Old Hawleyville Bridge,

Town Hall Traffic Rerouted

By John Voket

From the outlying stretches of Old Hawleyville Road to the center of town, motorists will continue to be temporarily rerouted by construction projects in the coming weeks.

According to officials at Newtown’s Highway Department, the planned renovation of the Old Hawleyville Road bridge is in full swing with town and contract crews moving into a crucial phase of the project. The current work will require that linking roadway to be closed at the bridge crossover for several weeks.

In Newtown center, continuing work at both Edmond Town Hall and the Newtown Savings Bank has necessitated the creation of a temporary two-way lane from the former one-way exit on the south side of the building adjacent to the general store.

Those utilizing the rear parking lot behind Edmond Town Hall are asked to enter and exit the lot via this passage for approximately another two weeks while construction and improvements to the north side driveway are completed.

Motorists can also access the rear town hall lot via the Newtown Savings Bank driveway; however, that passage will be closed intermittently for paving over the next week or two, according to staff members at the town hall’s management office.

In the interim, the uncommon two-way traffic pattern is causing some frustrations as motorists accustomed to turning left exiting the town hall to turn north on Main Street are crossing into oncoming temporary traffic lanes.

During Tuesday evening’s Board of Managers meeting, staff members also revealed that incoming motorists are generally traveling too fast considering outgoing motorists may tend to inadvertently cross into oncoming lanes.

The addition of popular family feature films at Edmond Town Hall Theatre compounds the hazard as many youngsters are walking between the parking area and entries to the town hall, and may not be accustomed to watching for incoming traffic in the formerly exclusive exit driveway.

Newtown police are also strictly monitoring parking on Main Street in the area to ensure sight lines for exiting traffic are not being blocked by illegally parked vehicles.