Complete Streets & Bikeway Committee

City of Middletown Complete Streets Committee Regular Meeting Minutes Monday, September 11, 2023, 7 PM Location: WebEx Attendees: Laura Baum, Howard Weissberg, John Hall, Lisa Liesener, John Yarmolovich, Tom Quirk, Zoemma Warshafsky 1. Current/ongoing projects: ● Air Line Trail – Farmington Canal Trail (ALT-FCT) Connector Study Update ○ VHB is still in contract negotiations with RiverCOG ● Saybrook Road (East Main to Tryon) ○ Water project started this month and is scheduled to finish in December. ○ Public Works met with Cardinal Engineering about fast-tracking a redesign for bidding out the project in March. ● Saybrook Road (Randolph to Aircraft) ○ Still doing crack seal now, will see how it fairs over the winter. Next year they will do a rubberized chip seal as a surface course on the concrete section. Phase 3 the following year would be to cap with asphalt. ● Micro-Transit and Micro-mobility (bikes/scooters) ○ River Valley Transit System has rolled out the Xtra Mile microtransit again this fall. ○ From their website: “XtraMile is a ride sharing service that anyone can use to get to and from anywhere outside of our service area. Operated by River Valley Transit, our shuttle bus picks you up and takes you to wherever it is that you need to go right when you need it.” ● Bike Friendly Middletown application ○ John Yarmolovich has been reviewing the materials. ● Washington & DeKoven Dr intersection ○ Route 17/Route 9 project. DOT is holding a construction meeting Wed at 6pm to discuss this project. The meeting will not be discussing signal changes. ○ CTDOT is hopefully going to present their findings to the city soon. ● Washington & Rte 3/Vine intersection work ○ Howard wants to look at this and others as part of the Community Connectivity Grant. ADA inventories are being done this fall. Public Works is inventorying all connections, sidewalks, and access issues. ○ Laura asked about the Safe Streets 4 All grant application. The city hasn’t heard back from CTDOT. ● Complete Streets Leadership Academies ○ City-contracted electrician will be installing low-height pedestrian crosswalk lights. Then traffic signal person will activate it so when the pedestrian signal is activated at night there will be lights that come on. ○ Two month pilot program. ○ Then they'll do some sort of public awareness event. 1  ● Events 2. Reports from other pertinent regular meetings/events: ● ECOIN ○ Revision of the floodplain map for Jackson Street bridge - Howard doesn't know about this project. ○ Urban Forestry ■ Request to remove two large honey locust trees near Green St & Main St. Police Dept is no longer pursuing the issue. ● Sustainable Middletown / CT ○ Middletown is pursuing Silver and awaiting a decision. 3. New Business: ● Beman Triangle intersection project ○ Paint they used wasn't appropriate for an intersection and has to be removed ○ Design will be put in crosswalk instead ○ Redoing a couple of ramps in the area ● SeeClickFix issue about crosswalk on Washington mid-block crosswalk ○ Zoemma noted that pedestrians crossing Washington St. near the Melilli public parking lot, to access businesses on the North Side of Washington have a cross-walk but it can feel dangerous to use. ● Coordinating/talking with police department ○ Captain Godwin of the Middletown Police Department is in charge of the traffic unit. ○ Laura will reach out to him to coordinate and see if he can participate in some of our meetings similar to his predecessor. ● CS/PW Quarterly meeting - set up next when paving is done. ● Laura has a new position as Special Assistant in the Commissioner’s Office at the CT Department of Transportation. She expressed that her work on the Complete Streets Committee is done in her personal time and is not related to her work duties but she did want to know if anyone had any questions or concerns about a conflict of interest. No concerns were raised. Notes: - Next meeting: Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 7 PM (WebEx) - Next quarterly Public Works/Planning depts. Meeting: TBD 2