Parking and pedestrian safety a problem on Millerton's Main Street

MILLERTON — Jeanne Rebillard watched with disbelief as a tractor-trailer truck sideswiped her car when it turned from Route 22 right onto Route 44 in Millerton, taking with it her side-view mirror and ripping to pieces her front quarter panel before driving away as if nothing had happened.

"I parked in front of Gilmor Glass and saw a truck going and all of a sudden I saw my car going forward," she said, describing the scene as she saw it from Dutchess Country Realty, the business she and her husband, Brad, run off Route 22 in Millerton. "He was turning to go up Main Street and as he was pulling through, the rear wheel caught my quarter panel and the mirror pulled off and he put rubber on my rear door. I saw it happen.

"It’s a concern for anybody on Main Street to come out and see their car was hit," she added. "My son often sits in my car and waits for me. It’s scary, it really is."

On-street parking leaves barely enough space for the heavy truck traffic that makes its way along Main Street. The size of the roadway, the sharp turn onto Route 44 and back onto Route 22, and the deep curve halfway up Main Street by The Moviehouse make for some hazardous road conditions whether driving, parking or walking in the village center. Rebillard said the best way to deal with the situation is to remove a few parking spots and free up space that tractor trailers need to navigate their vehicles through the village.

"You need more space by the Antiques Center and by Gilmor’s," she said. "You’ve got to worry about people stepping out and car doors opening. It’s dangerous. It’s so congested. For safety reasons you should probably take three spaces away — I know the merchants don’t like it, but it’s about safety."

Rebillard talked to Mayor John Scutieri about the incident, and her idea to remove some parking.

"I couldn’t be more torn because the merchants are begging for more and more parking and then you have an incident like what happened to Jeanne," he said, adding there was an additional spot years ago by Gilmor Glass that has since been removed to make it safer. "The question is if any of the parking along that side of the road, by Brick Block Auto, was removed, we would be taking five to six spots, and there’s nowhere to place them. They would be gone."

The mayor said that over the past several years Rebillard’s experience is the third tractor-trailer versus car crash, although there have been plenty of minor incidents.

"Over the years there have been lots of cars that have lost mirrors," Scutieri said, adding that Millerton Police Chief Richard Howard, who also works for the state Department of Transportation (DOT), is working on setting a benchmark on how wide the road should be. Route 44 (Main Street) is a state road. It’s a direct route into Connecticut and is heavily traveled by large trucks.

"Truck traffic is pretty substantial," Scutieri said. "It’s really a main highway. It’s been an issue ever since I can recall. Some people want an alternate trucking route, but then cars would use that and would stop using Main Street and then businesses would suffer. Hopefully, we might be able to take precautions to keep this kind of thing from happening again. Maybe we’ll eliminate parking spots from the most problematic areas, between Irving Farms and Oblong."

Scutieri said that one of the biggest concerns, clearly, is pedestrian traffic. The village has pedestrian cross walks on Main Street, with signage, to stop traffic as the law states. He said that most drivers abide the signs and that pedestrians are well protected.

"We put up pedestrian signs and if people use the walkways they’re safe," he said. "I know when we first put up the cones people were driving through, but they stop now. It’s a good feeling to know they stop now."

That’s good, but it’s not enough, according to town Councilman Tim Shaffer. He agrees with Rebillard that some parking spaces should be removed.

"The problem is there shouldn’t be parking on the right side of the street because there is no room for tractor-trailers," Shaffer said at a recent Town Board meeting, where he brought up the issue. "There shouldn’t be parking from Gilmor Glass to the Rail Trail. It could be a dangerous situation before it’s all over."