Safety Improvements Planned For Congested Church Hill Road

By Andrew Gorosko

Following discussion on several road redesign options under review by the state Department of Transportation (DOT) on how best to improve traffic safety along a hazardous section of Church Hill Road (Route 6), town officials have asked DOT engineers to pursue a project that would place a median divider along a widened section of Church Hill Road, just west of Interstate 84.

The variable-width median divider would be installed along the section of Church Hill Road extending from its intersection with the eastbound ramps of I-84 to its intersection with Commerce Road. The median would include a vehicle-turning gap located near Church Hill Road’s existing intersection with Edmond Road to facilitate traffic flow in the area.

Also, as part of the Church Hill Road improvement project, the southern end of Edmond Road would be shifted to the west, creating a four-way intersection of Edmond Road, Church Hill Road, and Commerce Road. The existing approximately 650-foot-long southern end of Edmond Road thus would be removed.

Also, improved traffic signals would be installed in the area.

At a February 24 planning session, three DOT engineers who are working on the Church Hill Road redesign project met with town officials to update them on project planning and to gauge local sentiment on how best the heavily traveled Church Hill Road can be made safer. The project has been in the planning stages for several years. In 2005, the US House of Representatives approved partial funding for road improvements.

The section of Church Hill Road extending westward from I-84 to the Housatonic Railroad’s rail overpass has had the highest accident rate in the ten-town Housatonic Valley Planning Region. Many of the accidents that occur there are caused by traffic that is turning in and out of the many commercial driveways that line the street. The DOT’s road redesign seeks to reduce the accident rate and make travel through the congested area safer.

DOT Project Manager Hugh H. Hayward told town officials that the road improvements envisioned for the area would cost approximately $7.9 million to accomplish. That cost is expressed in projected 2012 dollar value.

Mr Hayward and DOT engineers Paul M. Metsack, Jr, and Jose R. Catalan presented two other road redesign options for town review. They are a $7.7 million project that would involve the installation of an unbroken median along Church Hill Road, or a $5.9 million project to create a four-lane Church Hill Road without any median.

After discussion, town officials agreed that the road redesign that includes a 35-foot-wide gap in the median for turning traffic, known as a “broken median,” is the best design to improve the problematic street.

Representing the town at the session were First Selectman Joe Borst, Town Engineer Ronald Bolmer, Director of Planning and Community Development Elizabeth Stocker, Land Use Agency Director George Benson, and Deputy Land Use Agency Director Rob Sibley.

Mr Hayward stressed that the road improvement project is in its preliminary stages and it remains unclear when construction work would occur.

Optimistically, construction might start in the 2012 construction season, he said. The project would take two construction seasons to accomplish, he added. While the project is under construction, traffic would continue to flow through the area, he said.

Mr Catalan said the section of Church Hill Road planned for improvements is problematic due to the heavy volume of turning traffic in the area. That turning traffic poses vehicular conflicts that can result in collisions. Many collisions occur on Church Hill Road in front of the Blue Colony Diner, he noted.

Mr Hayward observed that many travelers on nearby I-84 who use Church Hill Road are from out of the area and thus unfamiliar with its traffic patterns.

The DOT wants to know the thoughts of local officials about improving Church Hill Road because it aids that agency in its decisionmaking about such a road improvement project, Mr Hayward said. “We need to get the pulse of the town,” he said.

Mr Hayward said of the road improvement project’s schedule, “I wish we could give you ‘hard and fast’ dates,” but the many issues which such projects face do not make that possible. The Church Hill Road project competes with many other road improvement projects in the state, he said.

Mr Hayward said that installing a broken median on Church Hill Road would solve several problems. It seeks to reduce accidents on the street, he said. The device would promote better traffic circulation in the area, he said. It would create an attractive landscaped area that could serve as a visual gateway to the town, he added.

Mr Metsack said the presence of a median would provide the area with a more attractive appearance.

DOT staffers will create more detail on the broken median design for Church Hill Road and will return to the town, possibly within six months, for a public informational meeting on the project, he said.

The DOT would need to draw a basic design of the improvement project before pursuing acquiring the rights-of-way adjacent to the street that would be required for construction.

Ms Stocker said that although the broken median design is more expensive than the other design options, it would improve traffic safety and would be attractive. The proposal to simply make the street four lanes wide in that area does not seem like much of an improvement over current conditions, she said.

In response to queries from town officials, Mr Metsack said the DOT would review the idea of constructing sidewalks in the area as part of the road improvement project.

Mr Borst stressed the importance of making physical improvements to Edmond Road in view of a firm that interested in locating its facilities at the Pitney-Bowes complex on Edmond Road.