On January 23, 2025, Brendon DeSimone, president of the Round Hill Association (RHA), met with the Greenwich Board of Selectmen to again advocate for better safety on some of the narrow and winding roads in the Round Hill area. This concern was first presented to the Town last year with the support of a study paid for by RHA from a traffic consulting firm, which outlined our local problems on Old Mill, Porchuck, Will Merry, and Cherry Valley roads. This January 23 meeting revisited the growing concerns of the neighbors and gave an update on discussions RHA had with the Greenwich DPW on possible solutions proposed by the RHA.
The problems of increased traffic, out-of-state drivers, and higher speeds on roads designed for local resident usage stem largely from the growing use of Google Maps and Waze phone apps which direct users off main roadways to save time. As Brendon explained at the meeting, “Before the popularity of traffic navigation apps, cars would take the Merritt to King Street or I-287 to get to Westchester Airport, Upper King Street, Armonk. or I-684. Now, to save a few minutes, out-of-town drivers and Ubers get off the Merritt and take Old Mill or Porchuck. We can no longer walk our dogs or even safely get our mail on the streets because there are so many cars driving so fast.”
This issue is prevalent in the backcountry and all over parts of Connecticut. The Greenwich Time had a full-page story on 1/26/25 titled, “Could CT Ban GPS Routes from Local Roads?” The article cited several towns in CT with the same safety problem, “Small, residential streets occasionally become major highway detours as drivers follow directions fed to them by Google or Waze or Apple.”
The RHA proposed solutions to the DPW, all aimed at lowering speed and decreasing the appeal of the apps. The proposed solutions included six possible ideas that have been successfully implemented in other areas of Greenwich and other towns: 1) lowering the speed limit by 5 MPH, 2) installing speed bumps, 3) eliminating the double yellow lines, 4) narrowing intersections, 5) adding small traffic rotaries or diverters, and 6) installing Rumble Strips. According to Brendon, the DPW did not act on the solutions suggested by the RHA and did not engage in a collaborative approach.
Based on this second meeting with the Board of Selectmen, there appears to be some momentum growing for traffic safety within the town government for the RHA footprint. Increased traffic could become even more problematic and demand more responsive action with the large housing development proposed on Upper King Street. This will only add more cars coming into the area of concern. The RHA will continue to represent the interests and concerns of its residents to the town on this and any other issues.
