The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
ROUTE 9 REROUTE?
DOT proposes changes, including eliminating two traffic signals
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series on proposed improvements to Route 9 and Main Street. This first article will explore the state’s proposal. The second portion, to run in Tuesday’s paper, will explore public reaction to the plan.
MIDDLETOWN — State transportation engineers outlined plans this week for a three-phase, $70.75 million project centered on the removal of two traffic signals on Route 9, which, they said, would increase safety, alleviate congestion and improve access to downtown.
Eighty percent of the costs would be borne by the federal government and 20 percent by the state.
Construction would take place in three phases, beginning in 2019: Sidewalk bumpouts, or curb extensions (the shortest portion of the project),
would take place from spring to fall of 2019; intersection improvements would be made from the summer 2019 to fall of 2020; and the removal of lights, summer 2020 to fall 2022.
The nearly three-and-ahalf-hour session was held Thursday night at the Middletown High School auditorium and attended by about 120 people, among them residents, business owners, concerned citizens and officials.
The proposal was modified following public input at a hearing in July 2016, during with the DOT presented a design to remove the traffic signals on Route 9 by elevating the southbound direction in two locations: the intersection of Hartford Avenue and Route 9 as well as Washington Street and Route 9, according to the DOT.
The public voiced two main concerns at the time: ⏩ The effect of the additional traffic on Main Street, despite the operational benefits of the proposed bump-outs (sidewalk extensions to lessen the time needed for pedestrians to cross).
⏩ The view obstruction of the Connecticut River by the southern elevated section of Route 9 south.
Construction would affect Route 66 (Washington Street), Route 17 (over the Arrigoni Bridge into Portland), Main Street, and Route 9 north and south entering and exiting the city.
Two other projects, part of the overall plan, will be addressed at a later time, said William W. Britnell, the principal engineer, who presented the main part of the program Thursday.
The Route 17 on ramp to Route 9 has encountered some complications with the Arrigoni Bridge and the proposed pedestrian bridge across Route 9 is still in the works.
There is a steep financial impact caused by traffic tie-ups during peak travel hours and the high number of crashes in the affected areas, according to Britnell.
The most recent statistics, from Jan. 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2017, show there were 528 collisions, which caused 121 injuries, including a single fatality, on state roads within the project limits of all three projects, according to the DOT.
“When we talk about number of crashes, people’s eyes glaze over. You don’t really appreciate what that means: 528 crashes amounts to an economic burden of $3 million a year just for crashes,” Britnell said. “That’s 1 million person hours of delay annually — people sitting in traffic — and $42 million a year. That’s just the peak hours of Monday through Friday.
“You can imagine that economic cost is actually much, much higher than that.”
Combined, the economic burden is $45 million annually.
Also, getting into and out of the city has become a headache for many motorists, who prefer to avoid the area altogether and shop or eat in other towns.
“There are lots of people who quite honestly avoid Middletown because of the lights on Route 9, the congestion on Route 9,” Britnell said.
Changes would significantly affect a number of commuting times during peak use hours by motorists, engineers said.
Locally, those traveling on Route 9 south toward Portland via the Arrigoni Bridge would half their travel time: from an average of 24 minutes to 12. Motorists on 9 north going to Route 66 west would be minimally affected, according to the plan.
Cars driving on Route 66 west would go from an 8-minute commute to a 5-minute one, those going east on 66 toward the Arrigoni Bridge would go from 11 minutes to 6, and motorists traveling from the bridge to 66 west would save 4 minutes: from a 7-minute travel time to 3.
On Route 9 south, commute time would go from 8 to 3 minutes, and heading north, motorists would save a full 10 minutes: from 13 to 3 minutes.
In the North End, the Miller and Bridge street neighborhood, closed off to local traffic years ago, has only been accessible by an exit off Route 9 south.
The proposal is to take Route 9 south and raise it up and over the ramp coming out of Hartford Avenue: “a simple up-and-over bridge,” Britnell said.
Now, access is very dangerous from a fast-moving highway, where drivers have to take a right-hand turn into the isolated neighborhood.
“I don’t think I have to tell anybody that. It’s an undesirable situation,” he said.
The solution is to reopen the now fenced-off railroad crossing on Portland Street.
“In researching it, it really didn’t have a good technical reason why it had to be closed off,” Britnell said. And the railroad company offered no opposition.
Longtime resident Bill Corvo, who was unable to attend the hearing, filed his comments with the DOT.
“This proposed design change, I believe, only exacerbates an already dangerous situation and will create major traffic congestion problems for those coming into Middletown from Route 9 north at Rapallo Avenue,” he told the DOT.
The plan would also call for the state to claim property by eminent domain.
Jason Boyce of the DOT Right of Way office explained the state would acquire the property rights of three commercial buildings, which will be relocated with funding from the state, and a “small sliver” of land at Green and Washington streets. Those rights would be bought by December 2019, he said.
Corvo offered some history as to why there are highway traffic signals in Middletown in the first place.
“The concern was that a freeway without lights would basically end up bypassing Middletown, which at that time was the commercial center for northern Middlesex County as well as the county seat,” he wrote.
For information, email erik.jarboe@ct.gov, with a cc to stephen.hall@ct.gov, or call 860-594-3299. The deadline for comments is April 6.
For information, see ct.gov/dot.
Managing Editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day@hearstmediact.com or Twitter @cassandrasdis.