Date: Fri 10-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Fairfield-Hills-bypass

Full Text:

Work To Start Next Summer On Fairfield Hills Bypass Road

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The state Department of Transportation's (DOT) principal engineer on the

Fairfield Hills bypass road project said Wednesday construction is expected to

start in June.

Engineer Carl Bard said the DOT is awaiting the receipt of environmental

permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) which are

required for road construction work in wetland areas. The road will be built

above the environmentally sensitive Pootatuck Aquifer, the town's designated

sole source aquifer.

As soon as the permits are received, hopefully in February, the DOT will

advertise the project, seeking contractors for the construction work, Mr Bard

said.

After the construction bids are received and analyzed, a contractor will be

selected, and construction work would start in June.

The Potatuck Land Company, owner of the Potatuck Fish and Game Club, did not

petition for public hearings on the road building project, Mr Bard said.

Club members had voiced concern that the construction project and resulting

roadway might pose environmental problems in the area and on their property,

which is adjacent to the construction site. As such, the club worked with the

DOT to help design the project.

In the fish and game club's view, the town's future is tied to protecting

water quality in the Pootatuck Aquifer, requiring that possible future

environmental problems stemming from a bypass road be anticipated and

prevented.

Had the public hearing process been activated, the start of construction would

have been delayed by at least one more year.

The DOT had been aiming for an early April start of construction, but the

unanticipated delay in receiving the DEP permits pushes that date into June,

Mr Bard said.

Initial work will involve moving utility poles on the site to make way for the

new roadway.

If the project starts in June, it should be completed by late 1998, Mr Bard

said.

The Fairfield Hills bypass road will be a connector road designed to improve

east-west traffic flow through town. The bypass road will provide improved

access for motorists between Route 25, Interstate-84, and Route 34. Town

officials see the road as a means to alleviate heavy truck traffic through the

town center.

The $3.6-million bypass road has been designed for heavy truck traffic. Truck

traffic is now banned on the Fairfield Hills grounds.

Advanced erosion control measures will be used during bypass road

construction. Special contamination traps will be installed because the area

is above the Pootatuck Aquifer.

The bypass road project is environmentally significant because it is unusual

to build a major connector road in a place containing an area's designated

sole source aquifer.

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

River will have a 60-foot-wide area to pass below the new bridge, compared to

the 20-foot-wide opening on the existing narrow, deteriorated bridge.

One-half of the new bridge crossing the Pootatuck River will be built at a

time, requiring the need for a temporary traffic signal there to regulate

alternating one-way traffic flow.

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.

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.