Worst road in Milford?
Residents name work at Route 162, Old Gate Lane longest-running ‘nightmare’
MILFORD — If they had to pick the worst stretch of road in Milford, C.J. James and Kristie Harris would pick the one closest to their places of business: Route 162 near Old Gate Lane.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation has been installing a new bridge and wider culvert just slightly east of the Old Gate Lane intersection as part of a $3.93 million project. One of Milford’s busier roads, New Haven Avenue gets funneled from two lanes to one with the construction and backs up regularly, but especially at rush hour. For the people who have to be there, the project is a nuisance and source of tension.
“It took forever for them to get started. They are just taking way too long. It’s a little crazy, especially when school buses drive by,” said Harris, an office worker at Neuro-Spinal Professional Building at 531 New Haven Ave., which abuts the road work. “The whole building was shaking earlier this morning. It was that machine (a backhoe) over there. It was picking up and dropping stone and pieces of road all morning. The whole building was shaking every time they dropped one.”
“It’s been going on for years,” said James, owner of CJ’s Small Engine Repair, 588 New Haven Ave. “We have no clarity with what’s going on with all the traffic buildup, and it’s affecting the businesses in the area. It’s always backed up with traffic, with more cars and always flooding out down there.”
“There’s going to be multiple accidents there, sooner or later,” James added.
DOT hopes to finish the work this summer, said Samaia Hernandez, a spokes
person for the agency. Originally budgeted at $3.65 million, work began in fall 2021. It hasn’t been an easy job, said City Public Works Department Director Christopher Saley.
Saley empathizes with the state’s problems: It’s probably the worst stretch of road because it is in just about the worst spot in Milford to have to do road construction work. Yards away from wetlands and the northeast end of Gulf Pond, the road is low-lying and has Turtle Creek running under it. Between that salt and fresh-water confluence and rain, the area is almost always wet, Saley said.
“When you are working in and around water, it is a nightmare,” Saley said. “You have to put drains in to pump the water out. It is in a tidal area so at high tide there, at a full moon, the water is actually in the road.”
Construction workers must create bulkheads and trenches to keep the water out of their digging and deploy pumps. The road probably gets more than 12,000 vehicles worth of traffic a day, which doesn’t help, Saley said.
“People are complaining about it, but they really don’t understand the challenges,” Saley said. “It is a very big project.”
To limit disruptions to motorists, state traffic officials planned the work in stages, but it suffered delays due to things outside of the state’s control, “including the relocation of utilities, including utility poles, overhead power and communications lines, underground utilities, gas and water mains,” Hernandez said in an email.
“The new bridge will include larger culverts to ensure water can flow freely underneath the structure. Additionally, new sidewalks are being installed that will improve safety and mobility for pedestrians. We appreciate the public’s patience as this important project nears completion during the 2024 construction season and ask drivers to slow down and stay alert in work zones,” Hernandez said.
Businesses along the road have seen construction deadlines come and go with this project, James said.
“They (state officials) have been saying that it is going to be opened by May. I don’t believe them.”