DANBURY – The extra traffic that a drive-thru fast-food restaurant and drive-up bank branch would generate if the city approved the expansion of a Newtown Road shopping plaza could worsen motorists’ “delay experience” at two intersections, an expert said.
“The western Plumtrees Plaza driveway, which is aligned opposite the Berkshire Shopping Center , currently operates at level service E during the weekday evening peak traffic period. And the additional traffic generated by this project is expected to degrade that driveway to level-of-service F,” said Charlie Baker, a traffic engineer, describing the impact of plans to expand the Plumtrees Plaza with two new drive-thru businesses.
“This means that left-turning motorists trying to exit that western driveway currently experience very long delays waiting for acceptable gaps in traffic during the peak periods, and those delays will increase somewhat with more traffic generated by the site,” the engineer said during a public hearing on Wednesday. “However, these delays are internal to the site, and they won’t negatively impact motorists passing the site on Plumtrees Road.”…