Tina Li, Contributing Photographer

At the Willow and Nicoll street intersection, a faded zebra crossing and obscured yield signs leave pedestrians terrified to cross. The intersection sees countless cars during peak hours, but with a lack of traffic safety measures, drivers often cannot see pedestrians. 

Five years ago, a family who lived by the intersection moved due to fears for their safety, Nicoll Street resident Amanda Czepiel told the News.

Last Sunday, Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith ’14 went door knocking on Nicoll Street. With a traffic safety petition in hand for residents in her ward to sign, she was joined by Czepiel. The two had previously met in a crowd that gathered after a large car accident on Willow Street.

“Try to walk across the street five times, you’ll see what happens,” Czepiel said. “Nobody stops and they get really angry with you for being in the street … They’ll swerve around you and honk their horn. It’s really aggressive.”

On Willow and Nicoll Street, a house’s chain link fence has been caved in by a car accident. Czepiel once was so close to being hit while crossing that she filed a police report. Because of the looming sense of danger, several residents avoid the intersection altogether or make their children cross the road down a street where there are traffic lights, Czepiel said. 

“It can be a very agitating, really scary experience. You can be having a great day, and then you almost get hit by a car,” she said. 

Czepiel and Tanbee Smith cited low visibility, the nearby highway and a car-centric mentality for the safety risks. 

Currently, the intersection at Willow and Nicoll only has stop signs on the Nicoll side. A neon sign requiring drivers to yield to pedestrians is blocked by a large tree. That tree also makes it difficult for drivers heading toward the interstate to see pedestrians waiting to cross, and a tree on the other side hides cars coming off the interstate from pedestrian’s sight.

In the 20 minutes the News stayed at the intersection, at least five pedestrians struggled to cross, hesitating for several minutes. Czepiel noted how far people had to poke their heads out past the trees to check for cars, as well as how drivers would speed through even if there were people waiting to cross.

Drivers often do not notice the zebra crossings on Willow and Nicoll streets because the paint has worn away and a large manhole sits in the middle of it, Czepiel said. Sometimes they will get agitated at her crossing the road because they think she’s jaywalking. Though there was an in-street pedestrian crosswalk sign in the past, Czepiel often had to place it back on the road after drivers hit it. 

Speeding at the intersection is also a major issue. Since it is only a few blocks away from I-91, people are either speeding toward the highway or still going at high speeds off it, Czepiel said. She added that the Shell gas station at the intersection gives the impression that it is a car-centric area. 

Tanbee Smith noted that based on police records she accessed, intersections close to highways tend to have the highest motor vehicle accidents. At nearby intersections such as Willow Street and Mitchell Drive and Willow and State streets, there have been over 50 motor vehicle accidents each in the past six years. 

While door knocking, she has found concerns to be unanimous among residents. 

“Whenever we talk to someone, it’s like: ‘What do you think about the Willow and Nicoll intersection?’ [There was] just this expression of recognition,” Tanbee Smith said. “It’s a very known area of some desperate need of improvement, and you can just feel that as soon as we knock on someone’s door.”

Though the intersection may not seem like a highly pedestrian area, the two explained that recent business developments — such as a fitness center, brewery and hair salon — have drawn more foot traffic. The Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services center also sits at the intersection. Two schools are within a half-mile radius — one of those being Wilbur Cross High School, the largest public school in New Haven. Children cross this intersection every day, but according to Czepiel, there are no cross guards.  

Tanbee Smith listed potential traffic safety solutions such as pedestrian bumps, speed tables and pedestrian islands. Director of Transportation, Traffic and Parking, Sandeep Aysola, wrote to the News about other countermeasures such as raising crosswalks and improving traffic signal timing. However, he noted the necessity of working with state and federal guidelines when considering ideas. 

Aysola also mentioned the possibility of “tactical urbanism” implementations which the city has recently been piloting — these short-term community-based projects might include murals that improve crosswalk visibility. 

Though residents expressed safety concerns about the intersection, Tanbee Smith noted that many residents felt “ambivalent” about adding speed bumps on Nicoll Street. While some heavily favor adding speed bumps and others do not want them, she has found that most people are uncertain. So, she plans to first push for investment at the Willow and Nicoll intersection as that was the main concern among residents. 

According to Czepiel, past talks about adding a traffic light were rejected as they would “slow down traffic” and “cause congestion,” particularly as there are already traffic lights on the intersections before and after Willow and Nicoll streets. 

“It might be that pedestrian safety isn’t the most important thing here,” Czepiel said. “I’d be cooler with congestion. That would be better if people felt safer.” 

Concerns about traffic safety in this area have been going on for “12 plus years,” according to Tanbee Smith. She hopes that with the petition and community feedback, the city will commit to making an investment by spring and that come summer, the intersection will be safer.

“This is becoming a real bustling area because of the schools and businesses,” Tanbee Smith said. “In addition to making it safer … it can go from a place that we all dread going to to a place that we’re actually really proud of.”

In Connecticut, pedestrians have the right-of-way at marked crosswalks.