SEYMOUR — A $7 million makeover for Bungay Road, Botsford Road and West Church Street is slated to get underway in late summer.
Project engineers from B&B Engineering of Woodbridge told about 40 residents who attended an informational meeting Wednesday (Jan. 25) at the Seymour Community Center that the road reconstruction project is being funded by the public through the state’s Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program (LOTCIP) fund.
Senior project engineer Megan Miller said the three connected roads are a significant transportation hub for vehicle traffic.
The issues plaguing the roads include inconsistent lane widths which lead to speeding and accidents, poor drainage causing ponding and freezing, numerous potholes from previous utility work, deteriorating sidewalks — or no sidewalks — and other unsafe conditions, Miller said.
Click here to read a PDF that was presented during the Jan. 25 forum.
“This will be a full-depth reconstruction starting at the intersection of West Street up the hill to Bungay and Botsford with a new roadway base, new pavement, consistent lane widths, new drainage, new curbing and new sidewalks that will connect West Church Street all the way to the (Seymour) high school,” Miller said. “We will be creating a new roadway that hopefully will slow traffic down and last for years to come.”
B&B has been working with the town and Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments in designing the project. The project will be done in three phases and take about 12 months to complete. Phase 1 will be from Botsford Road to Bungay School and take about three months to complete; Phase 2 will encompass Bungay School to Knorr Avenue and take the longest amount of time, about six months, to complete and Phase 3 will be from Knorr Avenue to West Street.
The project will include installation of a rapid flashing beacon at the crosswalk across from Ralph Hull Funeral Home on West Street, near a narrow, almost blind corner, that will alert oncoming motorists when people are crossing the street during funerals and wakes.
There will also be 35, new on-street parking spaces at Bungay School to help ease bus and drop-off traffic.
Construction is expected to occur Monday-Friday, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
During each phase, the section of roadway being worked on will become one-way, with traffic diverted up the hill and detoured to Mountain Road.
Engineers worked with town emergency personnel and determined that will be the safest and quickest route to not impede emergency vehicles. Residents living on Bungay Terrace, for example, won’t be able to turn right to get downtown or onto nearby Route 8, but rather will have to turn left onto Bungay and follow detours to Mountain. Some school bus routes will also have to be switched up, Miller said.
Miller said the detour via Mountain Road will add an additional mile or about five minutes, ten with traffic.
Residents will be able to get project updates on the town’s website, the town’s Facebook page and by email if they sign up, using a special QR code that can be found on the town’s website and Facebook pages. First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said an isolated CODE Red phone call can also be used to update specific groups of residents in the affected construction areas.
“We want to have the least impact on all your daily lives,” Miller said.
Several residents living in the project area spoke at the meeting. Most said while they’re grateful for the much-needed fix, they’re concerned about the detour adding time to their commutes and for an extended period of time, and becoming isolated after big storms cause large trees to fall across Bungay.
“Trees frequently go down between the high school and Bungay Terrace and we’re landlocked at that point,” said Bungay Terrace resident Leslie Girard.
Photo by Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
(Left to right) B&B Engineers Bryan Nesteriak and Megan Miller speak with a resident.
