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This Google Map image shows Holbrook Road, a quaint country road that sees a ton of traffic because it connects two major roads.
SEYMOUR Dubbed by residents as one of the worst roads in town, Holbrook Road is finally poised for a much-needed makeover.
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis recently announced that the town received final approval from the state to proceed with the reconstruction of Holbrook Road.
The project is set to go out to bid this fall, with work slated to begin next spring.
“This project involves a complete redesign,” Drugonis said via the town’s Facebook page. “This has been a long time coming, and we appreciate your continued understanding.”
The town-owned road serves as a cut-through for people to access two major routes in town, Route 67 and Route 34.
Drugonis said the town has secured LOTCIP (Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program) grant funding for the road project. She said the grant is federal money distributed by the state for improvements to urban collector roads — roads that connect major routes.
The project is estimated to cost about $5.3 million.
Residents who live on Holbrook can attest to the poor condition of the road, and have done so over the years via social media. Drugonis is on the same page with those road-weary residents, and said the long-overdue improvements will be well worth the wait.
“The road is in poor condition,” Drugonis said via an email to the Valley Indy. “It needs to be resurfaced, but that would just mask some of the issues which are caused by poor drainage. At some points, the road is carved out of a hillside, or travels alongside unprotected drainage ditches, or has no area for snow to be deposited when plows pass. When the Town realized it would need to be replaced, we looked at alternative funding mechanisms due to the size of the project. It needs a full reconstruction with drainage improvements and was bound to be very expensive. Over the past few years we have been strategically investing in the road to keep it safe and passable without wasting money since now it’s due a full reconstruction.”
Drugonis said the project will involve utility relocation, drainage improvements, realignment, an improved snow shelf, improved sloping and guide rails, improved signage and significant tree work.
Drugonis said the town wasn’t ignoring Holbrook all these years, there was just a lot of red tape with the state being involved, design standards being more rigorous, getting easements ‚and some other issues.
“The process for LOTCIP grants is very rigorous, as are the design standards,” she said. “There are several steps including preliminary design, final design, third party review, etc. Each of these requires design by the Town Engineer and approval by NVCOG’s transportation planners, DOT engineers and a third-party engineer. The difficult design process leads to an excellent result, but it also slows the process down being handed back and forth so many times. Additionally, because a realignment was required, property acquisition and easements were required, including from the state, who own some of the property bordering the road.”
Drugonis said the entire process took about two and a half years.
“This is just a really big project and it required a lot of work,” she added. “The road will be almost unrecognizable when the project is concluded.”
Resident Robin Johnson, who has lived on Holbrook Road for about 22 years, said the much-needed road fix cannot come soon enough.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Johnson said. “The whole road is a mess. There are a lot of curves and there have been a lot of accidents over the years, especially closer to the rotary. I think the road has really been let go over the years.”
Another resident, Kristin Greco, likened the condition of Holbrook to that of “swiss cheese,” with the road resembling “the surface of the moon.” She said she’s very excited to finally see road repairs coming.
With all road projects, Drugonis cautioned that the reconstruction will likely cause some inconvenience, and as a high-traffic road, when it’s restored to good condition, could cause speeding issues.
“Road work is never popular while it’s ongoing, but we hope this project will make the residents happy,” she said. “Like with most repaving projects, we anticipate increased speeding when the project is complete, which we will work with the police department to address. The result will be a safer road that will be easier to maintain and which will have a longer service life as a result.”
Drugonis credited state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R‑105, for helping assist with the process, as the project needed to be signed off by the governor and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection since some of the property on the sides of the road are state-owned.
