Town hopes signs will slow down speeders

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PROSPECT — The town is purchasing three new radar speed signs to encourage motorists to slow down.

Mayor Robert Chatfield said the signs, which together cost $9,045, will be installed on Summit, Salem and Maria Hotchkiss roads, which he said are all cut-throughs for people trying to avoid construction traffic on I-84.

He said there have been accidents on S-curves on Summit and Salem roads, including a fatal accident on Summit Road two years ago. The town has since widened that street in an attempt to make it safer.

Although there haven’t been any accidents on Maria Hotchkiss Road, Chatfield said people often speed there and don’t stop at a three-way stop sign.

Prospect already has three such radar signs, which flash with passing motorists’ speed, installed on Scott, Cook and Straitsville roads.

The money for the signs is coming from the police overtime fund.

At other dangerous intersections in town, Chatfield had town crews paint the word “stop” in four-foot letters, widened stop bars and recently bought six oversized stop signs to get the point across. He said he also purchased speed limit signs that are sized for the interstate, about five times larger than the normal town speed limit signs.

Most town roads have speed limits of 25 to 30 miles per hour, Chatfield said.

Ongoing construction on I-84 in Waterbury has caused gridlock in Prospect from 7:45 to 9 a.m. and from 2:45 to 6 p.m.

When that project is completed in a few years, Chatfield said he believes Prospect’s traffic problems will be solved.

Meanwhile, painting white lines on the sides of roads has cut down on nighttime accidents and adding catch basins instead of pipe with sheer drop-offs on the sides of roads has helped too, Chatfield said.

He said a police crackdown on drunken driving has resulted in fewer accidents in the middle of the night.