PZC Member: Park & Ride Move Contradicts Town's Transit Goals, Creates Safety Risk

Phoenix Avenue may soon host the state’s new Park & Ride bus stop—but the road remains hostile to pedestrians. There’s no sidewalk on the east side, and the west side sidewalk (pictured) ends just short of Hazard Avenue—with no safe crossing in sight. On that same side, it also fails to reach South Road.

I’m thankful for Enfield’s pedestrian crosswalks and walk signals, and for its efforts to create bike lanes and trails. But that doesn’t change one immutable fact about Enfield: This town is unsafe for bike riders and pedestrians. Phoenix Avenue is a perfect example—a road that’s about to take on new importance for our community.

The state is apparently planning to relocate its Park & Ride to 90 Phoenix Avenue, near South Road, where there’s evidently a lot large enough to support this service. The Park & Ride connects residents to the state’s bus transit system. It has to move from Enfield Square because of the planned development project.

It’s always been difficult to ride or walk through the mall area. The shopping centers, roads, and curb cuts weren’t designed with pedestrians in mind. Riding to Barnes & Noble, for instance, just to enjoy the café, presents real challenges. If you try to navigate our commercial zones on foot, you quickly see the hazards.

The new Park & Ride location also poses serious issues for pedestrians—something raised by Christian D'Antonio, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission. As a commissioner, D'Antonio has consistently advocated for pedestrian access when reviewing new projects.

His preferred location? The newly expanded parking lot at Town Hall.

Moving the bus stop 1.3 miles away from the town center—where the highest number of pedestrians and cyclists live—undermines Enfield’s own transit-oriented development goals, D'Antonio said during a Town Council public comment session.

A Bad Idea

“What makes this even more offensive is that this location doesn’t even have a connected sidewalk network leading to it, so you’re really going to make people walk and bike along a four-lane divided highway with a posted 40 mile an hour [speed limit]... This is just a bad idea,” he added.

There is no sidewalk on the east side of Phoenix Avenue. On the west side, the sidewalks start well past the intersection with South Road and end at Hazard Avenue—with no crosswalk. Anyone who makes it that far has to turn back, because there's no safe way to cross. There’s no logic to it.

D'Antonio's broader point about the new Park & Ride location was not addressed. It's not clear how that decision was arrived at, but there was bipartisan agreement about the sidewalk problem on Phoenix. 

Mayor Says Sidewalks Need Action

“He’s 100% correct about those sidewalks,” Mayor Ken Nelson said at the meeting. “There’s like a 300-foot stretch of sidewalks that aren’t there,” he said. “To put this bus stop there—it just blows my mind.” 

Nelson said the issue has to be considered by the Department of Public Works subcommittee. “Let’s get plans drawn up.” But he also questioned how permanent this Phoenix Avenue location is.

A Problem in Plain Sight 

The lack of safe pedestrian access on Phoenix Avenue—and throughout our commercial core—goes back decades. And as the council’s reaction shows, the missing sidewalk section—and the dead-end sidewalk at Hazard Avenue—weren’t even recognized as problems until D'Antonio raised them.

The issue has been ignored for decades—even though it’s fully visible to anyone walking or biking.

The question town officials ought to be asking is this: What else are we missing?

The answer: A lot.

A Car-Centric Community 

Enfield decided long ago—in both practice and attitude—that it would be a car-centric town. It’s in our DNA, and it’s a self-reinforcing cycle. If we don’t have safe infrastructure, people will avoid walking and biking. And when the town considers investing in these areas, it will count the low number of cyclists and pedestrians as evidence there’s no need.

To its credit, Enfield has made some efforts to support biking and walking, with broad trails and painted bike lanes. But the overarching problem is this: They aren’t connected. There’s no integrated trail or route that will take someone safely to the heart of town, its commercial areas, or Thompsonville.

Connected Network Is Needed

D'Antonio is right: our town needs a safe, connected network. Solving it won't be easy. But we have an opportunity to make a major stride with the Enfield Square redevelopment project.

For that to happen, walkability and pedestrian safety must be priorities—not afterthoughts we scramble to fix after the fact.