Advocates in Norwalk, Connecticut have long pressed local officials to address speeding on Calf Pasture Beach Road, a stretch on which children walk to Marvin Elementary School and cyclists pedal to Calf Pasture Beach.

They have identified four core problems with the road:

• Narrow sidewalks squeeze pedestrians close to fast-moving traffic.

• Marvin Elementary children are at risk from both the narrow sidewalks and having to cross four lanes of traffic.

• The current road design encourages high speeds and even drag racing, a long-standing neighborhood complaint.

• The road is unsafe for cyclists, despite the beach being a popular recreational destination.

Over the past six months, school officials, advocates, and businesses have written letters, signed petitions, and held a rally of almost 100 residents to urge Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia to endorse a plan to put Calf Pasture on a “road diet,” reducing the total number of car traffic lanes from four to two and adding a buffered bike lane in each direction.

Now the advocates have data to back up their call for increased safety: a Livable Norwalk study found that, over the course of an hour on a recent Sunday, all but one car was speeding down Calf Pasture Beach Road. The average car was traveling at 35 miles per hour, 10 miles per hour over the speed limit, and one in 10 cars was traveling at 40 miles per hour or faster. Several cars traveled at more than twice the speed limit.

The advocates have argued that redesigning the road could save lives for the cost of “a few buckets of paint.”

Advocates intend to use the data to spur Mayor Moccia to act, and urged all Norwalk residents, or those who use Calf Pasture Beach Road, to call the mayor at (203) 854-7701 or email rmoccia@norwalkct.org and ask him to take safety seriously.