Hey Greenwich! Did You Know ... Changes to Byram Traffic Patterns OK'd?

Today is Friday, May 25 and it's National Wine Day!

This Day in History:

In 1935, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Babe Ruth hits his 714th home run, a record for career home runs that would stand for almost 40 years. This was one of Ruth’s last games, and the last home run of his career. Ruth went four for four on the day, hitting three home runs and driving in six runs.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy announces to Congress his goal of sending an American to the moon by the end of the decade and asks for financial support of an accelerated space program.

In 1977, Memorial Day weekend opened with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas' blockbuster Star Wars movies hits American theaters.

Things you should know:

Proposed Byram traffic pattern changes OK'd

The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved nearly all of the proposed changes to traffic patterns in Byram in an attempt to mitigate the growing congestion along the Mill Street corridor.

After a field trip before Thursday's meeting to view morning traffic at the intersections of Mill and Water streets, and Mead and Delavan avenues, the selectmen agreed with Department of Public Works traffic engineers, residents and business owners that changes are needed.

The plan includes changing a left turn only arrow from westbound to eastbound traffic on Mill Street at Water Street, to help ease the congestion caused by traffic entering Greenwich into Port Chester.

The second part of the plan involves removing the no right on red sign on Mead Avenue at Delavan Avenue as well as 2 parking spaces to create a right-turn lane. The change is to designed to minimize congestion caused by the recent restriction to one-way traffic on nearby New Lebanon Avenue.

The selectmen, however, insisted that for pedstrian traffic in the neighborhood where most children walk to New Lebanon School, that the pedestrian-only phase of the traffic light at the intersection be kept. The selectmen voiced concern that despite a public awareness campaign for children, may not heed or understand sharing the pedestrian crossing phase with traffic.

"I have a concern with behavior—if a young person sees that they can go, they go. We can't legislate behavior," said First Selectman Peter Tesei. At previous meetings, residents and business owners cited the high pedestrian traffic necessitated keeping the exclusive pedestrian crossing phase in the traffic light cycle.

The board unanimously voted to keep the exclusive pedestrian phase.

The proposals now require approval from the state Traffic Commission before any changes can be made.

Holiday hours for the Department of Motor Vehicles

Department of Motor Vehicles customer service centers will close for the Memorial Day holiday on Friday, May 25, at 12:30 p.m. and reopen Tuesday, May 29, at 7:45 a.m.

Major DMV service offices will be open on Thursday until 5:30 p.m.

All AAA offices will be open to process renewals for driver licenses and non-driver ID cards during their normal business hours on Friday, May 25 and Saturday, May 26.  AAA offices will be closed on Monday, May 28.

Traffic alert for this week:

Connecticut Light & Power continues its power line and equipment upgrades around town. Drivers should expect some delays on:

• North Street, between the Merritt Parkway and Fairfield Road
• Fairfield Road, between North Street and Stanwich Road
• Stanwich Road, between Fairfield Road and East Putnam Avenue
• East Putnam Avenue, between Stanwich Road and Strickland Road
• Strickland Road
• Old Mill Road
• Sound Shore Drive
• Station Road
• Loughlin Avenue

Meetings today at Greenwich Town Hall:

There are none scheduled.

If you prefer the clicker instead of being there or want to catch up on a meeting you missed, there's Greenwich Community Television (GCTV) on either Fios Channel 24 or Cablevision's Channel 79.

And if you prefer movie entertainment, here's the schedule for: