One Step Closer to Resuming Work on Garder Road

The Public Works Department wants to re-pave and widen a stretch of Garder Road, from Applegate Lane to Pepper Street, but work was halted last year because Garder is a scenic roadway protected by a town ordinance.

Town Engineer and Land Use Dir. Scott Schatzlein said the DPW needs approvals from the Inland Wetlands and Planning & Zoning commissions, as well as approval of the paving portion of the project from the Town Council to comply with the ordinance. Then there will be a 60-day waiting period before the work may resume.

Inland Wetlands approval was already obtained and on Monday night, the Town Council also gave a green light contingent upon P&Z approval. The project will go before the P&Z on April 4.

"The goals of the project are minimal improvements to the roadway to allow for improved conditions to the structural base and widening the road to more appropriately address safety issues," Schatzlein said.

Once work begins, he said the project will probably take two weeks to complete.

Schatzlein told the council the road would be widened to 22 feet with a paved surface and one-foot shoulders. The existing base of the road would be re-formed and a layer of asphalt would be six inches thick. The work would rehabilitate about 1,750 feet of roadway, he said.

The elevation of the road would be approximately one foot higher, Schatzlein said.

The only new thing feature being added will be a guide-rail, according to Schatzlein.

'A Happy Medium'

Connecticut highway standards call for roads to be a minimum of 32-feet-wide, but Schatzlein said Garder Road has less than 600 vehicles driving on it per day, exempting it from those guidelines. He said the "minimal widening" to 22 feet will not lead to an increase in the posted 20 mph speed limit.

When Town Councilman Tony Unger asked how much the project would cost, Schatzlein said DPW is not his department, so he does not know. However, he said the funding has already been allocated for the work.

As one of the authors of the town's Scenic Roads Ordinance, Unger said the intent is for scenic roads to remain the same.

"I'm all for voting tonight and all for fixing the road as soon as possible," Unger said, "but I think I will vote no because it flies in the face of the original process for a scenic road ordinance."

Schatzlein said, "There's safety issues you really have to address. It would not be wise to just leave a road and not address safety issues. The real goal is to find a happy medium."

The vote passed 7 to 1, with Unger the lone dissenter.