Government

Town To Redo East Avenue Sidewalks; Seeking State Grant on Estimated $1 Million Project

By |

Town officials on Tuesday approved funds to kickstart improvements to the deteriorating East Avenue sidewalk that runs from downtown New Canaan to Route 123. The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting voted unanimously in favor of a $16,500 contract with a Hartford-based engineering firm to prepare design documents for a state grant in what is expected to be an overall $1 million project that “entails the proposed enhancements to the existing sidewalk to address improved width, surface material and safety for the pedestrian,” Town Engineer Maria Coplit told the Board. 

“The current asphalt sidewalks are deteriorating and in need of replacement,” she said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. If the town is able to secure a Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program or “LOTCIP” grant from the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the all-in cost to the municipality for the work is expected to be about $100,000, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The figure includes the contract with Fuss & O’Neill as well as survey and engineering work on East Avenue, he said. The selectmen agreed that the work is needed.

Board of Selectmen

Town Approves Contract for Improving Route 106/Farm Road Intersection

By |

Municipal officials on Tuesday approved a $14,500 contract with a New Haven-based engineering firm to advance the town’s plans for fixing a major traffic problem in New Canaan. Southbound traffic on Old Stamford Road/Route 106 backs up during the school year at Farm Road, in part because drivers don’t move left while waiting to turn left at Farm and in part because there isn’t sufficient room for other motorists to get around them if more than one vehicle is making that turn. The engineering firm, Fuss & O’Neill, is redesigning the intersection “and associated traffic signals to accommodate additional turning lanes at the intersection in order to help alleviate commuter traffic and associated school traffic,” according to Maria Coplit, town engineer in the Department of Public Works. “For years, as we know, the intersection has been plagued with its challenges,” she told the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Led by Coplit and DPW, the town last summer kickstarted the process of obtaining about $1.4 million in state funding to do the actual work (the municipality is responsible for engineering and design fees) through a state Department of Transportation Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program or ‘LOTCIP’ grant via submission through the Western Council of Governments or ‘WestCOG.’ WestCOG has approved the project, and now, “in order to advance the project, the full DOT LOTCIP program application needs to be prepared and submitted by April 21st,” Coplit said.

Government

Decorative Crosswalks To Be Installed on Elm Street

By |

Town officials last week approved an approximately $46,000 contract for the installation of six decorative crosswalks on the newly repaved one-way stretch of Elm Street. The crosswalks, to be installed between Main Street and Park Street—one at Main, two at South, one at The Playhouse and one at Park—will be “an 8-foot-wide durable thermal plastic-impressed surface system called ‘Traffic Patterns XD’ by Ennis Flint,” Town Engineer Maria Coplait told members of the Board of Selectmen at their Sept. 16 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“The thermal traffic surface will be heat-stamped at each crosswalk, embedding it into the pavement, similar to the installation that was done at the library. Once the impressed surface system installation is complete, retro reflective lines will be striped on either side of the crosswalk installations. Rocco Iadarola is one of the two certified installers for Traffic Patterns XD in the state, and they perform 95% to 98% of all the installations.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the $46,264 contract with Waterbury-based Rocco Iadarola Co.

Government

1942-Installed Sewer Line on South Avenue To Be Relined

By |

The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a $166,674 contract with a Tappan, N.Y.-based company to reline an 83-year-old stretch of sewer line on South Avenue. The aging sanitary sewer line runs for about 3,300 feet, according to Maria Coplit, town engineer with the Department of Public Works. “Records indicate that this eight-inch sewer main along this section of South Avenue between Bank Street and Farm Road dates back to 1942,” Coplit told the selectmen at their Aug. 19 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. She continued: “With the Aquarion water company’s Southwest Regional Pipeline Project to construct the new 36-inch water transmission line within South Avenue in such close proximity to our existing sewer main, it is prudent to reline this section of the sewer main, given both the proposed deep excavation required for the water main installation and the physical installation of the water main itself.

Board of Selectmen

‘This Is an Issue’: Town Eyes Improvements at ‘Challenging’ Route 106-Farm Road Intersection

By |

Town officials last week approved a $24,500 contract with a New Haven-based engineering firm to help address a major problem of congestion in town. Southbound traffic on Route 106 backs up during the school year at Farm Road, in part because drivers don’t move left while waiting to turn left at Farm and in part because there isn’t sufficient room for other motorists to get around them if more than one vehicle is making that turn. The town is hiring a firm to redesign the intersection and traffic signals “to accommodate additional turning lane or lanes at the intersection in order to help alleviate commuter traffic and associated school traffic,” according to Maria Coplit, town engineer in the Department of Public Works. “For years, this intersection has been plagued with its challenges,” she told the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting, held Aug. 19 at Town Hall and via videoconference.