$2M road project gets underway

Goal is to improve safety on stretch off Route 9

CROMWELL — Preliminary work has begun on a project to widen a portion of Coles Road.

The work will involve rebuilding a little more than a half-mile of the roadway, from Route 9 to Shunpike Road, and will include installation of new drainage as well as the construction of sidewalks along the east side of the road.

The project will cost $2.075 million and is being funded by a combination federal/state LOTIC, or Local Transportation Capital Improvement, grant.

Town Engineer Jon Harriman,

who is overseeing the project, said the roadway in the target area is 22 feet wide.

It will be widened to 30 feet, Harriman said.

Widening the road “will improve both traffic safety and sight lines,” Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said.

Some curves, particularly along the east side of the

road, also will be modified as part of the project, “which is expected to be completed in this construction season,” Salvatore said.

“It was on our list of roads to be done because it’s so narrow, the drainage

needed to be replaced, and we wanted to address the issue of those tight curves,” Salvatore said.

Harriman emphasized that the work involves a full re-construction of the roadway and not just a re-paving.

The work is being done by Baltazar Contractors Inc., of Ludlow, Mass., Harriman said.

The same company recently completed the reconstruction of the lower portion of Willowbrook Road, he said.

Balthazar “has been able to get a jump on the project because the weather has been cooperative,” Salvatore said.

The preliminary work involves relocating utility poles and removing some

trees in the area where the sidewalk will be installed.

As work was beginning, Eversource announced it is taking advantage of the project to “replace its entire gas main” under the roadway, an effort Harriman said is expected to take 40-60 days.”

“We literally just found this out at the last minute,” Harriman said.