Norwich will explain plan for roundabout in Franklin Square
Downtown property owners receptive to idea
Norwich — City officials and Route 82 business owners have expressed opposition and concern over the state’s controversial plan for six roundabouts on Route 82, but the city’s proposal to convert the Main and Franklin Street intersection into a roundabout is being viewed much differently.
Norwich Public Works Director Patrick McLaughlin sent letters to downtown property owners this week announcing a public information meeting for next week on the city’s plan to create a roundabout in Franklin Square. And staff at the Norwich Community Development Corp. will hand-deliver notices of the meeting to business owners in the vicinity.
Unlike the state’s Route 82 plan, the Franklin Square project would not require taking any property from the surrounding businesses, and the roundabout would enhance sidewalks and add parking to the immediate vicinity, according to the plan on file in the Public Works Department.
Construction is scheduled for this summer on the $400,000 project funded through a state Department of Transportation Community Connectivity Grant Program. McLaughlin said if the grant doesn’t cover the entire cost, the
department has funds available through the voter-approved $5 million road paving and improvements bond.
The plan will allow for traffic flow in all directions at the intersection. The city converted Franklin Street to two-way traffic in May 2017, but southbound traffic never gets to reach Main Street directly, instead having to turn right onto Bath Street at a stop sign and left onto lower Broadway to reach Main Street.
The intersection now has a triangular island, with Main Street traffic in either direction allowed to turn north onto Franklin Street. Franklin Street is one-way north for the brief stretch to Bath Street.
The roundabout will have a center circular island with low-height landscaping plants, a flagpole and space for the annual Christmas tree, McLaughlin said. Immediately around the island will be a portion of roadway to be used only for longer vehicles using the roundabout. Elongated triangular islands, two on Main Street and one on Franklin, will form a median as all three roadways approach the intersection. The islands, also with low plantings, will allow pedestrians to cross halfway and pause before completing the crossing.
Sidewalk bump-outs on both Main and Franklin streets also will improve pedestrian safety, McLaughlin said.
The project will reduce onstreet parallel parking spaces by 11 space, from 29 to 18, McLaughlin said, but the city plans to add about 18 spaces by creating pull-in angled parking on Bath Street off Franklin Street and on City Landing off Main Street.
Several business owners surrounding the planned roundabout in general welcomed the project this week and plan to spread the word of Tuesday’s meeting to their customers.
“I’m all for it,” said Apollo Ziembroski, owner of Apollo Cycles at 48 Franklin St. “For me, it’s kind of a pain for my customers to go back to Route 12 (at the east end of Main Street). There’s a learning curve to driving in downtown Norwich.”
Ziembroski said a roundabout would be much safer for cyclists, as well. Now, riders cross traffic in the wrong direction or ride on the sidewalks in Franklin Square to get from Franklin to Main.
“I think people are just afraid of roundabouts,” Ziembroski said.
Across the street at Norwich Rare Coin & Jewelry at 35 Franklin St., owner Jackie Quercia readily admitted: “I don’t like roundabouts, period.” Her shop has been in its location since May 1986, one of the longest-running downtown businesses. Quercia has seen Franklin and Main switch from one-way to twoway traffic multiple times. She said her customers don’t complain about the current arrangement, and she loves the new two-way Franklin Street.
Quercia eventually shrugged and said the city’s plan for the new roundabout looks fine and could work well, especially with increased downtown parking.
Antonio Juro, owner of the Juro Seguro Envios LLC convenience store has been at 31 Franklin St. for the past five years and said it seems the traffic pattern is “changing all the time.” He said he will show the plan to his customers
and tell them about Tuesday’s meeting.
Mei He, owner of S&A Market, an Asian food store at Bath and Franklin, loves the idea of angled parking spaces right outside her store on Bath Street. Most of her customers drive to the store. When she first opened last July, her customers had trouble finding parking. Foundry 66, NCDC’s shared workspace program for startup businesses, helped her inform customers where both on-street and off-street spaces were available in the vicinity.
He lives in Mansfield near the University of Connecticut and said many of her customers come from the UConn area. They find the network of oneway streets in downtown Norwich confusing.
“They say ‘Mei, we can’t find you!’” she said.