Avon Officials: Environmental Assessment to Pave Way for Old Farms Road Improvements

In efforts to improve Old Farms Road, often a cut-through between Route 10 and the West part of town, officials are considering the options for the windy, narrow road.

But an environmental assessment needs to be done before a decision is made on whether to relocate parts of the road or improve it and keep it where it is, Town Manager Brandon Robertson.

“We’re working on getting the contracts together for the environmental assessment," Robertson said. 

There is also informal talk of acquiring some Avon Old Farms School wooded land as open space, which could serve to connect Fisher Meadows to the Farmington Valley Greenway trails, Robertson said. However, he said it's too early to tell whether that will be necessary and depends on the results of the environmental assessment and a land use study spearheaded by the Planning and Zoning Commission.  

The Avon Old Farms property in question stretches from the South part of the road to Devonwood in Farmington, West to the boundary of the Farmington Valley Greenway and East to Fisher Meadows.

The two other components of the Old Farms Road project will be commissioned by the state. The bridge by Waterville Road (Route 10) will be rebuilt, widened and moved to the North, or slightly to the left of it's current location.

That will affect the Old Farms Road intersection at the top of the hill with the state road, so the intersection will be shifted and reconstructed, as well. 

Robertson said that the bridge project is still being designed. 

More information will be provided on the project as it becomes available.

What do you think needs to be done to make the Avon road safer? Tell us in the comments!