for the bus to pick them up.

Bruce Foodman, of Little River Road, said other residents were against the addition of a speed bump, but agreed a traffic study could be a good idea.

Traffic study

Fuchs said the department’s conducting a study on the southbound traffic on Newtown Turnpike in terms of speed and volume.

“We’ve got one week’s worth of data already [and are in the] process of analyzing [that] data,” Fuchs said, adding 900 cars travel southbound on that road each day, on average. “We are still analyzing the speed data, which is as important, if not more important than the volume data.”

Fuchs said the “vast majority” of vehicles travel on Newtown Turnpike between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., and the highest volume during that stretch occurs between 7 and 9 a.m. He said the department needs at least another week’s worth of data to complete a thorough study.

The speed limit on Newtown Turnpike, southbound, Fuchs said, is 30 miles per hour.

“We have not been able to write an infraction ticket,” he said.

Fuchs said there’s been a traffic sign positioned along the road, but last week it wasn’t set to show drivers their speed. This week, Fuchs said, the sign will record data and show speed as well.

“I’m fairly confident that [the sign showing drivers their speed] will not alter data at all,” he said. “The sign is positioned in a way that when you see it, it’s already captured your speed.”

Fuchs said he’ll provide another update regarding the traffic patterns next week.