Officials detail improvements planned for North Main Street

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Michael Joyce, manager of highway design for Milone and Macbroom, discusses a project to reconstruct a section of North Main Street in Naugatuck during a public information session Monday at Town Hall. –LUKE MARSHALL
Michael Joyce, manager of highway design for Milone and Macbroom, discusses a project to reconstruct a section of North Main Street in Naugatuck during a public information session Monday at Town Hall. –LUKE MARSHALL

NAUGATUCK — The plans to reconstruct a portion of North Main Street have safety and ambiance in mind.

The section of road between the Route 8 on- and off-ramps and Union Street, which is less than half a mile, is proposed to be completely reconstructed.

Michael Joyce, manager of highway design for the Cheshire-based engineering firm Milone and Macbroom, laid out the plans during a public information meeting that drew a handful of people Monday night. He said the pavement will be completely redone, sidewalks will be added along the east side of the road, and parallel parking spots will be clearly defined along both sides of the road.

“The pavement has been cut up over the years with different utility trenches and is past its serviceable life,” Joyce said.

In addition, the area in front of the exit 27 off-ramp will be redone with granite curbing and a sign welcoming motorists to Naugatuck and directing them to borough parks, Joyce said.

“Right now it is an unimproved, haphazard little intersection. There is no statement that you have arrived in Naugatuck,” Joyce said.

Joyce said the road currently sees approximately 2,000 vehicles a day. While that is not a lot it can be a problem if they are traveling fast down the narrow road.

In order to help keep traffic moving at a pace more in line with the speed limit, the curb will slope out into the street near the crosswalk at Orchard Street, Joyce said. This tactic makes the street feel narrower and, as a result, cars tend to drive slower, he said.

In addition, the roads will be feature “share the road” markings for bicycles, he said. Since the greenway is in the area, he said, officials want to make sure there is safe passage for bicycles and pedestrians.

The reconstruction is expected to cost $3.6 million. Joyce said the construction is expected be paid for by the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program, which is administered by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

The borough will be responsible for the cost of the design, which is expected to be $100,000, Public Works Director James Stewart said.

That cost will be offset by $50,000 the borough collected from the Connecticut Water Company, which recently dug up a portion of the street to make upgrades to pipes, Stewart said. The money is in lieu of the company, which did a temporary paving job once the upgrades were complete, paving the road.

Joyce said, if everything goes well with obtaining the funding, the work could begin as early as spring. If it does, it is expected to take until autumn to complete.