The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) on April 5 granted the state Department of Transportation (DOT) a zoning variance in connection with the DOT's planned reconfiguration of the northern intersection of South Main Street (State Route 25) and Pecks Lane to improve that hazardous junction's safety. The intersection has one of the highest motor vehicle accident rates in town, with most collisions involving rear-end crashes on southbound South Main Street.

South Main Street also has a southern intersection with Pecks Lane that lies roughly two-thirds of a mile to the south.

The intersection project is slated to start construction in spring 2018.

ZBA members unanimously approved the requested zoning variance, which effectively allows a lot at 133 South Main Street to become a "legally nonconforming lot of record" after the lot's area is reduced from 2.13 acres to 1.97 acres in connection with the intersection improvement project.

The lot, which is owned by JLB Newtown, LLC, is located in a M-5 (Industrial) zone, where the minimum lot size is two acres.

The $2.2 million DOT intersection project is intended to simplify a confusing junction, improve traffic flow, and reduce motor vehicle accidents. The long junction in a commercial/residential area is in the area where South Main Street, Pecks Lane, Prospect Drive, and Cedar Hill Road meet.

Planned changes include moving the intersection of Pecks Lane and South Main Street about 250 feet to the south. In the new configuration, both sides of Pecks Lane will be flared to provide sufficient space for vehicle-turning motions where the two roads meet.

The improvement project will affect about a 775-foot-long section of South Main Street. The project will include extending an existing southbound bypass lane on South Main Street southward from South Main Street's intersection with Cedar Hill Road to the new intersection of South Main Street and Pecks Lane.

Such an extended bypass lane would provide sufficient space for southbound motorists to pass, on the right, other southbound motorists who are waiting to make left turns either onto Prospect Drive or onto Pecks Lane at the planned new intersection.

Also, an existing tall stone wall that stands on the west side of South Main Street, just south of its intersection with Cedar Hill Road, would be removed to improve sight lines for motorists entering South Main Street from Cedar Hill Road. An embankment near that wall also would be cut back to improve the view.

During construction, the DOT plans to maintain two-way traffic on South Main Street during peak traffic periods. When detours are required, traffic would be rerouted to the southern intersection of South Main Street and Pecks Lane.

The intersection improvement project has been in the planning stages for many years.