Bridgeport officials call for action on traffic study after fatal East End crash

BRIDGEPORT – Five days after a fatal traffic accident in the East End, local officials gathered at the crash site Friday to demand that the city take action on a study of stagnant traffic conditions.

In a series of other accidents along Route 130 on Sunday, 32-year-old motorcyclist Carlos Jean Parra Rodriguez and his 21-year-old passenger Deivi Suarez were killed when they reportedly struck a car turning left at the intersection of Stratford Avenue and Bishop Avenue.

On Friday, officials, including State Senator Herron Gaston (D-Bridgeport), State Representative Andre Baker (D-Bridgeport), City Council members Ernie Newton and Eneida Martinez, and East End Neighborhood Revitalization Zone President Keith Williams, stood on the street corner asking for help from the city and state.

“We need to come together and solve this problem because we have all lost too many lives out here and we cannot lose any more,” Williams said.

Because drivers can reach excessive speeds on the two-lane roads and curbside parking blocks their view of intersecting residential streets, more than 220 traffic crashes have occurred on eastbound Stratford Avenue and westbound Connecticut Avenue in the past three years, according to the University of Connecticut’s Crash Data Repository.

Police Capt. John Cummings, who heads the department’s traffic division, said there have been about 44 accidents at the Bishop Avenue intersection since 2018. After Sunday’s accident, he told the small crowd in attendance that the department is increasing its speed enforcement efforts and working to ensure residents comply with traffic controls already in place in the neighborhood.

However, the four elected officials emphasized that the traffic improvements have been needed for a long time.

Baker, who has represented the Hartford neighborhood for nearly a decade, waved the printed document over his head and said the city must commit to implementing the East End Streets Plan, which has been ready for more than a year.

“The plan is in place. Everything is worked out,” he said. “We have to follow through. We have to keep raising money.”

Beginning in 2020, the Connecticut Metropolitan Council of Governments, in collaboration with the city, the state Department of Health and the East End NRZ, studied current traffic patterns along Route 130 for three years. The groups forecast increased travel demand due to future commercial and residential development and compared improvement plans.

According to the final presentation in May 2023, the agencies involved ultimately recommended converting Stratford Avenue’s two one-way streets into a two-lane road to curb speeding and make room for the area’s increasing traffic. With a new westbound lane on Stratford Avenue, the plan recommended removing one of Connecticut Avenue’s one-way streets to make room for dedicated parking and bike lanes.

Preliminary estimates from MetroCOG put the cost of the entire project at $20 million to $25 million. Baker, Gaston, Newton and Martinez argued for funding and increased traffic enforcement to prevent fatal crashes in the East End.

“It shouldn’t take someone’s death for people to come together and talk about it,” said Newton, who is running against Gaston in the upcoming primary for the 23rd Senate District seat.

Matthew Fulder, executive director of MetroCOG, told the CT Examiner on Friday that the biggest obstacle to implementing the recommendations is funding.

While the city, Stratford Township, MetroCOG and the state Department of Transportation are working to find state and federal funding sources, competition for the available grants is extremely high because the requirements are strict and funds are limited, Fulder said. He said Bridgeport and Stratford jointly applied for a federal grant to implement the Safe Streets and Trails for All program and the state’s Community Investment Fund to begin work on Stratford Avenue, but the project was not selected for either grant.

Fulder said MetroCOG continues to work with both ministries to find a solution.

“MetroCOG believes that it does not take a fatal accident to prompt transportation improvements along the Stratford Avenue Corridor,” he said. “MetroCOG staff have worked closely with Bridgeport and Stratford city staff to identify solutions, advocate for and apply for grants.”

Although the problematic Stratford Avenue and Bishop Avenue intersection will not be directly affected, the planning region secured a $600,000 federal grant in September to study and design the nearby Interstate 95 Interchange 29, Fulder added.

Meanwhile, DOT spokesman Josh Morgan told the CT Examiner on Friday that the department met with Bridgeport officials and told them they would work with local authorities to improve safety along Route 130.

“The East End study area is a complex infrastructure network that requires long-term solutions, which is why MetroCOG has been studying the area. However, there are shorter-term safety measures that can be taken while the process is ongoing,” he said.

Morgan said the state Department of Transportation has presented short-term solutions to reduce fatalities in recent meetings with city officials, such as increased police presence and the use of automated traffic enforcement systems, such as red light cameras and speed cameras.

Mayor Joe Ganim’s office, which bore the brunt of officials’ requests on Friday, did not respond to a request for comment.

In addition to calling for transportation improvements, Martinez, who is running for Baker’s 124th District seat this year, said elected officials need to take a “more aggressive approach” when it comes to representing East End, a minority community, at the local and state levels. She noted that Sunday’s deaths were not the first and urged lawmakers to call the mayor’s office.

“We shouldn’t be here today,” she said. “This case shouldn’t be the one we should be holding a press conference on. We should have been holding press conferences.”

While community members work with traffic engineers and state transportation officials to improve safety, Gaston said they must also work with police to ensure citizens obey traffic laws.

“This was a very tragic incident that happened right here on the corner and we want to make sure it never happens again to anyone,” he said.