Seymour Town Engineer Bryan Nesteriak talks to resident John Barto.
SEYMOUR – The reconstruction of West Church Street and Bungay and Botsford roads is scheduled to start this month.
Seymour Town Engineer Bryan Nesteriak led an informational meeting about the road project March 5 at Seymour Town Hall. Nesteriak, whose firm B&B Engineering is serving as project engineer, gave about 40 residents in attendance an overview of the project and a construction timeline.
The town last December awarded a $5.7 million bid to DeRita & Son Construction Co., Inc., based out of Middletown, to do the job.
The money is coming from the state’s “Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program” (LOTCIP). The town has an additional $1.1 million from LOTCIP on top of the $5.7 million to cover any project contingencies.
Watch the town’s presentation here:
West Church Street, Bungay Road and Botsford Road are heavily traveled roads that provide access to state Routes 8, 67 and 34.
Nesteriak said the project is expected to take about 15 months to complete.
Contractor Nick DeRita said the majority of work will be done by the end of October. He said a crew will be back in spring 2026 to do finishing touches, including landscaping.
Construction will be broken into phases. During each phase of construction, West Church, Bungay and Botsford will become one-way up to the high school. The one-way designations will start in late April, Nesteriak said.
Construction is scheduled for 7 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. The contractor would need advance permission to do weekend work.
The project calls for 6,900 linear feet (or about 1.3 miles) of road reconstruction, including new draining, curbing and sidewalks.
There will also be 35 on-street parking spaces added at Bungay School to help ease bus and drop-off traffic.
Here’s a breakdown of the construction schedule, according to Nesteriak:
*Phase 0: March 17 – April 25, Great Hill Road to southern section of Brookfield Road. Nesteriak said this is the “least impactful” part of the overall project, which will include drainage, curbing, milling and paving, with no changes to width of road.
*Phase 1 – April 25 – June 23. Work will begin just below the driveway of Seymour High School on Botsford Road, at the intersection of Botsford and Bungay roads and continue to Balance Rock Road. At this time, the road will become one way up the hill towards SHS and cars will be detoured to Mountain Road. Nesteriak said signage showing detours will be in place.
*Phase 2 – June 23 – August 20. Work will take place in front of Bungay School to Bungay Terrace. Nesteriak said doing construction in the area of the elementary school at this time was done by design while kids will be off for summer vacation. At some point during these two months of construction, however, Nesteriak said the contractor has the option to shut down the road, only to keep limited access open to emergency vehicles and residents that live in that area.
*Phase 3 – August 21 – October 1, Bungay Terrace to Knorr Avenue.
*Phase 4 – October 2 – October 3, Knorr Avenue to West Street intersection by the Seymour Historical Society.
Nesteriak said he and other members of his firm will be on site daily, and will be able to communicate any issues, changes and related project news to town officials and residents as needed. Residents can also email Nesteriak at bungay@bbengrs.com to get added to the email list for project updates.
“If there’s any issues, we’re here to help,” Nesteriak said. “This is going to be great when it’s done.”
Nesteriak noted he’s working with the bus company that travels the route daily to discuss the changes. He has also spoken with the town’s trash hauler who said trash pick-up will not be an issue.
He said trash will be picked up around 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. before the contractor starts work each day and advised residents that it’d be a good idea to put their trash out the night before.
Also, regarding detours via Mountain Road, the town may be able to open the gate behind the high school on Ross Drive, to shave off some of the detour time.
If you would like to sign up to receive updates and information, please email your contact information directly to Kurt Miller @ kmiller@seymourct.org.
