Description
The State of Connecticut needs to fix this road. Too many people have died on Route 34 between the Stevenson Dam and the Derby Dam, especially near Pink House Cove in Derby.
The State of Connecticut needs to fix this road. Too many people have died on Route 34 between the Stevenson Dam and the Derby Dam, especially near Pink House Cove in Derby.
14 Comments
dsmitsu02 (Guest)
CT-State-Ways & Means (Guest)
Planner (Registered User)
I live off this road and I can tell you the road is the same, only the drivers have changed. Why must the government and taxpayers provide a fix for idiocy???
Len Greene (Guest)
Planner (Registered User)
Plus, any solution that widens the road will be a nightmare of environmental permits (the river and DEEP land) and in the end will just invite more truck traffic. I'm just worried that a call to DOT to fix this will leave us with a superhighway from Lakeview to Pink House Cove.
Bob (Guest)
Planner (Registered User)
The state has not neglected this road.
If you are familiar with it you'll know that there are very limited opportunities to turn this road into something bigger and more substantial because it follows the river for 10 miles and is tightly constricted by homes, cottages and natural impediments. Further, there is a very narrow crossing of the river on top of the Stevenson Dam. Residents of this area have been vocally opposed to even building a new bridge, which would invite more large trucks to attempt to traverse it's length from Sandy Hook to Derby.
To improve this road in the way that Route 66 was improved would cost several hundred million dollars. It is an improvement that is only needed to ease truck traffic, such as the vehicle that this unfortunate young girl slammed into head-on while she was texting. Going around this roadway on limited access highways only takes five minutes longer to get between those two points.
Focusing some limited improvements at the area where these four deaths have occurred in the last three years makes some sense but you must remember that it is not the road that caused these accidents, it was distracted driving and speeding. The road itself is in excellent condition and meets most current design standards with the exception of the very narrow shoulders that result from the section being pinned between the rock ledge of Osbornedale State Park and the Housatonic River. Banning thru-trucks, speed enforcement, flashing speed indicators, rumble strips in the centerline and clearing some of the rock ledge to improve sightlines will help, but no matter what you do such as full reconstruction, the road itself will still have a curve and can never have optimal sightlines because of the topography and grade of the area, no matter how much we spend. Widening and straightening, to the extent possible, will only result in faster cars that still will approach a blind curve.
Rebuilding the road is a knee-jerk reaction that might help people feel good but will never be worth it in the long run because it can never be improved enough to guard against distracted drivers. People texting behind the wheel will continue to die and kill innocents.
Statewide, distracted driving, texting and making phone calls while the vehicle is moving are causing rapid increases in accidents and fatalities, even on the best roads. We will either have to get used to the fact that idiots behind the wheel are always going to cause great risk to themselves and the public or we will reduce these incidents through public awareness campaigns such as those that have reduced drunk driving. No mere redesign of roadways will stop these tragic incidents.
Bob (Guest)
Planner (Registered User)
Second, the reason I-95 & 84 are widened is to increase capacity, making motor vehicle trips between two places quicker. It supposedly relieves congestion but that is very debatable; but this is an issue for another day.
So, you couldn't care less about distracted drivers, huh? How about drunk drivers, not worried about them either?
You're right, as you said "safety cost money" (genius!). But that money should be spent on prevention and enforcement, not making a road bigger so that you can accommodate more and faster traffic on a section of road when the sections east and west of it will not be able to handle that increased speed and load.
We can try your plan if you're willing to have the state use eminent domain to take every house, cottage and business on Route 34 between Derby and Newtown, build a new bridge across Lake Zoar and blast about 10 miles of sheer rock face and cliffs out of the way.
Let us know when you find an extra $5 BILLION lying around !
Bob (Guest)
Planner (Registered User)
You cannot improve a small section of roadway as you suggest without anticipating the impacts and need to improve the rest of the road. Making that section wider and straighter (not straight) will increase actual driving speeds (no matter the posted limit) and invite more and larger vehicles to assume that the balance of the route is navigable for their vehicle.
We are both looking for a solution to a problem, and good practice tells us that a mix of enforcement and improvements is correct. Completely reconstructing that section is a much more expensive way to reach the same result, with the added risk of actually lessening safety.
Bob (Guest)
Bob Guy (Registered User)
Michael Raymond (Registered User)
I agree with planner. I hate Route 34 from Derby through Sandy Hook, especially over the Stevenson Dam. I am amazed accidents don't occur daily and I avoid travel on that road at all costs.
However, there is no way you are going to get the State to spend hundreds of millions of dollars rebuilding Route 34 in that area. Improvements, perhaps. The Stevenson Dam area needs MAJOR work, but that is also costly.
While it's not going to happen, I am a firm believer that not making Rt. 34 from New Haven a major highway as originally planned as was a terrible mistake. 34 SHOULD have gone from 91/95 as a highway right to 8 and beyond. I shake my head as I see New Haven tear apart the only section of 34 that resembled what it SHOULD have become and put buildings up on it.
What we've been left with is a substandard 34 from New Haven to Sandy Hook which in 2014 will never be properly reconfigured.