Rogers Road Traffic Calming & Sidewalk Need

[Laura Asermily]

Rogers Road residents are appealing for traffic calming help from the Town of Middlebury which conducted a traffic study showing what we have seen on other roads--that it is hard to capture speeding even after a week of counts at peek drive times which showed compliance with posted speed limit. It doesn't take much speed to alarm a pedestrian by a car that comes too close when no sidewalks are at hand. Knowing that incidents can be episodic but tragic, Rogers Rd residents have put out "Slow Down for Safer Town" lawn signs borrowed from Safe Routes Middlebury. See pics from Daniel Houghton who has attended recent Town meetings on behalf of Rogers Rd residents as David Pistilli has been doing for South St ones. If you want a turn with these on your corridor, contact Erik Remsen (erik....@gmail.com). 

Safe Routes Middlebury reminds us that walkers hit by cars at 40 mph have 15% survival rate while those hit at 20 mph have 85% chance of survival. 

Chief Hanley supports having Infrastructure take up traffic calming measures for residential roads where speeding has been reported as an  issue (South St, High St, Halladay, Rogers, Weybridge, others). He noted that a stop sign was added to Buttolph Dr to calm traffic. This proved to be a good strategy although you have to satisfy special criteria to get one and it doesn't fit as well for Rogers Rd. A speed radar device was posted on Main St in East Midd and more are planned for rotation on other streets, particularly for South St. for which a pop-up traffic calming demo is planned for late summer/early fall.  At the Public Health and Safety Committee Meeting last month, Chief Hanley shared a resource manual he has of traffic calming approaches, including a "road diet" like Lincoln did on one of their residential streets to calm traffic as a way to provide wide shoulders when sidewalks are unfeasible. I'd like to see us try this on a few of our residential roads. Take a look at the link!  Laura

Line painting makes Lincoln Roads safer

Line painting makes Lincoln Roads safer LINCOLN — Lincoln’s roadways aren’t exactly ideal for bike or pedestrian lanes.

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From: Houghton, Daniel <dhou...@middlebury.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 5, 2021 3:41:19 PM
To: Laura Asermily <lase...@yahoo.com>
Cc: Erik Remsen <erik....@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Rogers Road Traffic Calming & Sidewalk Need

 

Hi Laura!

Dan or Daniel works equally well. I introduce myself as Daniel.

I got the signs from Erik. (Thank you Erik!) And knocked on several more doors on Rogers Road until all the signs found a home.

Also, one of the neighbors that I met, Mrs Ringley, informed me that her husband, when he was still alive watched the transformation of Rogers Road from the cul-de-sac into the cut-through road, and fought for solutions to the problems that that caused.

Furthermore, John Duclos, a neighbor in the other direction has also tracked me down to let me know that he too has fought for solutions to the problems of Rogers Road after the tragic car accident that transformed the life of his granddaughter forever over on Weybridge Street.

So that, and the numerous fatalities that we've had recently from cars hitting cyclists and pedestrians. And my own memories of being hit by a car while on my bike in Burlington. And the way that John and Mrs Ringley just shook their head at me as though the prospect of building a sidewalk seemed out of reach has me more and more interested in this project.

I'll try to find Dan Werner tomorrow to talk about possibilities connected to the repaving this summer. And then I suppose I'll attend the infrastructure committee meeting when they reconvene in August.

If there are other things that I could be doing at this time, I'm all ears!

Hope you're well!

Thanks again for listening along the way!

Daniel

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From: Laura Asermily <lase...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, July 2, 2021, 9:00 PM
To: Houghton, Daniel
Cc: Erik Remsen
Subject: Re: Rogers Road Traffic Calming & Sidewalk Need

Thanks for keeping on top of this, Dan. Or do you prefer Daniel? Whatever happened with putting out the "Slow Down for Safer Town" lawn signs? I still think it is a good idea to circulate them on residential roads that need this traffic calming reminder. 

On Friday, July 2, 2021, 10:55:53 AM EDT, Houghton, Daniel <dhou...@middlebury.edu> wrote:

Hi Heather,

Thank you for your note!

I've learned that Rogers Road is scheduled for repaving this summer, but I'm unclear on exactly when, so I've reached out to Dan Werner to learn the date of the planned repaving.

I'm imagining that there is value in coordinating line painting/sidewalk planning/expanding the road width/resolving any right-of-way questions with the planned repaving so as to better position the road for an eventual bike/pedestrian solution.

If I learn repaving is scheduled for before the next August 12th meeting, perhaps I could reach out again.

And if there is anything else that I could do to move toward this goal, please let me know.

Thanks again!

Daniel

Daniel Houghton

Animation Studio Producer

Office of Digital Learning and Inquiry

Middlebury College

Davis Family Library 216

Middlebury VT, 05753

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From: Heather Seeley <seel...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 9:03 AM
To: Laura Asermily <lase...@yahoo.com>
Cc: Houghton, Daniel <dhou...@middlebury.edu>; Tom Hanley <tha...@middleburypolice.org>; Erik Remsen <erik....@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Rogers Road Traffic Calming & Sidewalk Need

 

Good Morning All, 

Thank you for including me. Unfortunately, the Infrastructure Committee is not meeting in July. We are taking the month off. We'll meet next Thursday August 12th. I'll follow up with Kathleen and Dan and see what the agenda looks like for August. Either way, I think at this point we can add the Rogers Road sidewalk to our potential projects list. We have a very similar request from the residents of High Street. If we have time on the agenda in August, I think we could discuss the Public Works department's capabilities as far as line painting goes. There are multiple residential roads in Middlebury making complaints about speed and traffic. I was hoping the Public Health and Safety Committee might tackle the issue and make a recommendation how to consistently address the issue Town wide. That way we aren't addressing the issue differently for each residential street. I really feel like we need a Town wide approach that we implement consistently. 

Thank you, 

Heather

On Tue, Jun 29, 2021 at 10:24 PM Laura Asermily <lase...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi Daniel--I am copying Infrastructure Committee Chair Heather Seeley on this so she can respond to your question about if this can be added as July 8 agenda item or if she'd rather have you bring it up under citizen concerns. I'm glad that Chief Hanley supports having Infrastructure take this up. I know he plans to share a resource manual he has with them of traffic calming approaches, including a "road diet" like Lincoln did on one of their residential streets to calm traffic as reported here:

https://addisonindependent.com/news/line-painting-makes-lincoln-roads-safer

Cheers, Laura

Hi Laura,

Nice to see you in person at the Public Health and Safety Committee meeting yesterday! It's looking like the next Infrastructure Committee meeting will be next Thursday, July 8th. I'm writing to ask if I should try to reach out to committee members beforehand to try to add the topic of a Rogers Road sidewalk/ped-bike lane to the agenda, or should I simply attempt to bring up the topic during the citizen comments section?

At this point it seems like the feasible targets are the short-term possibility of capitalizing on the planned repaving of Rogers Road so as to include a wider road surface with a painted bike-ped lane, and then the longer term possibility of a sidewalk/curb.

Either approach would give people a place to go, especially in the winter when snow accumulation forces everyone into the road.

Thank you!

Daniel

Daniel Houghton

Animation Studio Producer

Office of Digital Learning and Inquiry

Middlebury College

Davis Family Library 216

Middlebury VT, 05753

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From: Laura Asermily <lase...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2021 9:10 AM
To: Susan McGarry <smcg...@gmail.com>; Houghton, Daniel <dhou...@middlebury.edu>
Cc: Erik Remsen <erik....@gmail.com>; Burt, Nate <bu...@middlebury.edu>
Subject: Re: Rogers Road Traffic Calming & Sidewalk Need

 

Hi Dan (and Susan)--Erik has about 6-8 "Slow Down for Safer Town" lawn signs in his garage that we use on walk and roll to school days. You and others along Rogers Rd could post these on your private property lawns over the next few weeks. He plans to connect with you on this (or you could connect with him). Try to place them clear of the right of way (25 ' from center of road). I have been at Mary Hogan with Nate and Erik each morning getting the bikes ready for bike skill training and review many safe route issues, including crossing Rt 7 without a crossing guard and needed sidewalk repair on the connector path from back of Mary Hogan to Buttolph where one kid wiped out yesterday. Part of what Midd Safe Routes does is help elevate these issues for the Town and help them and the schools prioritize projects. To be continued, always, Laura

On Thursday, May 27, 2021, 08:58:19 AM EDT, Houghton, Daniel <dhou...@middlebury.edu> wrote:

Thanks Laura! And thanks for this info. I've been chatting with Susan and it sounds like she is working on figuring out when those next meetings are. And in the meantime I'll start trying to get as many more signatures as I can up and down Rogers road.

Thanks again!

Daniel

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From: Laura Asermily <lase...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2021 7:14:53 PM
To: Houghton, Daniel <dhou...@middlebury.edu>; Susan McGarry <smcg...@gmail.com>
Cc: Erik Remsen <erik....@gmail.com>; Burt, Nate <bu...@middlebury.edu>
Subject: Rogers Road Traffic Calming & Sidewalk Need

 

Good job at SB tonight campaigning for this! I will advocate for attention to this. Follow up by attending the very next Infrastructure Comm and Public Health and Safety. Both meetings have public comments option as SB does. They have so many issues and need to be reminded. South St residents are also asking for traffic calming. Laura

[Laura Asermily]

Laura, excellent points.

Attached next under is a one page pdf of the “road diet” traffic calming measures proposed for South Street by a Dubois & King study in 2015.  While the study envisions a permanent ultimate solution, these two measures could be easily implemented for analysis with paint.  I think even that could become permanent, as the visual narrowing should slow drivers down naturally.  This, for me, is a low cost no-brainer.

David