Stamford Seeks To Establish New Permanent Public Plaza
STAMFORD, CT — The city of Stamford Transportation, Traffic & Parking Department held an informational meeting last week on three projects that aim to increase roadway safety and enhance multi-modal options for residents.
The projects are all located in “tier 1” of Stamford’s High Injury Network map, which is based on actual crash data.
Patch will detail the three projects this week — first up is the Bedford and Forest Intersection and Plaza Project.
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This project involves establishing a permanent public plaza in the current parking lot at the corner of the intersection of Bedford Street and Forest Street. The area has been temporarily transformed for outdoor dining over the past few years, but this project would make the space permanent.
Additionally, the crosswalk crossing Forest Street and Prospect Street would be redone and raised to improve safety, according to Luke Buttenwieser of the Stamford Transportation, Traffic & Parking Department. It would also better connect Latham Park to the new public plaza being created.
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“A lot of the inspiration for this project came from two directions. One is the city’s commitment to expanding and making permanent outdoor dining in the city,” Buttewieser said during the meeting, pointing to the recently completed lower Summer Street corridor project as an example.
There would be expanded green space, plantings, an expanded outdoor dining area, more general public space and enhanced lighting.
“One of the other key factors of this project that really kind of forms the other half of it is at the crosswalk crossing Forest Street at Prospect Street — it has one of the highest rates of pedestrian crashes in the city, where there’s been over 30 pedestrian crashes in the last few years,” Buttenwieser said. “We’re really trying to address the very active safety issue going on at that intersection, as well as benefiting outdoor dining.”
The estimated cost for the project is $3 million, which would be helped by a $2 million state grant, Buttenwieser said. Currently, the design phase is nearly complete, and construction could take place as early as spring/summer 2025.
City officials are setting up pre-construction meetings with stakeholders.
There was a brief question and answer session after the project presentations, and residents praised the Transportation, Traffic & Parking Department for their work, especially Stamford Downtown Presiden Michael Moore.
“Our organization is absolutely committed to a multi-modal, pedestrian-friendly, very walkable and safe downtown. These are three crucial projects to meet that aim,” Moore said. “I’m particularly interested in the redesign of the intersection at Prospect and Forest, because we know the number of car and pedestrian accidents there. This is excellent.”
The two other initiatives that were discussed during the meeting were the Broad Street Roadway Safety Reconstruction project and the Atlantic Street Roadway Safety Reconstruction project.
All three are located in “tier 1” of the high-injury network map, which is based on actual crash data in the city as part of the Vision Zero initiative.
The projects have been named in numerous plans, such as the Stamford Master Plan and the Stamford Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.
Stay tuned for coverage of the remaining two projects.
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