Date: Fri 06-Dec-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

George-Hoti-302-accident

Full Text:

Restaurateur Frustrated By Lack Of Action At Hazardous Curve

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

It has been two months since the fatal tanker truck accident on Route 302, and

George Hoti is beyond frustration.

"This is a disaster here," he said on Tuesday, pointing at the sharp curve

where Route 302 intersects with Hattertown Road adjacent to his property,

George's Pizza and Restaurant.

"The worst disaster in the town's history - a $5 million to $10 million

disaster - occurred here 58 days ago and nothing has been done to make it less

hazardous. No one will take any responsibility to make sure it won't happen

again."

In the more than 10 years that Mr Hoti has operated the restaurant, there have

been dozens of accidents along the state highway in the Dodgingtown section of

town. The triangular intersection where Hattertown Road connects with Route

302 on a sharp curve is the most hazardous spot, Mr Hoti said, but no one in

state, federal or local government seems interested in making an effort to

reduce the risks by installing warning signs and street lights, reconfiguring

the intersection or correcting drainage problems.

In fact, Cement Jersey barriers which the state installed alongside the

parking lot after the October 7 accident pose an additional risk for drivers,

he said.

"I drove along Old Hawleyville Road from Route 6 and 25 to the Four Corners in

Brookfield, and there must be 150 (traffic) signs," he said. "On 302 there are

almost none, just an arrow (at the curve by the restaurant) and a speed limit

sign. There are probably more than 2,000 homes in this area, all paying taxes,

and we can't get anyone to come here, look at this problem and do anything."

After the accident, thousands of tons of contaminated soil were removed from

the restaurant parking lot and the property behind the restaurant. The parking

lot then was graded and paved, a process which required the removal and

relocation of the parking lot's lighting. Mr Hoti said that while he was

talking to CL&P about the new parking lot lights, he also asked about the

possibility of getting street lights for Route 302 because he thought more

illumination there would help drivers.

"I'm concerned about the safety of customers turning into and out of my

parking lot and the safety of people driving around this curve," he said.

Mr Hoti said CL&P account executive Matt Hickey contacted both Newtown

officials and the state Department of Transportation about the request and was

turned down flat.

"The DOT told him there was no way they were going to do anything," Mr Hoti

said. "So I said I would pay for the lights."

First Selectman Bob Cascella said that when Mr Hickey called his office, he

explain that the town can't do anything about street lighting on Route 302.

"The town has no authority -it's a state road," Mr Cascella said. "I referred

him to the DOT."

"It's a horrible intersection," Mr Cascella agreed. "If I had a

recommendation, it would be to put the lights in. If the DOT wants to put in

lights there, that would be great."

Mr Hickey said it was the first time he had been involved in contacting the

DOT about a request by a customer for street lights on a state road.

"I was told there was no problem putting lights on a state road - I got the

approval - but I was told that the DOT wouldn't pay for it," he said.

Mr Hickey said the town has been paying for one street light on the pole which

was knocked down by the gasoline tanker in the accident. "When the pole was

replaced, the light was replaced," he said. "It is at the intersection of 302

and Hattertown Road but it actually is angled toward the state road to provide

the most illumination there."

Mr Hickey said the additional lights which Mr Hoti has requested would be

installed on existing Southern New England Telephone poles located across the

street from the restaurant and would illuminate the street, not the parking

lot. Mr Hoti will pay $33 a month as an energy usage/rental fee for these

lights.

"I want to do my part for the community where I live and my restaurant is

located," Mr Hoti said. "At least if the roads are wet or icy, drivers will be

able to see where they are going, not be traveling in the dark."

DOT District Traffic Engineer Steve Martinsen said there is a procedure that

is usually followed when street lights are requested along a state road.

"The DOT may do it if the department concludes upon investigation and

engineering analysis that the lights are warranted," he said. "There is a lot

of criteria - road alignment, traffic flow and the like - to be considered. We

make a very rigid analysis before we agree to pick up the tab. But if we

decide we do have a treacherous situation, we will do it."

It's not unusual, however, for a town or an individual property owner to pay

for the light, he said.

"When a light is requested, usually by a town but sometimes by a business or

residential customer, CL&P will contact the DOT for approval. CL&P will

install the light and the property owner will pay for the energy use," Mr

Martinsen explained.

State Rep Julia Wasserman, who represents eastern Newtown and western Bethel,

said Mr Hoti has not contacted her about his concerns regarding the safety of

the road.

"When there was an environmental issue I contacted the DEP (State Department

of Environmental Protection) for him and someone from the department made a

special trip to Dodgingtown," she said. "But he hasn't called to ask me to

help him with this."

Rep Wasserman said she sent a letter to the DOT requesting more signs after a

Dodgingtown couple, Hyman and Margo Reiser, wrote to her, asking that the area

be made safer.

"I think the DOT should put up flashing signs," she said.

DOT Traffic Engineer Charles Harlow said his department is in the process of

upgrading the signs.

"There will be more large arrows in both directions to better convey the

curvature of the road for unfamiliar drivers," he said. "The new signs should

be up sometime in January."

One Dodgingtown resident called The Bee recently to complain of water that

drains across Route 302 from the newly developing Pinacle Ridge subdivision.

"This is a new condition and a dangerous one," she said. "The water is going

to freeze this winter and there will be another terrible accident."

On Tuesday, more than 24 hours after Monday's rainstorm, water still was

flowing heavily along Route 302 to a storm drain across the street from the

restaurant. One of the workers who was laying conduit in the ground behind the

restaurant used his shovel to create an earthen dam to temporarily channel the

water past the storm drain to another drain further up the road.

"There's so much water coming through the drain to the area behind the

restaurant that we can't work," he explained.

Judy Pierce, who lives on Route 302 near the restaurant, said the town and

state should seriously consider making the Hattertown Road intersection into a

three-way stop to reduce the number of accidents.

"It's astounding that nothing has been done," she said. "Something happens

there nearly every week, particulary in the winter months."