Thursday, August 27, 2009

Washington Street Delays Expected


From the State DOT

Revised Operations Plan for Route 66 Intersection and Drainage

The Department of Transportation announced today that beginning Monday, August 24, 2009, operations will be altered for work associated with the reconstruction of Route 66 (Washington Street) between the streets of Bernie O’Rourke Drive and Plaza Drive in the city of Middletown [this is between the Walgreens and the Foodmart]. Route 66, (Washington Street), may be reduced to one lane in each direction between the hours of 6:00 am and 2:30 pm. This change in operations is to allow ample time for construction operations while maintaining existing roadway conditions for the evening rush hour.

Work on Route 66 will continue through the 2009 -2010 construction seasons and extend into the Spring of 2011.

The anticipated completion date for the reconstruction of Route 66 is April 25, 2011. This $4,005,989 project was awarded on May 26, 2009 to Simscroft – Echo Farms, Inc. of Simsbury, CT.

Motorists are urged to obey the posted speed limit and precede with caution through this and all other construction work zones. Schedules may change due to weather conditions.

3 comments:

Lady Cyclist (Beth Emery) said...

I hope that the police department will have a greater presence on our arterial streets, as hurried and harried drivers look for alternate routes through our neighborhoods. With schools getting back in session there is always an increase in pedestrians, and bicycling activity, thus a need for greater enforcement of the speed limits in the neighborhoods just off of RT 66. Please drive safely. And remember it is now CT law that motorists passing cyclist must leave 3 feet between themselves and the bike rider.

Anonymous said...

This is really unfortunate for the businesses in that area. It is already a tough economic time without adding the loss of business to extended construction. I sat on that road trying to get to work between a half hour and fourty five minutes. Cromwell shopping will benefit from our loss. They have grocery stores and a new home supply store opening too.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Lady Cyclist, for reminding motorists about the new law. And I'll remind cyclist that they are supposed to follow the same traffic laws as cars such as stopping at stop signs and red lights, no passing on the right, no riding on sidewalks, no pressing the walk button at intersections then riding across the crosswalk (it is perfectly alright to walk your bike across), no going the wrong way down a one-way street, riding against the flow of traffic, no speeding, yield to pedestrians, etc. If everyone obeyed traffic laws, there would be many fewer crashes. As a pedestrian I've had more close calls with getting hit by a bicycle than motorists.

Good luck with getting police enforcement. I know someone who has been trying for four years to get excessive speeding enforced in his neighbor with no success.