This report provides an inventory for the Town of Sherman's traffic safety issues and statistics as of 2002. The goal of HVCEO in preparing this specialized report for Sherman is to organize key information on traffic safety needs from the HVCEO data base for ease of use by all concerned.

This specialized research may also be of use as permit application conditions are set by the Planning and Zoning Commission, as an input to setting police enforcement priorities, and by citizens shaping governmental decisions.

Having this research available also reduces the preparation cost of, or possibly serves as a portion of, the traffic intersection safety data report recommended by the 2001 Sherman Master Plan of Development.

This inventory has much information on state roadway traffic safety, making use of Conn DOT accident rate data. This valuable data in contained in the Conn DOT Traffic Accident Surveillance Report, or TASR. In that report, each state roadway in Sherman is evaluated for indications of higher than statistically expected accident rates. HVCEO uses TASR ratings approaching 90% or over as indicators of possible priority for remedial action.

The intersections or roadway segments that stand out as safety problems appear on past or present Conn DOT TASR lists for Routes 37, 39 and 55. Conn DOT then prioritizes the TASR listings by designating its highest risk locations as the "Suggested List of Surveillance Study Sites" or SLOSSS. When there is a documented SLOSSS problem, public funds can more easily be attracted to resolve it. Fortunately, few roadway locations in rural Sherman reach the seriousness of a SLOSSS designation.

Some TASR rates are also high, above 100%, but do not exceed the threshold accident count of 15 to appear on the SLOSSS. These are "sub-SLOSSS" TASR locations but still of importance, and several can be found in Sherman.

These statistics do not necessarily prove by themselves that a location is hazardous. Rather, the TASR and SLOSSS statistical systems are tools to focus more detailed traffic investigations and then investments.

The policy of the HVCEOês 1997 Regional Growth Guide is to place the entire Town of Sherman into a "Remote Area" category that recommends the lowest population densities in the Region. Correspondingly, the Guide recommends lowest regional priority for traffic capacity increases within the Town.

This policy seeks to prevent sprawl development and to work in harmony with the rural planning policy of the 2001 Sherman Master Plan. According to the HVCEO Regional Transportation Plan, Sherman has "elements of a rural road system, with low average daily traffic volumes, often sufficient as is for the semi-rural remote use."

This complements perfectly the 2001 Sherman Master Plan policy which is that "Town roadways shall be only as large as is necessary to handle normal traffic burdens and to ensure superior access at all times for emergency vehicles. Subject to these considerations, town roadways should retain as much as possible the character of scenic rural lanes, rather than modern interurban highways."

A ten year average of the TASR rates of 90% or above on Sherman's state roadways yields the following list:

Route 55 from Evans Hill Road east to Route 39 ..........190%
Route 39 legs of southern intersection with Route 37... 171%
Route 39 intersection with Leach Hollow Road..............113%
Route 39 from Cedar Lane north to Route 37...............102%
Route 39 intersection with Wanzer Hill Road.................101%
Route 39 leg of northern intersection with Route 37....... 90%

The text below will examine safety issues at these locations. Please note that the text makes some references to the 1978 Sherman Plan of Development. It is recognized that the 2001 Plan supersedes that older document. However, the 1978 Plan cited many TASR statistics and defined traffic safety problem areas on that basis, while the 2001 Plan did not delve into TASR statistics. Thus this 2002 document looks at TASR history as documented in 1978 when reviewing more current TASR statistics.

In addition, the 2001 Sherman Plan had no map of roadway functional classifications attached. Thus classifications as shown on the map in the earlier 1978 Town Plan are referenced.