What I’ve learned to respect about New Haven is this: they are making noticeable steps toward Complete Streets. Even with progress, residents are empowered to demand more still, and the city has pragmatic, forward-thinking folks filling positions of power.

There’s something new every time I visit, which is more often now that train frequency from Hartford has improved.

Case in point: Crescent Street.

Among other things, this street has a high school and large athletic facility. Up until recently, it possessed what is a very rare sight in Hartford: a painted bicycle lane. Parking was still allowed on the curb.

That would have been enough, for many in Hartford, where we have to beg for basics. It was merely a start for New Haven, where in 2012 their 34 miles of striped bike lanes gave them bragging rights as having the most in Connecticut. They recently reconfigured Crescent Street. Besides the fresh crosswalk paint and addition of signs that communicate loudly to drivers that pedestrians are entitled to cross the road, there is a roundabout to physically slow down those too selfish/careless/dumb to do so on their own. That roundabout project was in its “preliminary phases” in late 2017; it was completed in two years. That’s light speed for a transportation project.

Had they only installed a roundabout, and added new paint and signs, that would have been enough. But, another major change has been to move the bicycle lane to the curb, place flex posts to the left of that, and create on-street parking to the left of the flex posts.

You might be thinking that flex posts are weak. They aren’t concrete barriers. They won’t block a car from entering a bicycle lane.

That is correct.

But in this case, they are used to separate slower-moving parking vehicles from bicycles. They are a step above paint, which doesn’t do anything to deter the reckless from weaving over the line. Flex posts won’t stop a car, but the threat of getting a scratched up vehicle may be what keeps the driver in line. And yes, we do live in a world where plenty of drivers will think nothing of using their vehicles to threaten pedestrians and cyclists, but something that might scratch or ding their precious status symbol will make many think twice.

Redesigning the lanes and installing flex posts would have been enough, but New Haven dared to leave the flex bollards in place throughout the winter.

In winter, you say? Why, if that doesn’t cause you to clutch your pearls, what would?

New Haven, like Hartford, is part of southern New England. Despite climate change, it still receives snow and ice on occasion. Hartford removed all its flex posts from the two demonstration projects last Autumn, before a single snowflake fell from the sky. The moment those posts disappeared, that pretty paint on the ground converted from being part of a safety feature to becoming nothing more than pure decoration.

A similar painted bump-out with flex bollards was installed in New Haven at one corner on Whalley Avenue. While I would argue that their paint job wasn’t as stunning as ours, the city left the plastic delineators alone. Most have been knocked over, but the few remaining extend its functionality — pedestrians have a shorter distance for crossing the street. More delineators can be found on Valley Street, and elsewhere, in New Haven.


New Haven is slightly warmer than Hartford, and there are times when we get snow and they do not, but the difference is not great enough to make the case that there is any reason aside from political will for the year-round presence of safety features for pedestrians and cyclists.

Crescent Street is just one example for how New Haven is working to prioritize the safety of all road users.

New Haven is not perfect.

Several pedestrians were killed in recent months after being struck by people driving on city roads.

But, I would argue that New Haven is working on owning their problems and making improvements. Police backed down after making the wrongheaded choice to ticket pedestrians for a crime invented by the auto industry. State Rep. Roland Lemar’s engagement in improving traffic safety has been undeniably sincere. There are multiple avenues for residents to get involved, from Westville Walks to goNewHavengo to Safe Streets New Haven to New Haven Coalition for Active Transport. The City of New Haven even makes available, on its website, a form residents can use to pitch Complete Streets projects.

Steps are being taken to fix what’s broken.