Click the video to watch.
The video was carried on the Derby Mayor’s Facebook page, and it was shared on the Valley Indy Facebook page in addition to being embedded on ValleyIndy.org.
Background
The Route 34 widening project has been in the planning stages for years. It calls for a widening of the road from roughly the Derby-Shelton Bridge to Home Depot.
It’s needed to improve traffic flow on that stretch of the road, which is known locally as Main Street.
For years engineers, the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, and Derby City Hall have stressed that the widened road will not result in a “highway” down Derby’s downtown — which is precisely what Route 34 is in east Derby.
However, the project’s design was heavily criticized in November, at the conclusion of a design “charrette” for Derby’s redevelopment zone.
The redevelopment zone is the swath of under-developed land along the south side of Route 34/Main Street.
A consultant hired by the city said the Route 34 widening would impede development within that zone.
From The Valley Indy story in November:
The consultant, Marina Khoury, said the widening project, as planned, will replace Derby’s Main Street/Route 34 with a thoroughfare — one that is designed to simply move trucks quickly through Derby on the way to Interstate 95 in New Haven.
Those truck drivers won’t stop to shop in Derby, nor will they move to the city, the consultant said. The road’s design should work for Derby, Khoury said, not just for traffic counts.
The planned widening will not attract the kind of economic development Derby residents said they want to see in the redevelopment zone, Khoury said.
That summary caused Mayor Anita Dugatto to ask the state Department of Transportation to make nine changes to the project in order to bring it in line with Derby’s vision for the future.
Mayor Dugatto’s request triggered last night’s info session, where Rick Dunne of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Government listened to what the public had to say about the changes requested by the city.
While NVCOG doesn’t take a position either way on the mayor’s proposed changes, there is some push back on how Derby consultants characterized the widening project. Proponents point out the engineers and other officials had been working on the design for years prior to Derby’s “Downtown Now” meetings last November.
Highlights
Click play to watch the video of Monday’s meeting.
Here are some highlights:
- Mayor Dugatto stressed the requested changes were driven by public input during the downtown redevelopment process.
- The mayor basically stressed the need to get the job done right, as opposed to just getting it done
- According to NVCOG, implementing the changes to the road design could push the shovel in the ground start date to 2021, in a “worst case scenario”
- That’s because the changes have to be thoroughly reviewed on the state and federal level
- Funding for the road project is already in place for the $14 million project — but some of the changes requested by the city could, possibly, increase costs
- The city’s new request to eliminate some left-turn only lanes from the road’s design was a safety concern for Derby Police Chief Gerald Narowski. The removal of left-turn only lanes was the most heavily-criticized change requested by the city.
- Generally, members of the public supported the list of changes requested by the mayor.
- Carmen DiCenso, president of the Derby Board of Aldermen and a candidate for mayor, said the Board of Aldermen were kept out of the loop regarding changes requested by the mayor.
- Rich Dziekan, also a candidate for mayor, urged the city to get the project started because people have been waiting a long time.
- NVCOG estimated about 80 people attended Monday’s forum. More than 2,400 watched online.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Here are the list of technical changes to the project requested by the City of Derby:
1. Inclusion of on-street parking on both sides of Main Street (included in the 2011 PD Plan) with a surface treatment or texture to contrast with the travel lanes
2. 11’ lanes with 2’ shoulders, preferably with a surface treatment or texture to contrast the travel lanes with the shoulders to create a narrowing effect (The 2011 PD Plan has 11’ lanes with 4’ shoulders)
3. Elimination of the dedicated left turn lane from Main Street EB onto Minerva Street. The City accepts that left turns onto Main Street will be prohibited at unsignalized intersections and the median will be continuous at the Minerva Street intersection
4. Reduction in the median to a consistent 8’ from Elizabeth Street to Caroline Street, subsequent to the removal of the aforementioned left turn lane
5. Reduction in the length of the left turn lane from Main Street EB onto Water Street
6. The cycle-track between Bridge Street and Factory Street will be eliminated from the project and relocated in the redevelopment site. The construction of the bicycle facility would no longer be eligible under the Route 34 project
7. Removal of the parking lot at Bridge Street. The gateway park at the Bridge Street corner shall remain in the plan
8. Drop Elizabeth, Minerva, and Caroline streets from the project as the City does not desire a change in circulation and prefers these roads to remain two-way
9. Convert Third Street to one-way as was being proposed for the semi-final design submission.
