Listen, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to type it.
The railroad crossing on Division Street near Stop & Shop and McDonald’s will be closed for up to a week starting after the morning rush hour Friday, April 24.
A new railroad crossing will be installed.
To be clear — you will not be able to travel in your car from Pershing Drive, over the railroad tracks, up to Route 115 at the top of the hill. And vice versa.
(Note — no one is saying all of Division will be closed. But you won’t be able to drive from one end to the other, because the crossing will be closed. You will drive up to a point, but you will have to stop at the railroad crossing, because it will be closed.)
Yes, it will be a traffic headache, but officials from the state Department of Transportation said the work is desperately needed and that police will likely be posted at several spots to make sure the border of Ansonia and Derby doesn’t turn into a Mad Max Fury Road nightmare.
That being said — it’s probably not going to be pleasant, especially if 100,000 people never read this story, so “plan ahead,” said Art Gerckens, president of the Derby Board of Aldermen.
“As soon as we received the notification from DOT, we shared the information with the new website and the media to at least make everyone aware of what will be happening,” Gerckens said. “I don’t like surprises but at least we are letting the public know as far in advance as possible. We’re going to be inconvenienced while the work is being done, so plan ahead and be prepared.”
Compounding the likely commuter problem — DOT crews are also making repairs to the bridge on Route 34 in Derby that shuffles traffic over the Naugatuck River. Division Street was an alternative route.
But the railroad crossing on Division Street hasn’t been renovated since 1992, said Stephen Curley, a senior engineer with the state DOT.
The crossing has a 20-year lifespan.
“This is long overdue,” Curley said.
That’s a fact that can be verified by anyone with who drives a car with wheels. Navigating the crossing requires a quiet prayer that whatever is sticking up from around the tracks isn’t sharp enough to pierce your tires.
Here’s the notice the DOT provided to Ansonia and Derby:
Age isn’t the sole reason the crossing needs replacement. Curley said the ground under the railroad crossing needs to be dug up some four to five feet so crews can lay down electrical conduits.
That will pave the way for the installation of a signalization system along the Waterbury branch, a safety system that will, hopefully, allow the state and Metro North Railroad to run more trains on the underutilized branch.
Curley said the nature of the work doesn’t allow crews to allow vehicles to pass through — even on one side of the road — during the duration of the repair and upgrade project.
But Curley said the week-long closure period is padded, hopefully. If crews don’t find anything unexpected under the ground — and the weather cooperates — the job could be completed by Tuesday, April 28.
The entrances to the many businesses will not be closed during the project, except for a part of Red Raider Plaza. But that parking lot is already closed because Walgreens, the company that owns the shopping plaza, is renovating the property and installing a new drainage system.
Majorie Anders, a Metro-North spokeswoman, also said the railroad crossing is as dead as Dillinger. It needs attention.
“This crossing has a very high vehicle volume and the rubber crossing surface is worn out,” she said in an email to the Valley Indy. “Years of strikes by snow plows have torn the surface up and a number of the pads are loose. This will be a big improvement.”
Anders said up to 25 people and a bunch of heavy machinery could be working on the project at any given time.
State DOT officials have met with officials in Ansonia and Derby to alert them of the project.
Any police coverage bills that occur because of the project will be reimbursed, Curley said.
“I’m hoping that after this you won’t see anyone repairing that crossing for another 25 to 30 years,” Curley said.
The project is being done during a planned Waterbury branch “outage,” scheduled from April 25 (the day after the work starts locally) to May 3.
In other words, you won’t be able to catch a train in the Valley during that time period. They’ll be providing buses instead. Stay tuned to the Metro-North Twitter feed for any changes.
Officials are removing five miles of old track along the 27-mile Waterbury Branch and making interim repairs to the 110-year-old, four-track Devon railroad bridge over the Housatonic River, between Stratford and Milford.
Click here for a press release from the state on those projects.
