Harrowing Hattertown Road

To the Editor:

A word in the ear of the powers that be the Newtown Highway Department:

Each night, as I make my way home from work, I find myself driving the obstacle course that is Hattertown road between Poverty Hollow and Eden Hill. Never mind the state of Eden Hill itself, that is until it crosses into the town of Easton — oh, I’m sorry; different highway department.

I wonder how many other Newtown residents have had to swerve out of the way of an oncoming vehicle that has crossed the white line in order avoid one of Hattertown’s chasms?

This might be amusing if I were training for the “Destruction Derby” or preparing for a drive over Mars terrain, but I am not; I’m just a commuter trying to get home without smashing an axle or worse, smashing into a fellow resident.

Over the past several months, the Newtown Highway Department has found budget money enough to lay a very impressive drainage system on Townsend Road — a two-mile hill with only three houses on it! Also, funds were found to repave the entire length of Elm Drive in front of the cemetery, providing a quiet ride for those lucky ex-taxpayers while the rest of us stiffs slog off to work each day on these deadly roads.

Come on guys, is it too much to ask that you keep one of the busiest Newtown commuter roads safe enough so we can live long enough to pay our next tax bill?

Thanks for listening.

Ruth Hutchinson

Split Rock Road, Newtown                                          August 13, 2009