Folks from the Valley Council of Governments and the state Department of Transportation will be at Derby City Hall Thursday to talk about the Route 34 widening project in downtown Derby.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chambers on the second floor.
The state and the city and VCOG have been planning the widening of Route 34 from roughly the Derby-Shelton bridge to the Route 8 ramps near the former Lifetouch property for years.
Route 34 is a state road also known locally as Main Street.
Derby hosted a public hearing on the Route 34 widening in 2011.
The 2011 description of the project called for widening the road to create two through lanes in each direction.
Click here for a three-dimensional “virtual” tour showing what Route 34 will look like — assuming all goes as planned.
The 2011 discussion called for a parking lot near the Derby-Shelton bridge, wider sidewalks, better drainage, a grassy median and improved on-street parking. Decorative lighting and other “street scape” improvements are planned, too.
The widening project is supposed to improve traffic flow on Main Street in Derby, while making the road easier for pedestrians to navigate.
Click here for a PDF description from 2011.
The project, in 2011, was estimated to cost between $10 million and $12 million.
Several properties on the Housatonic River side of Route 34 will be knocked down to make room for the expanded Main Street, according to past discussions of the project.
Click here for a detailed previous story on the expansion.
Here is the official notice for the meeting issued last month:
The Valley Council of Governments (VCOG), with assistance from the Connecticut Department of
Transportation (CONNDOT), will hold a design public information meeting for State Project No.
36 – 184, the proposed Reconstruction of Route 34 (Main Street), Derby, CT on Thursday, December 4, 2014, 6:30 p.m. at the Derby City Hall, Aldermanic Chambers, 1 Elizabeth St., Derby, Connecticut.
The public information meeting will be concerned with the Valley Council of Government’s recommended plan for the reconstruction of Route 34 (Main Street) in Derby.
It is expected that the rights-of-way and construction phases of this project will be funded under a Federal and State cooperative effort to improve traffic circulation and roadway safety in urban areas.
In accordance with the provisions of the Federal Highway Administration’s environmental regulations, 23CRF, Part 771.115, this project has been found to have no significant social, economic or environmental impacts and, as such, has been classified by the Connecticut Department of Transportation as a Categorical Exclusion.
Tentative schedules for the right-of-way acquisition and the construction of this project will be discussed at the public information meeting.
