Date: Fri 24-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

DOT-bypass-FHH-bridge

Full Text:

DOT Explains Details Of Planned Bypass Road

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

State Department of Transportation (DOT) engineers Wednesday night explained

aspects of the planned Fairfield Hills bypass road, a connector road that is

intended to improve east-west traffic flow through town.

The engineers spoke to about 25 residents in the Newtown High School

auditorium.

State Rep Julia Wasserman presented the meeting with a detailed chronology of

planning work on the road which is seen as a means to alleviate heavy truck

traffic through the town center. The bypass road will provide improved access

for motorists between Route 25, Interstate-84 and Route 34. The $3.6-million

bypass road has been designed for truck traffic. Through-truck traffic is now

banned on the Fairfield Hills grounds.

Carl Bard, DOT's principal engineer on the project, said a combination of

state and federal funds will cover project costs. The new road will bypass the

core campus of Fairfield Hills and link the intersection of Mile Hill Road

South and Mile Hill Road to the area where Mile Hill Road intersects with

Oakview Road.

The section of Mile Hill Road that crosses Fairfield Hills today doesn't meet

current design standards. About 7,500 vehicles cross the grounds daily. By the

year 2010, it is estimated that 11,000 vehicles will cross the grounds daily,

according to DOT.

Construction on the new road is planned to start in April 1997, provided that

planning for project proceeds smoothly. Completion is expected by October

1998.

Mr Bard explained that a key factor in how soon the road can be built is how

fast a new bridge to cross the Pootatuck River can be constructed. One-half of

the bridge will be built at a time, he said, requiring the need for a

temporary traffic signal there to regulate alternating one-way traffic,

according to Mr Bard.

Tim Gaffey, DOT's bypass project manager, said the section of roadway that

bypasses the core campus will be 36-feet wide, consisting of two 12-foot-wide

travel lanes and two 6-foot-wide road shoulders. The main entrance to the

campus will be narrowed from 38 feet wide to 16 feet and will only carry

one-way traffic into the campus from the intersection of Mile Hill Road South

and Mile Hill Road.

The intersection of Trades Lane and the bypass road will become the new main

entrance to the campus. The intersection will have turning lanes and a traffic

signal.

The section of the bypass road on the hillside between Nunnawauk Road and the

core campus will be wider than normal to provide climbing lanes for trucks, Mr

Gaffey said. The road will be 44 feet wide there.

The bypass road section between Nunnawauk Road and Oakview Road will be 40

feet wide.

Advanced erosion control measures will be used during construction and special

contamination traps will be installed there because the area lies above the

Pootatuck Aquifer, an environmentally sensitive area that holds the town's

designated sole source aquifer. The bypass road project is environmentally

significant since it is unusual to build a major connector road in a place

containing an area's designated sole source aquifer.

The new bridge crossing the Pootatuck River will be 40 feet wide. The

Pootatuck River will have a 60-foot-wide area to pass beneath the new bridge,

compared to the 20-foot-wide opening on the existing antiquated bridge.

No streetlights will be installed in the area and no road salt will be used

because of the aquifer's presence.

Robert Emmerthal of 7 Oakview Road said the intersection of Oakview Road and

Mile Hill Road is dangerous due to poor sight lines. He asked that sight lines

be improved there on the west side of Mile Hill Road.

Michael Osborne, head of the Pootatuck Fish and Game Club, a hunting area

which borders the bypass road, said the club, is seeking to work cooperatively

with the DOT in planning for road construction. The club's driveway onto Mile

Hill Road will be reconfigured in connection with the construction project.

A 1991 agreement, which resolved a lawsuit filed by the town against the state

over the state's construction of Garner Correctional Institution, provided, in

part, that the state build a bypass road across the Fairfield Hills grounds to

alleviate traffic congestion in the town center.