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8.0 TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC CIRCULATION

This chapter summarizes current transportation conditions in the Town of Bethel. This evaluation is based on the town-wide public opinion survey and existing documents and studies, including the following:

1. Town of Bethel, 1984 Update to the Plan of Development
2. Commuter Traffic Flows to and from Bethel, Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), December 1993
3. State of Connecticut Department of Transportation, Information on Accident Locations (1991-1993 TASR and SLOSS)
4. Bethel-Danbury-Newtown Route 6 Traffic and Curb Cut Management Plan, HVCEO July 1993
5. Bethel Traffic Circulation Action Plan, HVCEO May 1992
6. Bethel Center Traffic Flow Improvement Plan, HVCEO December 1987
7. Rail Station Access & Streetscape Enhancement Project, Town of Bethel February 1995

8.1 Current Transportation Demand

One of the most critical components of the transportation demand is the home-to-work or commuter trips. The 1990 Census provides information on commute pattern to and from Bethel. Table 14 shows the major locations of employment for the 9,462 Bethel employed residents. It can be seen that about one third of the employed residents work in Danbury and one fifth work in Bethel itself. The other work destinations represent small proportions of the Bethel work force, i.e. 5.3% or less for each destination.

Table 14 also shows the number of commute trips made in single occupancy vehicles, i.e. persons driving to work by themselves. On average 87% of the commute trips produced in Bethel are being made by "solo" drivers. This proportion is lower for Manhattan (21%) and to a lesser degree for the towns located along the MetroNorth line. Those destinations in Table 14 that have a large number of car drivers (typically more than 200 drivers) are potential candidates for ride sharing improvements.

For the 6,184 jobs located in Bethel, about one third are held by Bethel residents and one fourth by Danbury residents. The other residential origins represent again very small proportions, i.e. 5.2% or less each.

Table 15 summarizes the daily traffic volumes on the state highways in Bethel in 1985 and in 1994, as well as the average annual increases over the nine year period. As can be seen traffic increases over the last nine years have generally been very low, in most cases 1.8 % per year or less. Two road sections even showed decreases in traffic volumes. Only I-84 and the section of Route 6 that is part of the Interchange #8 have experienced higher growth rates over the last 9 years.

8.2 Traffic Accidents

In September 1995 the Connecticut Department of Transportation published a 1991-1993 Traffic Accident Surveillance Report and a suggested list of Surveillance Study Sites for all State highways in the Housatonic Valley Region. The list of Surveillance Study Sites includes accident locations where the actual accident rate over the three year period exceeded the critical accident rate for that type of location and where there were 15 or more accidents. No accident locations in the Town of Bethel appeared on that list of critical locations.

According to the Bethel Police chief the following intersections represent traffic safety hazards:

• Greenwood Avenue and Chestnut Street
• Greenwood Avenue and Library Place
• Greenwood Avenue and Grassy Plain Street
• Grassy Plain Street and Fleetwood Avenue
• Route 6 and Old Hawleyville Road
• Route 6 and Payne Road
• Route 6 and Sky Edge Drive

8.3 Transportation Concerns Expressed in the Town-Wide Public Opinion Survey

The following transportation issues and concerns were expressed by Bethelites as part of the town-wide public opinion survey, distributed and compiled in early April 1996. There are no priorities or frequency-of-mention attached to these items.

• At the corner of Maple Avenue and Hickok Street, students cannot safely get across the street to catch the school bus.
• There are potholes on Wolfpits Road, from Codfish Hill Road to Sunset Hill Road.
• Route 6 has poor traffic flow and is too congested.
• Greenwood Avenue is too congested. It should be one-way from Library Place to P.T. Barnum Square. Parking should only be on one side of the street as well.
• Traffic on Greenwood Avenue makes walking there very unappealing due to the fumes and exhaust from cars and trucks.
• The traffic signal in front of Library Place should have a shorter red and longer green for the traffic on Greenwood Avenue. There is a traffic flow problem on Library Place.
• Crosswalks along Greenwood Avenue need to be better defined.
• There is a high bank between Greenwood Avenue and Grassy Plain Street. Snow plows demolish road side curbing, creating drainage problems during the winter months.
• An exclusive turning phase (with arrow) is needed at Chestnut Street and Greenwood Avenue.
• There should be a four-way stop sign at the intersection of Prospect Street, Main Street, Maple Avenue, and Chestnut Street. The stop sign at Chestnut Street and Main Street is not stopping the cars coming from Greenwood Avenue. Therefore, it is very difficult to come out of Prospect Street because of the speed of the cars coming from Maple Avenue.
• Fleetwood Avenue Bridge is rotten.

Bethel's Road Network

Typically the roadways in a community are organized according to a functional classification or a hierarchy. This classification takes into consideration the fact that not every road can satisfy all circulation needs. Two basic functions can be fulfilled by a road: the function of through movement and the function of access to adjacent land. In the past when traffic volumes in the rural or small town areas were very low, there was no need to distinguish between these functions. A two-lane road could provide for the through movement and access to adjacent properties without any conflict between the two functions. As traffic volumes increase it becomes increasingly important to organize the network so that through traffic can be avoided or at least minimized on local streets and driveways can be minimized on through roads. Very often traffic problems and accidents can be related to a conflict in functional classification, whether it is regional through traffic on a residential road or an excess of driveways on state arterials. Bethel's network can be classified as follows:

Expressway: I-84

I-84 is the only expressway through the Town of Bethel. As access to the expressways is restricted to grade-separated interchanges it represents the highest category of roadways. Bethel residents can use either Interchange #8 on the border with Danbury or Interchange #9 in the Town of Newtown. Interchange #8 is a very complex interchange integrated into a pair of one-way frontage roads, partially functioning as Route 6. Because of the one-way system and the spread out ramps, this interchange causes fairly circuitous movements.

State Maintained Arterials:

Four state arterials serve the Town of Bethel: Routes 6, 53, 58 and 302. Two routes operate in an east-west direction (Routes 6 and 302) and the other two in a north-south direction. All four routes are two lanes wide (one lane in each direction).

Route 6 (Stony Hill Road) runs parallel to I-84 and is substantially commercial. It has five traffic signals along its length in Bethel. Traffic volumes decrease from west to east. Traffic along Route 6 in Bethel has generally not increased to any significant degree.

Route 53 (Grassy Plain Street/Turkey Plain Road) runs north-south in the westerly part of Bethel and connects Danbury and Bethel to the Merritt Parkway and to I-95. It is also a two-lane road with modest traffic growth.

Route 58 connects the central area of Bethel to the Town of Redding and also to the Merritt Parkway and to I-95. Route 58 terminates at Route 302 (Milwaukee Avenue).

Route 302 (Greenwood Avenue/Milwaukee Avenue) traverses the center of Bethel in an east-west direction connecting to Route 53 in the west and to Newtown in the east.

Collector and Local Streets:

Collector streets are meant to collect traffic from the local (residential) streets and to bring traffic to the arterials. Often the intersections between arterials and collectors are signalized, whereas intersections between collectors and local streets are controlled by stop signs. Secondary traffic generators such as elementary schools or small retail establishments can be located along collectors. Twelve town roads in Bethel have been classified as collectors by Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Bethel has a total of 85 miles of improved town roads, including the collector and local streets.

8.4 Potential Transportation Improvements

I-84
I-84 traffic has been increasing at an average annual rate of 3.5% since 1985. Traffic congestion along I-84 caused by accidents or other bottlenecks shifts traffic volumes unto Route 6 on a frequent basis. State and regional plans call for widening I-84 through Bethel from four to six lanes. The widening could be achieved without any major reconstruction nor land taking in Bethel. The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials recommend widening I-84 from two to three lanes in each direction between the Danbury Line and Brookfield Line. Connecticut Department of Transportation has already completed the air impact modeling.

The construction of a new eastbound I-84 ramp located immediately north of Payne Road was discussed in 1982 as a way to provide a more direct access from Payne Road to I-84 eastbound and improving the link between I-84 and the center of Bethel via Payne Road. Payne Road would then function as a minor arterial. This ideal was rejected by Connecticut Department of Transportation in 1989 because the new ramp would be too close to the existing eastbound ramp and the demand would not justify this expense. An alternative improvement would consist in a new Interchange 8 ramp, replacing the existing eastbound ramp, located a short distance to the east of the existing are, to a point directly opposite Payne Road. This would eliminate the need for northbound Payne Road traffic attempting to enter I-84 east to travel around the large rotary at Interchange 8.

Route 6
The 1.6-mile section of Route 6 in Bethel was studied in 1993 by the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials as part of the Bethel-Danbury-Newtown Route 6 Traffic and Curb Cut Management Plan. This study recommended that Route 6 in Bethel be widened to a five-lane cross-section (two through lanes in each direction plus one left-turning lane) from Sky Edge Drive through Benedict Road and to a four-lane section from east of Benedict Road to Newtown. Certain curb-cut modifications were also recommended. The following intersections need to be improved: Sky Edge Drive, Garella and Sand Hill Roads, Benedict and Hawleyville Roads, and Old Hawleyville Road. These improvements should be made first, with the road widening done as a last resort. The need to widen should be generated by local traffic volume, not I-84 overflow. Enough land and setbacks should be reserved to allow the possible widening.

Bethel Business District
Several past studies have evaluated the Bethel center traffic circulation and have made recommendations to improve traffic and pedestrian circulation, as well as parking. These included a four-lane "Business Center Bypass" expressway in conjunction with a loop system creating a rectangular loop around Bethel Center (1958 Town Plan). The 1969 Town Plan Policy proposed a one-way circulation system on upgraded School and South Streets to relieve congestion on Greenwood Avenue. Later studies concluded that these major new roadways and the widening of Greenwood Avenue are not feasible and concentrated instead on individual intersection improvements and signalization changes. The 1987 HVCEO Planning Bulletin "Bethel Center Traffic Flow Improvement Plan" made the following type of recommendations: restrictions of on-street parking during peak hours, promotion of off-street parking, one-way southbound Depot Place and installation and coordination of traffic signals. This Plan of Development does not recommend making Depot Place one way.

Bethel Center-Great Pasture Connector
A past proposal called for the extension of Durant Avenue northward into Great Pasture Road in Danbury. The objective was to improve the north-south connection between Bethel and Danbury. There does not appear to be a great demand for this now, and thus this Plan does not recommend it.

Bethel Center-I-84 Connector
A certain number of proposals have been made over the past thirty years to improve the connections between Bethel Center and I-84. The first of these proposals involved a limited access highway between Maple Avenue and the I-84 Interchange 8 west of Payne Road. This proposal later became the East Swamp Connector or the Old Sherman Turnpike Extension. This project was not pursued because of right-of-way and wetlands considerations. The 1984 Update of the Plan of Development mentioned the need to address the demand for a connection between Bethel Center and I-84. The town now feels that such a connection is not practical. This plan does not recommend it.

Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials' Proposals

Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials have made a series of other recommendations whose implementation requires study. Others have been discussed that were implemented over the last years, such as the new railroad station and several intersection improvements. Those for further study are:

Safety Improvements: Consider safety improvements at locations suggested by Bethel Police including the intersections with 302 Chestnut Street, Library Place, and Grassy Plain Street, and of Fleetwood Avenue with Route 53.

Route 302-Wolfpit Road: Improve sight distance and geometry of Route 302 with Wolfpit Road and Taylor Road.

Collector and Local Roadways: As a general goal, make improvements that facilitate better accessibility between Bethel Center and I-84 Interchange 8. Widen Plumtrees Road at its bridge over East Swamp Brook at the corner of Walnut Hill Road. Improve sight distance at the corner of Old Hawleyville Road and Plumtrees Road.

Parking: Seek to develop more commuter parking lots within Bethel.

8.5 Key Transportation Issues

The following are the key transportation issues (identified and numbered on Figure 17 (not in order of priority).

1. Future role and configuration of Route 6: How should this road and the adjacent uses change in the future to take advantage of its location adjacent to I-84? The Route 6 corridor is an important contributor to the town's tax base. The goal is to achieve this while improving the visual appearance of this very visible part of Bethel. Impacts on the adjacent residential areas have to be taken into consideration as well.
2. Circulation and Parking Improvements in downtown Bethel: Bethel Center has been able to maintain a unique character and charm, possibly because some of the improvements that were considered 30 years ago were never built. Being "hidden away" may have saved the downtown from larger commercial intrusions. However, it is important to devise plans for maintaining the overall circulation quality here. This will probably involve spot improvements at critical intersections, possibly additional minor connections, improvements to the pedestrian circulation and safety, parking strategies, etc.
3. I-84 Widening: Bethel would like to see I-84 widened to three lanes each way. This would ease traffic pressure on Route 6. (See Section 8.4.)

Other Transportation Modes: Besides the pedestrian improvements for downtown Bethel (possibly developing a park-and-walk system), the town should consider additional strategies to improve the alternatives to the automobile. These would include ridesharing strategies for Bethel residents commuting by car, attracting more residents to MetroNorth and bicycle improvements. These latter could include separate paths or lanes, preferential routes or bicycle locker recommendations at the station.

Figure 17: Key Transportation Issues