A federal grant of $720,000 is coming to Middletown to study several of the major roads leading in and out of the city in an effort to improve safety.
“Buses take kids to school, parents driving to work, seniors headed to medical appointments, all of us rely on safe streets to go about our daily lives and the funding of this assessment is a crucial part of what’s happening,” said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro.
The Middletown Comprehensive Traffic Safety Plan will look at:
- Newfield Street (Route 3) - from Route 3 in Cromwell into Washington Street (Route 66)
- Washington Street (Route 66) - from the Middlefield Town Line to Main Street
- South Main Street (Route 17) - from Brush Hill Road to Pleasant Street, and Pleasant Street to Main Street
- Saybrook Road - from Randolph Road (Route 155) to Main Street Extension, and Main Street Extension to Union Street
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“All of them are developing and thriving commercial corridors. Many of them, I think all of them actually, have increased residential units and plans underway to bring more people into the community, more businesses are developing. These are all good things. But we are reaching the point at which the infrastructure we have, as it currently exists, is no longer able to sustain that type of growth, that type of development,” Middletown Mayor Benjamin Florsheim said.
The goal of the state Department of Transportation is to get down to zero traffic-related deaths and there are a number of things they can do to help improve road safety, according to Laoise King, the deputy commissioner.
“When we do what we call a road diet, which is to bring the edges of the road in closer, drivers drive slower. We also want to make sure that there are appropriate places for folks who are not in cars to navigate the roadways. So we want to have sidewalks where possible, make sure we have crosswalks and make sure that we have adequate bike infrastructure,” she said.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program was established to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. This is just a portion of the $5 billion coming to Connecticut for infrastructure over the next five years, according to DeLauro.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) established the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary program providing $5 billion over five years.
