NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — It’s a first for the state Department of Transportation. State and local officials cut the ribbon on the first ever raised crosswalk on a state road. It’s on Townshend Avenue in New Haven. It is a much-needed new bump in the road, right in front of the Nathan Hale School.

“This place has been a terrible speed trap ever since I moved here 3 years ago,” said Anna Boyle. She sees it firsthand when she’s out walking her dog, pumpkin. “The number of times me and my dog, walking around the neighborhood, almost getting hit because people really weren’t paying attention to the crosswalk.”

Now, if you don’t pay attention, you’ll get quite a jolt, and that’s the idea. Hundreds of children go to school right here.

“Sometimes we go on field trips, sometimes we need to cross, so this makes it so much easier for everybody to cross safely,” said Kat Laverty, the Nathan Hale school PTO Vice President.

The City of New Haven has lots of raised crosswalks. The signs and markings make them more visible. The bump forces cars to slow down. However, Townshend Avenue is a state road, and the state had never put in a raised crosswalk, until now.

“The City of New Haven showed us that it works on their local roads,” Garrett Eucalitto, the Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation. “They were patient and they worked with our engineering team how it would work in the winter with our plow trucks.”

Remember, a new state law went into effect about a year ago. Not just in raised crosswalks, but all crosswalks. You not only have to stop for people in the crosswalk, but even people standing a couple feet back on the curb who raise their hand indicating they want to cross.