There was an informational session before the City Council meeting with the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT) on their proposal to reduce the incidents, accidents and injuries annually along Route 82 between Asylum Street and the intersection with the New London Turnpike.
The turnout was impressive as nearly every seat in Council chambers was filled to include, most especially, the front of the room where all of our alderpersons were seated.
The nickname "Crash Alley" for Route 82 is well-deserved. According to Scott Bushee who led the CDOT presentation, the stretch of 82 from Asylum Street to the New London Turnpike averages 117 accidents a year, with 26 serious injuries.
That's a lot of hurt, and fixing it will require a lot of help, which is what CDOT is hoping its two-phase plan to install six roundabouts along that stretch of about a mile will do.
If you’re someone who drives Route 82 on a regular (or even not so regular) basis heading to and from places and spaces in Norwich and beyond as well as patronizes the businesses on either side, you know we have long since passed the point of ‘we need to fix this.’
Monday’s presentation offered a two-phase project that would cost about forty million dollars and would displace some businesses and reduce the property of others to create six roundabouts the planners believe would improve traffic flow, reduce accidents, and make shopping access more attractive.
The challenge facing all of us from the CDOT planners, elected city leadership, businesses on Route 82 through all of us who drive it, is crafting a solution that assures everyone a safer driving environment and enhanced access to businesses.
Examples offered of cities and towns across the country who’ve implemented roundabouts were persuasive but the support from the state of Connecticut to be offered to owners of businesses being displaced to create the roundabouts, not so much.
Various audience members who own businesses affected spoke up and out and by so doing helped me put faces and names to the abstraction of a ‘displaced business’ and the hardship and pain that the current plan offered were palpable and quite frankly unacceptable.
A concern voiced by both council and audience members was the absence of a seamless transition for traffic on 82 heading towards downtown, which has its own set of challenges (and promises). A more holistic solution that includes traffic flow to and through downtown and areas like the East Side and Greenville must be developed and our city council members must be the advocates.
What I heard Monday evening (and I’ve attended previous presentations as the project started and then gathered speed) was a good first draft that can only get better with constructive ideas from every stakeholder (that means all of us).
Placemaking and streetscapes are all well and good as concepts, but here on earth, we need to make sure we create a welcoming gateway to Norwich for everyone willing to invest their time, toil, and treasure in creating their own dream and piece of our city.
-bill kenny
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