Seymour Man: Why Close My Road?

PHOTO: Jodie MozdzerCliff Strumello can list dozens of roads in Seymour that are steep, winding or otherwise potentially dangerous. 

But there’s only one that’s closed each winter: His. 

Since 2008, the town has closed off Cemetery Road from December through the end of March. 

The closure means Strumello has to travel a mile out of his way to get from his house on one end of the road to the cemetery at the other end where he is the caretaker. 

But Strumello said he’s more concerned that the closure happened without input from residents, without an official vote — and without any publicly stated reasons. 

I want to know who has the authority to close it and what is the criteria used,” Strumello said.

Strumello started hounding the Board of Selectmen in October to get some answers. 

I feel as though the road should be opened and maintained,” Strumello said. If there’s a safety issue, identify it and fix it.”

The Road

Cemetery Road is about a third of a mile long. It stretches from Holbrook Road, near the Oxford town line, to Mountain Road in Seymour. 

The road is mostly straight — but has a sharp curve near the Holbrook Road side. The curve is on a steep incline in a wooded area. Accident summaries from the past 10 years show that several people have driven off the road at the curve, often in bad weather. 

Despite the topography, the road is often used as a shortcut from Oxford to Seymour’s hilltop. 

When Oxford students used to attend Seymour High School, the road served as a major route for students. Even school buses used the road, Strumello said. 

Strumello said the road appeared on Seymour maps since at least the 1800s, when it was listed as Burying Ground Road. The Great Hill Cemetery sits at the end near Holbrook Road and has tombstones that date back to the 1700s.

There are four homes on the road, including Strumello’s at 15 Cemetery Road. They are all near the intersection of Mountain Road. 

CemeteryRoadMap

The Closure

On Dec. 1 of each year since 2008, town workers put up cement barricades several hundred feet into either side of the road — blocking off the center half from traffic. 

The barricades allow traffic to continue to get to the Great Hill Cemetery on one side and to the four homes on the other end. 

Strumello said he has been told the road is closed because the town doesn’t want to plow it during the winter. He has also heard that it was closed for safety reasons — several accidents have occurred at the sharp turn, where some cars have driven off the road down a steep embankment littered with trees. 

But in his research of the decision, Strumello said he can’t find any minutes from a Board of Selectmen or Board of Police Commissioners meeting where a vote was taken to close the road, or any discussion that took place about why it was being closed. 

The only mention he found was in the minutes of a November 2008 Board of Police Commissioners meeting, where Police Chief Michael Metzler mentioned the road would be closed starting Dec. 1. 

An e‑mail seeking comment was sent to Metzler.

Seymour Police Department spokesman Lt. Paul Satkowski was unable to be reached for comment.

Accidents

The Seymour Police Department released data from the last 10 years about accidents on the road. There have been no fatalities on the road in the past 10 years. 

PHOTO: Jodie MozdzerBetween 2002 and 2010, there were 21 accidents on the stretch of road. 

Of those, 12 of the accidents occurred during the months the town now closes the road. 

Ten of those winter accidents happened during bad weather. 

Two accidents outside the December to March time frame were also attributed to a wet or slippery road. 

Since 2008, when officials began closing the road for part of the year, there have been two accidents: One in October 2009 and one in June 2010. 

The accident summaries are similar in many cases: They often say the driver lost control due to slippery road,” or took curve too fast.”

Strumello said he’d like to see figures from other dangerous roads to compare the number of accidents.

Strumello said the town should be actively trying to make the road safer instead of closing it. 

They can start by moving the cement barricades to the side of the road where the sharp curve often leads drives down a steep embankment. 

These barricades could be better used — at the curve,” Strumello said.

And signs could be added to warn drivers about the sharp curve. 

But Strumello also questions why Cemetery Road is the only sharp, steep road that gets closed in the winter. 

Bureaucracy

Strumello started his push at the Board of Selectmen. On Feb. 7, that board said it had received an opinion from the town’s attorney that the situation was out of their control. 

The Board of Selectmen pointed Strumello in the direction of the Board of Police Commissioners. 

So Strumello appeared at the police commission meeting Feb. 9. 

PHOTO: Jodie MozdzerLucy McConologue, the chairman of the Seymour Board of Police Commissioners, said the board plans to take up the issue at its March meeting. 

We want to get some information about when it was closed, why it was closed, and so forth,” McConologue said. 

McConologue said she heard the closure had something to do with difficulty plowing the road in the winter, but she’s trying to get more information about the specifics. 

She is also reviewing what factors play into a road getting closed. 

I would imagine some of the criteria would be the number of accidents, how much (the road) gets used,” McConologue said. 

I would hope no one just goes closing down roads without some sort of data to support it,” she said.

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