HOUSING & INFRASTRUCTURE

Red Light, Green Light

Automated traffic signals installed in Greenwich

With all of the technology available to us, someone had to be working on making traffic better. With new adaptive signals, Greenwich is making things a little better on city streets.

Everyone knows that sitting in traffic can be the worst part of their commute. And it seems that the Federal Department of Transportation agrees.

According to their resources: Poor traffic signal timing contributes to traffic congestion and delay. Conventional signal systems use pre-programmed, daily signal timing schedules. Adaptive signal control technology adjusts the timing of red, yellow and green lights to accommodate changing traffic patterns and ease traffic congestion. The main benefits of adaptive signal control technology over conventional signal systems are that it can:

• Continuously distribute green light time equitably for all traffic movements

• Improve travel time reliability by progressively moving vehicles through green lights

• Reduce congestion by creating smoother flow

• Prolong the effectiveness of traffic signal timing Greenwich has installed the state’s first adaptive traffic signal system to help improve the flow around Arch Street, which include areas around the I-95 Northbound and Southbound ramps.

These highly trafficked areas would see increased amounts of congestion at specific points throughout the day, and given their proximity to parks and museums, it was crucial to keep cars moving rather than idling for long periods of time.

In a Patch article on these improvements, it was noted that it would take a year’s worth of data to truly understand the benefits of this installation, but there’s already some evidence that these new signals are alleviating congestion.

Surprisingly, there’s one benefit to this that might not be obvious at first glance – it could help improve air quality. According to the DOT, it could reduce the emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide due with cars idling less.

With 35,000 cars travelling through this corridor each day, there’s plenty of opportunity to reduce the amount of lingering pollution from vehicles. Recently, it was announced that Fairfield County had some of the worst air pollution in the nation.

Towns and cities can be leaders in improving air quality, but also quality of life with new adaptive signals. Because we can all admit it, no one likes being stuck in traffic.

A Downtown Rebirth

Danbury is taking the moment to reexamine the sidewalks

There’s a movement underway to reinvigorate streets in municipalities around the state, even extending beyond state and national borders. Although this trend has gone largely unremarked upon on a cultural level, towns and cities like Danbury, Connecticut have officially begun to move on from the 20th century streetscape into a 21st century renaissance.

The word renaissance itself means rebirth, and this is precisely what modern streetscapes require. For nearly 100 years, streets were reconfigured for the automobile to the exception of everything else.

While it might seem obvious and reflexive to say that streets were designed for cars, it’s just as evident that has not always been the case. And often, automobiles limit the use of downtown areas – when an area becomes overly reliant on travel to a destination, that area’s capacity is limited to how many parking spots are available.

The goal is to make many more destinations more pleasing to the pedestrian and cyclist, and this is precisely the project that Danbury has embarked on.

One of the primary goals was to replace sidewalks, which had not been replaced since the 1990s and were nearing the end of their lifecycle. So too were trees, planters, and other fixtures. By the first quarter of 2022, Danbury officials expected to have repaired and replaced many of these, despite setbacks from ongoing supply chain issues.

This phase of construction is notable since these are the kinds of repairs that would not normally be noticeable from a car driving at even low speeds.

Future phases of the project introduce transit-oriented development, which could be situated around Union Station and a renewed push to bring fast train service to New York City back to Danbury. Moving the current bus station closer to the trains is just one idea that is being looked at and a slew of new buildings are in varying stages of development in and around the downtown area that would add to the need for additional transportation options.

As part of the initial planning, the town said in a presentation that this is an “opportunity to improve downtown green space which is a valuable and scare commodity in urban centers,” “represents City’s commitment to the importance of its downtown,” and “Improved streetscape helps to incentivize economic development.”

But that doesn’t mean that change happens overnight. In three years, this project has already been manned by three mayors, with phases that will take time – especially the train service upgrades.

The Renaissance – the real one – didn’t happen overnight either. Whether you call it a walkable city, transit-oriented development, or something else, changes are coming to main streets.

So Much Room For Activities

Plainfield opens up open space committee

“Passive activity” is a textbook example of an oxymoron. But it will be precisely these kinds of activities the newly minted openspace committee in Plainfield will be exploring.

The need for this committee became evident when the town became the owner of three contiguous lots that comprise 162 acres off of Kate Downing Road. The majority of which was given to the town by the state, with two private properties making up the last portions, which cost the town just $103,000.

With so much open space, it became clear the opportunity it had in front of them. The one thing that limits the use is the agreement with the state on their portion of the land that the parcel could only be used for passive recreation.

According to a state document, passive activities are those that refer “to recreational activities that do not require intensive development and prepared facilities like sports fields or buildings.

“Passive recreational activities place minimal stress on a site’s resources and as a result provide ecosystem service benefits and are highly compatible with natural resource protection.”

This is important because most of the land that was given over was wooded, and protecting those environments where they currently exist is crucial for ongoing green efforts.

But that doesn’t mean that there will be a limited amount of possible uses. The state offered examples like hiking, wildlife viewing, fishing, canoeing, picnicking, and even hunting.

Plainfield through their open space committee will be looking into all the possible ways that they can utilize this space.

According to an article in the Bulletin, there will likely be 10 or fewer members to this committee with individuals who are already serving on boards and commissions that deal with these sorts of things already volunteering to be on the new committee.

Alongside the committees work, the town is going to be consulting with the Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the possibility of trails being added into wetland areas. They also will be looking into grants, either from the state or federal government, to help make up the costs of adding these amenities.

Though “passive activity” might sound like an oxymoron, for the town of Plainfield, it means that the residents will have a place to enjoy the outdoors, walk a bit and perhaps have a little picnic. The committee that will help decide the future of this land will certainly not be passive in their decision making, but play an active role in Plainfield’s future.

Pedal Pushers, Pedestrians, And Progress

New Haven adding infrastructure for things other than cars

Not long into the 21st century, there have been faint hints of a quiet question – are cars really the best idea? They pollute, they’re dangerous for those inside and out, and they also make it very easy for individuals to get around. But what if there were other, safer, greener ways to get around? Governments from federal to local are asking this question – in New Haven, several projects are aimed at making the city more bicycle friendly.

One such project is taking place in the Edgewood neighborhood, connecting the west side of town to downtown via a cycle track. After delays that arose due to COVID restrictions, this project has finally begun with expected completion next year sometime. Not only will this track provide a safe location for cyclists to make their way downtown, but it has added benefits in safety across the board.

For pedestrians, they will be making improvements on crosswalks including ADA compliant signals and ramps at each intersection. And for cars, the additional infrastructure will have the effect of making the street look more crowded. This has been shown to decrease traffic speeds, thus making the road safer for those in cars as well.

Whitney Ave is seeing the same kind of rethinking, although that project is still in the planning phase.

For part of the project, the plan includes the separated bike lanes that have become popular around the world. A cross section of the new design shows a sidewalk, two bike lanes for north and south travel, a parking lane, a two lane street divided by a center turn lane, and then the other sidewalk. This kind of infrastructure makes it nearly impossible to hit a cyclist under normal driving situations.

But even this plan has setbacks as the plan has to change about halfway up causing issues with dismounting and crossing the street for cyclists. This is why the city is meeting and discussing these plans with individuals who plan to use the infrastructure – the residents. Any project that neglects the way individuals have to use it in practice runs the risk of not being used at all.

And finally, after several years, construction has finally begun on the final part of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail connecting Long Wharf to Hamden and, if you have the time and strength, Massachusetts.

This final piece of the puzzle is all part of the reimagining of infrastructure and best uses. More and more, people are using this infrastructure to get around – both for leisure and essential travel.

Towns and cities across the country are making bicycles a priority, and in some places around the world, cars have been shut out of downtown areas giving them a safer and more vibrant spaces for their residents.

It’s unlikely that we will see a world without cars – even if they doubled the Infrastructure Plan to $4 trillion, it would not be enough to convince everyone to give up their cars and take public transportation. But in cities like New Haven, the “Field of Dreams” logic is working, if you build it, they will come.

Making The Connection

East Hartford has a new high speed calling card

It doesn’t take much to realize how important the internet has become over the last 30 years. COVID has only increased the necessity of good, high speed internet. East Hartford is beginning down a path that will be a new calling card for the town.

As of late last year, the town, in partnership with SiFi Networks, is installing an open access network of fiber cable. Bob Knight, a spokesman for Sifi Networks described this arrangement to CT Public Radio as most like an airport. In his metaphor, the airport is the network they are building, while the airlines that operate there (Delta or American) are equivalent to the Internet Service Providers (Comcast or Verizon).

This incentivizes competition between companies, and those benefits will see their way to the town and its residents.

Many will be most interested in the speeds of the internet. Gone are the days of the dial-up – the speeds that can be achieved with fiber optic will be almost 20,000 times faster to begin with, with that speed increasing to 10 gbps over time. These are speeds that are nearly 200 million times faster than our operating speeds just 20 years ago.

While residents will see the benefits when it comes time to listen to their streaming music or watch a movie on Netflix, this infrastructure will also pay dividends with the business community.

In East Hartford, this plan has already attracted the interest of longtime businesses like Pratt & Whitney, as well as the many businesses that are tied to the aerospace industry, per reporting from the Hartford Business Journal. But Alexandra Daum says that this will be a kind of ace in the hole when businesses are looking to move their operations.

In that Hartford Busines Journal article, she says that businesses that are interviewing Connecticut tend to place broadband internet at the top of their priorities list.

Although this project isn’t expected to be done for a few years, it was more than a few years in the making. Former Mayor Marcia Leclerc began looking for solutions back in 2014. With Sifi, she may have hit the jackpot as the entire project will be funded privately at no cost to the taxpayers.

As a major focus of the past few years, CCM, municipal and state leaders, teachers and students, businesses and work-from-homers all have asked for better and more reliable internet at reasonable prices. East Hartford’s new calling card says to the state that those wishes are possible.

Settling Down Near Home

Affordable Housing Initiative Gets Regional Boost

One of the most inescapable facets of Connecticut living is just how expensive the state is. While there might be a dozen opinions on how it got to be that way, we know that housing is a large part of that additional cost. Many municipalities have already produced Affordable Housing Plans to deal with this issue, but thirteen municipalities have begun working on a Regional Housing Plan as part of their Council of Governments.

Under Public Act 17-170 of the Connecticut General Statutes, municipalities are charged with preparing and adopting an affordable housing plan every five years, or amending it if one already exists. The outline of the plan should be to “specify how the municipality intends to increase the number of affordable housing developments in the municipality.”

The Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments is developing a regional plan that fulfills all the requirements of this section, which must be adopted by June 30, 2022. All 17 member towns are expected have to have plans, that “will address locally important issues while also aligning with larger regional goals,” according to the COG website.

They go on to define Affordable Housing as housing that costs 30% or less of household income making less than 80% of the state or Area Median Income (AMI), whichever is lower. For a family of four, the upper limit is around $80,000 a year.

There has been a lot of misconception about affordable housing throughout the many conversations that took place around legislature in the past year.

While public housing developments or mixed-income apartments could be an obvious example for affordable housing, the COG suggests that many examples of Single-Family homes would fall under the affordable banner if they have subsidized mortgages through the U.S. Department of Agriculture or Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.

These kinds of homes make it possible for younger first-time homebuyers to take part in home-ownership, and many would argue, the American Dream.

While mandated for each municipality to have such a plan, asking what affordable housing might look like as part of a regional conversation.

In areas that are already built-out with single-family homes, it could make more sense to allow for things like Accessory Dwelling Units, popularly called In-Law apartments. Or incentives could be provided to owners of the traditional New England Triple-Decker Houses.

No matter what it looks like, understanding that Connecticut is an expensive place to live is a jumping off point for conversations about how to grow the state. By making a plan to grow the regional affordable housing stock, the towns in the Lower Connecticut River Valley COG are looking for solutions that make sense, and could lead to residents seeing themselves settling down in the house around the corner, not the one in another state.

1.88 Cars /1 Parking Spot = Problem

West Hartford looking to solutions for parking spot shortage

When you buy a car, you automatically assume that you’ll have a place to put it wherever you go. Your supermarket will have a place – preferably close to the door – for you to park. Your workplace, your favorite restaurant, all likely have parking places nearby. But what happens when density runs up against available parking spots? West Hartford is trying to determine just how to solve that problem.

The problem is multi-faceted and not all of the issues are problems. For one, towns that are seeing growth in population are going to have to tackle this problem sooner or later. Currently, every household in America - whether it is an estate one 100 acres or a studio apartment in New York – has an average of 1.88 cars, while over 90% of households have at least one car.

A key focus of transit oriented development is growing that 10% of people who don’t have or even need a car. And throughout the past two decades there have been increasing discussions over “minimum parking requirements,” or the amount of parking spaces per apartment in new buildings.

The Brookings Institute argues that these requirements are adding to the cost of multifamily housing with an average of $50,000 per-unit costs for each additional parking space in above-ground or below-ground parking. But that still leaves you with the problem of the 1.88 cars per household that need somewhere to go.

This problem can easily be seen in towns and cities across Connecticut because housing was built before the modern car-dominated era.

Cited in a Courant article about this issue, Town Manager Matt Hart said that “Since some of the apartment complexes in that area were built in the early 1900s — before the widespread use of cars and establishment of modern zoning laws — landlords have been renting extra parking spaces from churches and local eateries, like Butterfly Restaurant on Farmington Avenue.”

But even those spots are becoming scarce leading them to think about overnight parking permits for residents only, which would allow them parking in certain areas only. They could further restrict this permit to residents in only buildings of five units or more.

This problem has been exacerbated by COVID, since so many individuals were working from home or home from school, that it became apparent just how many cars there were that needed parking spaces.

Unlike grocery stores or your doctors office, or even town hall, spots for your household to park the family car are dwindling as density increases. In order to successfully grow, increase economic development and still have enough parking spaces for residents and visitors, municipalities are going to have to decide just where to put all those cars.

Meriden Innovates With Parking Lot Tech

Get out of your car, and into their lot, and pay with your phone

For years, companies had been working on wireless infrastructure. With COVID-19, many people realized quite how useful those technologies are. In the City of Meriden, they’ve begun to apply that technology to parking by having people pay with their phones.

The two lots that they’ve piloted this program on is the city’s parking lots at Butler Street and Church Street, according to an article from the Record Journal, using technology from the company AirGarage.

Used in many private industries, and especially popular in the hotel business, the AirGarage platform promises higher revenue to lot and garage owners. The idea behind this app is that parking should be easy and accessible for both the commuter and the owner, and they allow for a system that validates employees parking and prevents violators slipping through the cracks.

According to the article, the cloud-based system that “utilizes surveillance cameras to photograph license plates, whereby the commuters can pay via credit card on their phones. This will lead to the city saving money on the infrastructure and salaries of maintaining the parking lot, plus whatever earnings the lot makes on top of that.

Previously, the lots were cash-only. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco who releases payment studies, said that cash accounted for only 19% of all payments. This raises the question of how many people was the city missing because people just didn’t have cash on them.

Because the AirGarage system only requires a cell phone – rather than a smart phone like the iPhone or Galaxy – nearly anyone can use the lots. Per the latest figures from Pew Research, 97% of Americans own a cell phone, with 85% having a smartphone.

With the emphasis on cheaper and easier parking, companies like AirGarage are trying to maximize the potential of real estate in towns and cities everywhere.

They estimate that there are on average 8 parking spaces for every car at any given time. By optimizing the amount of spaces needed for parking within an area, there’s the possibility for changing the unused spaces into literally anything else.

The first step is getting everyone to use the technology that is available to them. With the pandemic proving that whether it’s Zoom or QR codes, people can adapt to pretty much anything if they need to use it.

With the end of the pandemic and reopening of public spaces, more and more people might be looking for places to park their car. There are at least two places in the City of Meriden that will make it easier for them to come and go.