Funds Earmarked For Future

Church Hill Road Improvements

By Andrew Gorosko

A series of road improvements planned to enhance travel safety and reduce congestion along a heavily traveled section of Church Hill Road, near Interstate 84, have gained a second financial approval from the US Congress, bringing to $3.6 million the funding endorsed, so far, for the $4.46 million project.

In a recently approved transportation-funding bill, Congress endorsed spending $1.6 million toward the relocation of the southern section of Edmond Road, plus the creation of an intersection of Church Hill Road, Edmond Road, and Commerce Road.

In March, Congress approved spending $2 million toward various improvements to Church Hill Road in the area between its intersections with Commerce Road and Interstate 84.

That area is the road section with the highest rate of motor vehicle accidents in the ten-town Housatonic Valley Planning Region. Church Hill Road, which also is known as Route 6, is part of the federal highway system.

If all required road improvement project approvals are secured, the road work could be completed sometime between 2009 and 2012.

In an August 9 memorandum, David Hannon, the deputy director of the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), urges that Newtown officials press the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to expedite the road improvement project.

Although it is unclear when the approved funding will become available for the project, “We should make it known at…DOT that we want this project to move forward in an expedited manner,” Mr Hannon wrote in the memo to Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker.

Mr Hannon asks whether the town has made progress toward acquiring Edmond Road. Edmond Road is a private road linking Church Hill Road to Schoolhouse Hill Road, which the town would need to acquire from its owner in order for the road improvement project to proceed.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said August 10 the town hopes to assume ownership of Edmond Road to expedite the road improvement project. Mr Rosenthal said the terms of such an acquisition are yet unclear.  

A main component of the road improvement project would involve shifting the existing intersection of Edmond Road and Church Hill Road from its current location near I-84’s Exit 10 westward about 250 feet to the area directly across Church Hill Road from Commerce Road.

A new four-way intersection of Church Hill Road, Edmond Road, and Commerce Road would be controlled by a set of new traffic signals. The Church Hill Road-Commerce Road intersection is now controlled by traffic signals.

The project would include constructing additional vehicle turning lanes at the proposed four-way intersection to enhance traffic flow.

An approximately 650-foot-long section of Edmond Road, which now lies immediately north of Church Hill Road, would be taken out of use. Edmond Road provides access to the Rand-Whitney Container factory at 1 Edmond Road, and also to the Pitney-Bowes Distribution Center at 7 Edmond Road. Many commercial trucks travel on Edmond Road.  

Edmond Road is in a swampy area and has deteriorated due to drainage problems. The road improvement project would include upgrading the stormwater drainage on Edmond Road.

Increased staffing at Pitney-Bowes and the resulting increased traffic flow through the area prompted the town to pursue $4.46 million in federal funding for the road improvement project earlier this year. The town had unsuccessfully sought state funds for the project in the past.

Making a left turn from Edmond Road onto eastbound Church Hill Road is especially difficult due to heavy traffic in the area. A stop sign posted at the end of Edmond Road now controls the traffic exiting that street. 

The road improvement project would relocate the parking lots for Newtown Pizza Palace at 65 Church Hill Road and for Newtown Shell Service at 67 Church Hill Road. Construction would also include modifying the driveway for the Blue Colony Diner at 66 Church Hill Road.

New sets of traffic signals would be installed at Church Hill Road’s intersections with I-84’s eastbound and westbound Exit 10 interchange ramps.

All traffic signals in the area would be synchronized to improve traffic flow.