Streetsblog.net

The above photo shows the Shaw's supermarket, which is located at the outskirts of Downtown New Haven in the city's Dwight neighborhood. The Shaw's Plaza is home to the only major supermarket in Downtown New Haven, and attracts many local residents and Yale students. Click to enlarge the aerial photograph.

Despite the supermarket's popularity and the incredibly high density of the surrounding neighborhood (according to the Census, the Dwight neighborhood has a population density close to those of many of the central boroughs of London, and 60% higher than that of Chicago), there are no crosswalks or traffic calming measures anywhere near the store. In addition to the lack of any pedestrian plaza right at the store's entrance, DNH readers regularly observe families of all ages, even people in wheelchairs, trying to cross Whalley Avenue near the Shaw's plaza. To make things worse, vehicles regularly speed in excess of 50MPH down the 4-lane, median-less highway (ConnDOT and the City of New Haven hope to make other sections of Whalley Avenue look like this in the near future).

In fact, according to reporting by the City, this section of Whalley Avenue regularly competes with a few high-speed regional highways on the city's edges for the title of the worst safety record in the city. The street fronting Shaw's Plaza is not a place where residents socialize, enjoy cups of coffee or get their daily exercise, and the plaza has suffered in recent years from retail vacancies (even as more pedestrian-oriented sections of the Avenue, just a block or two to the west, are doing quite well).

Many neighborhood groups, organizations and elected officials along Whalley Avenue, including the WEB, Dixwell, and Dwight Community Management Teams, Whalley Avenue Revitalization Committee, residents of Fellowship Place, Whalley Avenue Special Service District were signers of the New Haven Petition for Safe Streets. Some very limited enforcement activity has taken place in the area, but until the street is redesigned (plans have been on the table for decades), additional safety measures should be installed.

As a temporary measure, perhaps the city would consider installing bollards, as they did on River Street, or as ConnDOT did on Route 34 near Ella Grasso Boulevard after the dozens of serious and fatal collisions that took place near there? Or perhaps even an uncontrolled crosswalk leading to the store, now that studies have debunked the "false sense of security" myth?

In contrast, here is an aerial photo of the Target in North Haven, Connecticut. The store is located in an industrial zone next to the old refuse dumps (known as "Mount Trashmore") off I-91, and has no relationship with any surrounding residential or commercial areas.

The store is the epitome of "dumb growth." But wait. Look at the textured, shared space plaza at the front of the store, vehicle bollards, traffic calming, medians, brightly-striped international-style ("zebra") crosswalks, and pedestrian walkways.

Those who frequent this store report feeling exceptionally comfortable and safe walking to it. Families with children are regularly spotted walking, skipping, or hobbling into the store's entrance with ease. The Starbucks located at the store's entrance does quite well, with people spilling out to enjoy their coffees in the nice weather. This despite that the area often smells like industrial emissions or manure processing, and has views of abandoned rail tracks and one of the largest parking lots in New Haven County.

This comparison begs the question: Why are residents living in sections of one of the densest downtown areas in the United States -- many of whom are unable to own or operate a vehicle -- treated like second class citizens?