In the spring of 2019, workers for the state Department of Transportation (DOT) completed a long-awaited roadway improvement project along Church Hill Road (Route 6) and adjacent areas, west of its intersection with Interstate 84.

Construction work had been underway since the spring of 2018 on the $2.85-million DOT project designed to generally enhance traffic flow and improve travel safety in the congested area, which has the highest local accident rate.

The project converted the widely offset intersection of Church Hill Road, Commerce Road, and Edmond Road into a conventional four-way signalized intersection and installed concrete sidewalks in that area. Also, new traffic signals were placed at intersections. Church Hill Road was restriped with modified travel lanes, clarifying travel paths through the area. Simultaneous with the roadway project was the construction of a retail center at 75 Church Hill Road.

At another infrastructure project, starting in August, concrete was poured for a sidewalk on the north side of Wasserman Way, near Reed Intermediate School. When completed, that sidewalk project will link Fairfield Hills to the town center with five-foot-wide sidewalks. The $1.175 million project is designed to provide pedestrians with a safe route to walk between the town center and Fairfield Hills.

A planned 500-foot-long section of sidewalk has yet to be constructed on the north side of Mile Hill Road in the area east of its intersection with Queen Street. The sidewalk construction delays stems from a DOT drainage repair project currently underway in that area.

A failed 130-foot-long six-foot-diameter corrugated metal culvert is being replaced with a 168-foot-long seven-foot-diameter reinforced concrete culvert. The urgent $3-million project to replace the major culvert, which carries Deep Brook beneath Mile Hill Road, is continuing amid wintertime conditions, with the goal of completing the work by the end of April.

Two-way traffic is continuing to pass through the work area.

Two Bridges

By May, two obsolete bridges in Sandy Hook were replaced by the town with new wider spans, simplifying motorists’ travel across Curtis Brook and across the Pootatuck River.

A new bridge on Toddy Hill Road that spans Curtis Brook, near Toddy Hill Road’s intersection with Berkshire Road opened to traffic on May 7.

A state Local Capital Improvement Project (LoCIP) grant covered most of the costs for the Toddy Hill Road bridge project. The overall price was $2.925 million. The broad new span is an arch-style bridge that is 32 feet long. The bridge is 44 feet wide, much wider than the span it replaces.

Toddy Hill Road’s northbound approach to Berkshire Road has been flattened to make it simpler for large trucks to navigate the intersection. Northbound traffic on Toddy Hill Road will have designated turning lanes.

A new span has been built on Walnut Tree Hill Road, near its intersection with Glen Road. While that bridge replacement project was underway, traffic on the bridge-under-construction had used an alternating two-way pattern controlled by a traffic signal.

The new bridge that crosses the Pootatuck River at Walnut Tree Hill Road has much gentler curves at both ends of the span than the previous span. Also, the roadway atop the bridge is broader, simplifying navigation. The overall project cost was $2,568,100.

The new bridge was built to replace an antiquated, nearly 100-year-old span. The new 60-foot-long bridge has a sidewalk on one side.

In 2019, it was learned that a long-awaited $17.7-million DOT project, which will reconfigure Interstate 84’s two existing ramps at Exit 11, add a new on-ramp, and widen and generally improve adjacent state roadways to alleviate chronic traffic congestion in that area, has been delayed. The projected start of the project is now spring 2021, one year later than had been planned.

The roadway improvement project has been in the planning stages since 1996. Planning for the current version of the project started in 2015, after it became clear that the state would not be widening the main line of I-84 between Waterbury and the New York State border, as had been earlier proposed.

In connection with the planned Exit 11 improvement project, the town last May completed the nearby Toddy Hill Road bridge project.