Crossing Guard Considered for Highland and Sinclair, Work on Crosswalk Expected Soon

The intersection of Highland Avenue and Sinclair Place will be the subject of more traffic studies as the town considers the possibility of a crossing guard at the intersection.

Councilman Mark Ciarrocca, the chairman of the public safety committee, briefed the Town Council Wednesday night about the plans for the intersection, along with other proposed crossing guard locations around town.

The intersection of Highland and Sinclair has received attention in recent weeks as Brian and Karen Karnofsky have regularly asked the town to move the location of a new crosswalk for the intersection from adjacent to their driveway to the other side of Sinclair Place. The Karnofskys have filed a petition and conducted a study to show potential safety dangers to children crossing, to no avail. During the debate over the location of the crosswalk, the town raised the possibility of placing a crossing guard at the intersection to increase safety. The Karnofskys expressed concern with the proposed crossing, questioning the Town Council over what they perceived the widsom of spending more money on a crossing guard. The couple said they believe it would easier, and cheaper, to move the crosswalk as they have requested.

"We will keep an eye on the intersection and do  some traffic counts," Ciarrocca said. "We have done a lot of counts in the last month.

Ciarrocca was alluding to the frequent trips town officials took to the intersection to study the need for the propopsed crosswalk and the criticism by the Karnofsky. Ciarrocca said the crosswalk is likely to be striped by the thermoplastic company in the next week and the final work is likely to be completed in two weeks. A utility pole needs to be moved and a cutout needs to be placed in the sidewalk. Currently, The Karnofskys' driveway has served as an ad hoc crosswalk.

The discussion continued during the public comment portion of the meetings. Local resident Len Berman asked the Council about the crosswalk at Elm Street and Sinclair, which he noted was placed on an angle.

Ciarrocca said that the crosswalk Berman asked about was needed to be placed at its location. He said there are students who walk to nearby Franklin School will cross at that intersection and that the traffic movements in the area neccessitated the angle of the crosswalk. Town Adminisrator Jim Gildea said that while he did not have the reports related to the intersection available, he remembers that a study by the town's traffic consultant recommended the angled crosswalk.