Selectmen Approve Request To Set Speed Limit On 4 Greenwich Roads

GREENWICH, CT — The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved a request to establish 25mph speed limits on four roads in Greenwich where speeding has become an issue, pending state approval.

During the board's meeting Thursday, Department of Public Works civil engineer Eleanor Rogers said the four connecting roads, Barnstable Lane, Burning Tree Road, Londonderry Drive and Winterset Road, do not have established speed limits.

All four roads are located in the same area of Greenwich, near Stanwich Road and the Merritt Parkway. (To sign up for Greenwich breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

Rogers noted the request came following complaints of drivers speeding in the area from residents of those streets.

"The request certainly came from a number of residents," Rogers said during the meeting. "It's our understanding that they're fairly well communicating between the area to kind of move forward with this. We haven't heard anything opposing it."

First Selectman Fred Camillo also noted the town has received similar complaints about speeding in the area.

"Speeding has always been an issue [in that area] for years, and it's getting worse," Camillo said. "That's an issue, so hopefully this will certainly mitigate that."

During the meeting, several residents of the area voiced their support for establishing a speed limit on the roads.

Clarena McBeth, a resident of Barnstable Lane, noted there was a hill in the area that drivers tend to "race down" despite that fact that there are children living on those roads. She also said the proposed speed limit was, in her opinion, still too high a rate of speed to be driving at in the area.

Stephanie Cowie, a Londonderry Drive resident, said speeding in the area has become a worse problem each year, and it was particularly "terrible" during the summer this year.

"The driving is frightful actually," Cowie said, "and during this pandemic there were so many kids walking and riding bikes...we're hoping [the speed limit] would hopefully make people start to realize that there are residents in this area, walking in these streets."

The request was unanimously approved by the three board members.

According to Camillo's executive assistant, Barbara Heins, the application for approval of the speed limits will be forwarded to the state traffic administration. Once approved, signage about the speed limits will be posted in the area as directed by the administration.

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