GOOGLE MAPS
A Google satellite image showing Wakelee Avenue, a main road in Ansonia.
Over the past month, Westfield Avenue resident Laura Lane has had to replace an axle on each of her two cars. She also had to have one of the cars realigned, which, she said, cost her hundreds of dollars.
She said the reason is because of the deplorable condition of Wakelee Avenue in the area where the road was torn up for the installation of gas mains.
“I’ve never had these kinds of problems with my cars, and I swear it’s the road,” Lane said at a forum Wednesday hosted by the City of Ansonia.
The purpose of the forum was to hear the concerns of residents about the road and to update them as to the status of the reconstruction and paving project that will happen next year.
In April 2015, city government announced a $3.5 million from the state to rebuild a mile-long stretch of Wakelee Avenue. The total cost is $4.8 million, with the city kicking in some $350,000 to $400,000, officials have said.
But last year Eversource started a million dollar project of its own to replace gas lines under the road.
The result — Wakelee Avenue now looks like Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with long strips of bumpy repair patches stitched together for the length of the road.
One man at the forum said his driveway was ripped up during the gas main work.
“I was told it was going to be replaced,” he said, “but I haven’t heard anything since.”
Readers consistently post complaints about the road on the Valley Indy Facebook page.
One or two readers questioned whether it was wise to have the city’s recent Memorial Day Parade on the road, given its condition.
Sheila O’Malley, the city’s grant writer and economic development director, said the road will be fixed.
“This is temporary because we are going to reconstruct the road,” O’Malley said.
The city decided to hold the forum, she said, because “we felt like people weren’t getting satisfaction and we wanted to update them.”
The road restoration project includes new drainage, lighting and sidewalks, in addition to milling and paving the road.
That work — which is supposed to be underway according to previous statements — is now scheduled to start in September, a contractor told the audience.
In the meantime, the road is still presenting a major headache to residents.
“To be honest, the road is not up to our standards at all,” said Corporation Counsel John Marini. “It makes us upset to hear that there are claims of damage.”
Eversource representative John Pantalone said the company is processing damage claims from residents who have experienced problems due to the condition of the road.
Fifth Ward Alderwoman Joan Radin, the owner of Lear Pharmacy at 198 Wakelee Ave., said the roadwork is not only an inconvenience but is hurting her business.
“The customers are not coming in,” she said.
Customers will come in to pick up prescriptions, she said, but the walk-in traffic has all but disappeared since the work began.
“They don’t want to drive on that road,” she said.
Her fear, she said, is the project will languish for years.
“I was told it was going to be two seasons, but two seasons to me is two years,” she said. “So if we don’t get started until September or October, the road is going to be a mess all winter if it is not put down properly like it wasn’t this year.”
The asphalt plants will close in the fall, so there will be a limited time to work before that happens, she said.
And the plans call for the drainage work and installation of lighting and sidewalks to take place before work begins on the road.
“To me, that’s more like three years,” she said because the work can only be done when the weather is good. She would prefer the reconstruction of the road be postponed and the road paved now, she said.
She also questioned where the city would get the $400,000 match it is required to contribute to the cost of the project.
Work will begin in the fall, and then start up again in the spring and be completed by the end of 2018, said Bill Anderson of VHB, the Wethersfield-based firm designing the project.
“We do not see this project going more than one year easily,” he said.
A time frame will be included in the contract with the company that will do the work to which it will have to adhere, he said.
Eversource (formerly Yankee Gas in this area) tore up the road to install a gas main that will allow residents living along the road to switch from oil to gas.
Gas company representatives have been canvassing the area to make residents aware that if they’re interested in converting to gas, now is the time.
“We are knocking on doors telling people that they should convert to gas now before the road gets repaved,” Pantalone said. “We want to try to install these services before the road is paved. It will put us in a tough spot if they want to convert after it is paved.”
Mayor David Cassetti said as far as he’s concerned, once the road is paved, the option to convert to gas is no longer an option.
“Once the road is done, we are not opening it up again,” he said. “I am not going to let that happen.”
